SAVING THE GREATER GLIDER, KOALA AND YELLOW-BELLIED GLIDER FROM EXTINCTION

 The North East Forest Alliance calls on the Federal Government 

to save Koalas and Gliders from extinction

In a media release on July 5 the North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) demanded the Commonwealth urgently remove its approval for the NSW Government to clear and log the homes of Koalas and Greater Gliders now that they have both been listed as nationally Endangered.

The Greater Glider has now been listed by the Federal Government as Endangered because of “an overall rate of population decline exceeding 50 percent over a 21-year (three generation) period, including population reduction and habitat destruction following the 2019–20 bushfires”, the Scientific Committee further noting “cumulative impacts of the 2019-20 bushfires, ongoing prescribed burning, timber harvesting and climate change will continue to put pressure on remaining greater glider habitat. Fire-logging interactions likely increase risks to greater glider populations”.

“The Federal Government cannot continue to turn a blind-eye to plight of nationally listed threatened species as NSW drives them to extinction, it is equally culpable as co-signatory to the North East NSW Regional Forest Agreement which gives blanket approval for clearing and logging of threatened species habitat across public and private lands in north-east NSW.

“Populations of many of our forest species have been decimated by clearing and logging, and now their depleted populations are being pushed to extinction by the increasing severity of droughts, heatwaves and bushfires.

“The 2019/20 fires took a huge toll on our forest wildlife, causing massive losses in the heavily burnt forests, leading the Federal Government to list the Yellow-bellied Glider as Vulnerable in March, the Koala as Endangered in May, and now the Greater Glider as Endangered.

“The Commonwealth should no longer allow the NSW Government to clear and log the remaining refuges for Koalas, Greater Gliders, and Yellow-bellied Gliders if it wants to avoid their extinction.

“The new federal Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek, needs to intervene by changing the North East NSW Regional Forest Agreement to restore the requirement for pre-logging surveys to identify where nationally listed threatened species survive, and ensure that clearing and logging is prohibited in their homes.

“To save our species, we first need to identify where they live, protect their homes and then start restoring their habitat” Mr. Pugh said.

Conservation Advice for Petauroides volans (greater glider (southern and central))

https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/species/pubs/254-conservation-advice-05072022.pdf

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NSW LOWER HOUSE PUTS KOALAS ONE STEP CLOSER TO EXTINCTION

NATURE  CONSERVATION  COUNCIL

Media Release

22 October 2020

The Coalition government’s Local Land Services Amendment Bill endangers koalas and scuppers any hope the government will achieve its goal of doubling koala populations by 2050.

The bill passed the NSW lower house yesterday and is scheduled to be debated in the Legislative Council in November. 

“If this bill passes, developers and big agribusiness will be free to destroy koala habitat in nine out of 10 council areas across NSW where koalas are likely to occur,” Nature Conservation Council Chief Executive Chris Gambian said.

“The bill not only limits koala protection laws to a tiny portion of the state, it rules out ever extending those protections into new areas where they are desperately needed.

“If passed by members of the upper house, this law will allow property developers to bulldoze koala trees and subdivide some of the best koala forests left in NSW to create hobby farms and suburbs.

“Just weeks ago Liberal MPs and the Premier stared down Deputy Premier Barilaro over koala protections. 

“To now vote for a massive weakening of the laws is a disappointing back down.

“Currently, the koala SEPP  (State Environmental Planning Policy) only applies in six of the 88 council areas where koalas are likely to occur.

“The changes mean genuine efforts to protect koalas on private land will be limited to those areas.

“The government needs to urgently tell the people of NSW how it will ensure koala feed trees and habitat will not be lost because of a careless lack of regulation of land clearing.

“We call on members of the Legislative Council reject this bill so our koalas have a fighting chance of living beyond 2050.”

 

GOVERNMENT APPROVED EXTINCTION

I have no doubt that the NSW Government, despite occasional bouts of insincere 'hand wringing', and non-specific funding announcements, doesn't give a damn about koalas. The failure over many decades to even acknowledge climate change, much less take action to mitigate the impacts, has now led to the incineration of hundreds if not thousands of these iconic marsupials.

The current government also abolished the Native Vegetation Act, opening the flood gates to land clearing on private property.  It also changed the Integrated Forests Operations approval, removing some previous koala protections, and allowing the clear-felling of large areas of state forests, some of it core koala habitat.

Recently we learned that Comprehensive Koala Plans of Management (CKPOM), that councils are required to formulate, are “frozen for years in a sea of red tape”. Plans designed to protect koalas and their habitat across NSW are taking years to be approved by the State Government.

Claims these delays are the result of developers’ lobbying may well be true but, given local experience, one wonders just how effective those CKPOMs are. Just two months ago, developers were granted approval to bulldoze 14 hectares of forest at Iluka, containing core koala habitat and providing a vital fauna movement corridor.

In that case a CKPOM was already approved, and states: “The primary aims of this Plan are to ensure that the current extent of koala habitat is maintained and improved, and not reduced; and to mitigate processes which are limiting koala occupancy rates and/or population sizes”. 

We are also assured in the Plan objectives that Council would: “minimise the potential for adverse impacts and disturbances to current and future areas of koala habitat; protect koala habitat in order to, as a minimum, maintain koala populations across their current range”, and “create, manage and/or restore koala habitat linkages and corridors.

All of these were ignored by Clarence Valley Council's Planners, the majority of Councillors, the Federal Minister for the Environment, and finally the Joint Regional Planning Panel, all of whom gave the development their tick of approval.

This is government-approved extinction in action.

            John Edwards

This article was originally published in the VOICES FOR THE EARTH column in The Daily Examiner on December 30, 2019. 

KOALAS AT OUR PLACE

It is now almost eleven years since we first observed koalas in one of the trees on our 1.6 ha block at Waterview Heights.  When we first came to live out there in 1973 there were only three trees on the block. 

Our extensive planting of native trees and shrubs over the years is now being rewarded by a highly consistent presence of koalas.

The first thing that my wife Magda does every morning is to do what she calls “my koala walk”.  Round the block she goes, observing, as best she can, the presence or otherwise of what she calls “our little furry friend”.

Magda makes a record of her observations and gives a written monthly report to the Environment Centre.  In June this year she observed the presence of a koala on 26 days out of 30.

There have been many highlights.

On one morning while we were having breakfast Magda took some plates to the sink.  She looked out the adjacent window and there was a mother koala with her joey on her back walking slowly past. The koalas  continued their journey to a nearby tree which was climbed and used as home for the remaining daylight hours.

Sometimes Magda’s observations will be blessed by the presence of two koalas in the one morning.  Usually there is quite a distance between them, but on one occasion while photographing one, I was fortunate to observe a second in a distant location but in a tree that formed a backdrop to the first.  It has been the only occasion when I have been able to capture two of the iconic creatures in the one picture.

 

And recently, early in the morning when the sun was still low in the sky, we found a koala in such a position that when you observed him/her from one particular position, a golden glow formed a beautiful edge right round our sleepy furry friend.

One evening as the light was dimming, I decided to try a flashlight.  The resulting picture showed the koala highlighted by two bright sparkling eyes.  On this occasion the koala was certainly not curled up deep in sleep.

And there have been a number of people who, never having observed a koala in the wild, have visited our little forest and had their lives enriched by these iconic creatures. 

 

At night we have never observed the koala movement but their daytime locations indicate how extensive these wanderings have been.  Our hope is that these night time movements will continue safely into the future bringing a blessing to the natural environment.

     - Stan Mussared  

Photo: Stan Mussared

LOCALS ACT TO SAVE IMPORTANT HABITAT TREES

The way potential impacts on threatened species are assessed when compiling an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), has always been a concern. This was highlighted recently when Essential Energy decided to move a transmission line in Lawrence, east of Grafton.

Despite assuring concerned citizens that they always minimise environmental impacts, their plan would arguably have had the greatest possible impact. 

That choice required the removal of twelve old-growth eucalypts, including one Forest Red Gum where Koalas are regularly sighted. The ecologist's report also made the patently erroneous claim that the 200 year old trees had “few if any hollows”, and a legal requirement that an EIS must contain“a description of any feasible alternatives”, was ignored.

A mandatory search of wildlife atlas records was undertaken to determine what threatened species have been recorded in the vicinity. However, no survey was undertaken to determine if any of those species were actually present.

The EIS concluded that “The proposal will not have a significant impact on any threatened species that may use the trees”, and “With the implementation of mitigation measures described in this report, risk to threatened species that may periodically use the trees, is considered low”.

A search for those “mitigation measures”, found only an assurance that tree removal would not occur during their breeding season. For the 6 identified micro-bat species, that period was identified as spring. However, where micro-bats are involved, there is a well-recognised season when clearing should not occur, that is winter when they go into a type of hibernation known as “torpor'. Unsurprisingly, that fact received no consideration.

When that anomaly was raised, the response further highlighted their knowledge gaps, claiming bats live under loose bark on trees, and as the trees in question were smooth barked, they were unlikely to be used as habitat. The fact is that, while there are bat species that live under loose bark, none of the 6 identified species do that, with most known to use tree hollows.

Fortunately, locals have done their homework, and identified a route option which required virtually no tree removal, and that option is now under consideration.

            - John Edwards

 This article was originally published in the VOICES FOR THE EARTH column in The Daily Examiner on April 15, 2019

KOALA CHLAMYDIA VACCINE PROGRESS - THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD

 

On 26 February 2011 Professor Peter Timms of the Qld University of Technology delivered an address on progress towards developing a vaccine for chlamydia disease in koalas

Two types of chlamydia bacteria are known in koalas - Chlamydia pneumoniae, which is also found in all humans worldwide and of lesser importance in koalas - and Chlamydia pecorum, the most common and deadly strain.

In its active form the bacteria infect a koala's urogenital tract rendering them infertile, and will ultimately cause the death of the koala. So with up to 50% of koalas called in to wildlife rescue groups showing clinical signs of the disease, a vaccine to eliminate the problem could also ultimately save the koala from extinction.

At the time of his address Timm’s research was nearing the end of its first phase, with 18 female koalas from the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary about to complete their vaccinations. The next phase was to immunise koalas that had undergone treatment for ocular and urogenital chlamydia, and the third stage would then identify variations between cell wall molecular make-up across Queensland, NSW and Victoria. After that trials would start on male koalas.

At that point, delivery of the antigens by a simple nose-drop form would also be tested, and a further plan was to develop a boutique drug of possibly up to 10 antigens in a single dose, including an antigen for retrovirus, a lethal immune deficiency in koalas akin to AIDS.

It is exciting to learn that the final stage of research is now completed, with a 30-day 'burst relief' capsule lodged under the skin of wild koalas administering a single dose of antigens, safely avoiding a buildup of tolerance for the chlamydia bacteria, and without any adverse effects.  

Although it has been a long and winding road for this team, they deserve a medal for their efforts in helping to save a globally-adored iconic animal.

However the causes of the stress-related disease in koalas will still be present, so it rests on us now to ensure these are properly addressed.

- Patricia Edwards

This article was originally published in the VOICES FOR THE EARTH column in The Daily Examiner on December 10,  2018.