AGM14 - Friends of the Koala Inc. · 2016-09-28 · announced the 2013 Ziggy Megne Volunteer for the En-vironment Award. In June Friends of the Koala won the Conservation & Land Management

friends of the koala inc.

2013/2014

Friends of the Koala Inc. — Annual Report 2013-2014

Page 2 Friends of the Koala — 28 years of voluntary service conserving koalas and their habitat on the Northern Rivers

Lexie was rescued from a

felled macadamia tree. Admit-ted for observation (found to be none the worse for wear) we

discovered a bonus; she had a pouch-young. We released her

the next day.

Idris, a handsome boy with

mild conjunctivitis in one eye was treated successfully and released back into his home

range.

Jack couldn’t keep away. His conjuncti-

vitis had flared up again although not so severely. This time he spent a month in care. Since release he has been spotted

regularly looking fit and healthy.

Damian was lucky to have sur-

vived a car strike with just a few cuts and abrasions. He spent a month at CWH and came back for release.

He and three companions have been sighted several times.

Harold was a big boofy 9 year old. He

spent two months in care with conjunctivitis before he was released. He too is seen regularly.

Karen was first admitted in 2011

because she was in a dangerous location. Her second stint was more serious. She presented with severe

cystitis and spent six months at AZWH. Within a week of being home she was

sighted with a big male close by.

Mackie was another car

strike. After two months in care at AZWH he was re-leased well away from the

busy highway that had brought him grief.

Tank was another old

fellow – 10. Only a mother could love his face. He was admitted

with heat stress in January. After four

days of re-hydration and choice leaf he was

released back onto the SCU Campus.

Jacob was in care for

two months with cysti-tis and conjunctivitis. At release he was reluctant to leave

his cage. We thought he’d never go. Finally he decided it was time

and quickly scampered up the trunk of a big Tallowwood.

Piper had a long road to

recovery. A pretty female, she came into care with her Mum, weighing only 840gr. Sadly

mother was euthanased due to a severe infection. It was an-

other 11 months before Piper was successfully soft released

with three other joeys.

Some Success Stories...

Tabitha was from Clarence Valley. She had

been found near her dead Mum and was brought to us very frail and dehydrated. Follow-ing four months in home care she went back to

Grafton where she was in soft release for two weeks before being released.

Dexter was a

“storm boy”. Weighing 1.3kgs, he was a sorry

sight at rescue. Nine months in

care and he was as handsome and

healthy as any koala could be.

Noah (l) another

orphan weighed only 412 gr. Placed in home

care with an experienced

“step mum” he was also in care

for 11 months before being soft released. Wally’s weight at his rescue was given as

about a “pound of butter” by the MoP who reported him. He, like Dexter, was a victim of

Cyclone Oswald’s aftermath. A goofy boy weighing 1.2kgs, he was soft released after nine months in care.



Contents

» Patron’s Message .......................... 3

» About Friends of the Koala ............ 4

» Sponsors ........................................ 4

» President’s Report ......................... 5

» Care Coordinator’s Report ......... 6-7

» Care Centre Coordinator’s Report . 8

» Phone Coordinator’s Report .......... 9

» Training Report .............................. 9

» Trees Officer’s Report .................. 10

» Habitat Restoration Case Study ... 11

» Leaf Coordinator’s Report ........... 11

» Advocacy and Policy Reform ....... 12

» Media and Communications Report .......................................... 13

» Treasurer’s Report ....................... 14

» Public Fund Report ...................... 14

» Acknowledgements and Awards .. 15

» Contact Details ............................ 16

Patron’s Message

Are our Northern Rivers koalas living on borrowed time? The region already accommodates one of the highest ru-ral populations in New South Wales and predictions indicate numbers will surge ahead in coming decades.

We only have to look across the bor-der to see how badly koalas fare in the competition for space from our own

species. Fortunately koalas in the Northern Rivers haven’t had to contend with complete displacement. Lismore will never be a state capital and Byron-Tweed hasn’t yet merged with the Gold Coast. Nevertheless the proximity of those rapacious population centres to the north is impact-ing on koala survival through the recreational use made of our part of the world by many of their citizens.

As well as human competition koalas must also survive changing weather patterns. The past year has been close to the driest on record across the Northern Rivers. Only once has less rainfall been recorded. 2013 also saw Aus-tralia experiencing its warmest year on record bringing with it widespread and prolonged conflagration. While our koa-las escaped, as far as I’m aware, the horrific wildfires in the Blue Mountains and the Hunter Valley, we must as-sume it’s only a matter of time before the Northern Rivers’ fire-prone localities and the koalas that live in them go up in flames.

Can we do any better in managing a sustainable balance between human aspirations and koala needs? I think so. Despite the relentless pressure for development and the erosion of protective legislation it’s driving, people who live in our region are clear-minded on the associated risks and the need to nurture Mother Earth. Their clarity is predicat-ed on knowledge, learning and information-sharing. What’s more they are prepared to act.

While koalas continue to need our protection I am confi-dent there will be people committed to providing it whether by licensed rescue and rehabilitation, habitat repair and recovery, education, advocating for policy reform, or as-sisting research programs.

I have had the privilege to be patron of Friends of the Koa-la for eight years. While not closely involved in operational matters the collective contribution this devoted group makes to koala conservation across the Northern Rivers region continues to astound me.

I warmly thank the wonderful volunteers who, in various ways, work so selflessly to protect and conserve our re-gion’s wild koalas and commend to you the past year’s outstanding endeavour summarised in these pages.

—Margot Sweeny

Margot Sweeney

Mark Wilson, Trees Officer, winner of the

Nature Conservation Council of NSW

2013 Ziggy Megne

Volunteer for the Environment Award

Our cover photo of Hera and Rosalie was taken by a friend of Lili Bailly, a Carer at the Koala Care Centre.



About Friends of the Koala

Friends of the Koala is the peak koala conservation or-ganisation in the Northern Rivers Region of New South Wales

Our Mission To make a key contribution to Australia’s biodiversity by ensuring the conservation of the iconic koala and the preservation and enhancement of koala habitat, particu-larly in the Northern Rivers Region of New South Wales.

For nearly 30 years Friends of the Koala has performed a vital role in koala conservation by:-

♦ Relieving the suffering of individual koalas by providing appropriate medical treatment and care;

♦ Fostering an understanding of koalas and their habitat within the wider community;

♦ Broadening our knowledge of koala biology and the threats facing the species;

♦ Conserving wild koala populations by successfully returning healthy koalas to their natural habitat;

♦ Maintaining and enhancing koala habitat;

♦ Undertaking a strong advocacy role with govern-ment and taking action, where appropriate to pro-tect the interests of koalas.

Core Business In striving to achieve its mission FOK has focussed on the following areas:-

♦ Habitat protection and enhancement;

♦ Licensed koala rescue, rehabilitation and release;

♦ Community education;

♦ Advocacy;

♦ Research assistance;

♦ Growing an active membership.

Area of Operation The area in which Friends of the Koala is licensed to res-cue, rehabilitate and release sick, injured and orphaned koalas encompasses the local government areas of Balli-na, Byron, Kyogle, Lismore, Richmond Valley, Tweed and a bit more.

Resourcing Friends of the Koala is a voluntary community organisa-tion and registered charity. It receives no recurrent fund-ing from government. Corporate sponsorship, donations, membership fees, competitive grants, sales of merchan-dise and plants, as well as general fundraising, finance the services it provides. There are no paid positions.

Friends of the Koala’s work continues with the ongoing generosity of its

partners and sponsors

Australian Government



D elivering Friends of the Koala’s broad koala conservation mis-sion keeps us on our toes. New

challenges and opportunities are brought to our attention and it’s up to us whether or not we choose to engage. Being the organisation we are there is not much that we let lie.

On top of our normal work this year (and there was more of that as well), were two activities for which we had to make a special effort. They were the Great Koala Count and the Save Ballina’s Koalas Cam-paign.

Partnering the National Parks Association of NSW (NPA) and the Great Eastern Ranges Initiative in piloting the inaugural NSW Great Koala Count in the Northern Rivers Region was enjoyable and rewarding. Although the Count took place during November, considerable planning was necessary in the preceding months. The event attracted considerable media attention and the Northern Rivers accounted for more than half the koalas counted. The pilot was deemed a success and plans are afoot to extend the Count in 2014-15 and beyond.

In December Ballina Shire Council released the Koala Habitat and Population Assessment for the Shire which had been prepared by Dr Steve Phillips. The study con-firmed what some had suspected for a long time and that was that the koalas in the Meerschaum Vale/Blackwall Range area were extremely important. Steve as-sessed them as meeting the “nationally significant” criteria of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

Almost simultaneously the Wool-goolga - to Ballina Highway Up-grade Preferred Infrastructure Re-port was placed on public exhibi-tion.

The Save Ballina’s Koalas Cam-paign began to take shape soon after New Year. The Committee discussed and agreed to Friends of the Koala’s involvement at its mid-January meeting. The Cam-paign’s aim, to improve public un-derstanding of the koalas’ im-portance and the need to change the route proposed for Section 10 was announced at a public meeting attended by over 100 people in mid-

February. Suffice to say that the Campaign continues to keep us in the media, and on the streets.

This year saw some new initiatives bear fruit, most nota-bly securing a Caring for our Country Community Envi-ronment Grant to continue restoring and connecting pri-mary koala habitat in urban Lismore’s Hillcrest Reserve, approval of three licensing agreements by Lismore City Council to enable establishment of new koala feed tree

President’s Report

Lorraine Vass

plantations in Goonellabah, South Lismore and Albert Park and, in the broader picture, the considered pro-gress of a new voice for koala conservation, the Nation-al Koala Alliance.

At the Nature Conservation Council of NSW’s Annual Conference in October, Trees Officer Mark Wilson was announced the 2013 Ziggy Megne Volunteer for the En-vironment Award. In June Friends of the Koala won the Conservation & Land Management section of Byron Shire Council’s 2014 World Environment Day Awards.

The biennial call for Friends of the Koala’s own awards attracted three nominations: Honorary Life membership to Lola Whitney; Tree of Fame conferral to Dr Stephen Phillips and a Certificate of Appreciation to the Keen Street Veterinary Clinic. Those awards will be presented at the Annual General Meeting.

The State Government’s new Save Our Species initia-tive, while a somewhat controversial and untested ap-proach to conservation in Australia, presented an oppor-tunity in which we believe, we must engage. We regis-tered in December.

Also in December Lismore’s Koala Implementation Group was appointed by Council to oversee the Com-

prehensive Koala Plan for South-East Lismore. Ros Irwin is Friends of the Koa-la’s representative. The Plan’s official launch took place in May. Later that month in response to a very late invitation, we applied for funding under the NSW Environment Trust’s Lead Environment Community Groups Program.

Our application for a Federally-funded Green Army team was submitted about the same time as we were advised that the Grants to Voluntary Environment, Sus-tainability and Heritage Organisations (GVESHO) which had been providing us with a few thousand dollars for administra-tion expenses over these past eight or nine years was to be axed in the 2014-15 Federal Budget.

Plans for redeveloping the Koala Care Centre were put aside for yet another year and the Strategic Plan did not progress as we had hoped. Both are well and truly on the agenda for the coming year.

The Management Committee’s term com-menced in September without a Secretary and within months Vice President Donna Graham had moved to a job in Far North Queensland. Julie Reid came on board at the January meeting as a general member

and Ros Irwin accepted the position of Vice President in March.

We are indeed fortunate to have a management team of such high calibre and commitment. My sincere thanks goes to Ros Irwin, Mark Wilson, Pat Barnidge, Lola Whitney, Susannah Keogh, Fiona Dawson, Donna Gra-ham, Julie Reid and Rick Stewart for your extraordinary hard work, your devotion to the cause and for your friendship through the year.

—Lorraine Vass

Save Ballina’s Koalas public meeting—

speakers: (l-r) Ian Radcliffe, Lorraine Vass, Dr Mehreen Faruqi, Dr Steve Phillips, Cr. Jeff Johnson

Management Committee: back row (l-r) Pat Barnidge, Lorraine Vass, Ros Irwin, Donna Graham, Mark Wilson. Seated (l-r) Rick Stewart, Susanna Keogh, Lola Whitney, Fiona Dawson.



Care Coordinator’s Report

T his past year saw the number of koalas admitted into care spring back to just over 300.

Sightings also increased, particular-ly of koalas assumed healthy. Some of these were females with young which is always encouraging. Also on the bright side, “dog en-counters” continued to decline. I hope the explanation is that the pub-

lic is becoming more responsible in containing and re-straining their companion animals. On the other hand car strikes have risen considerably, accounting for 56 mortalities. A few animals reported as hit we were unable to find (you will notice an extra col-umn in the table for unable to find/capture). When this

occurs it is very distressing for rescuers, as we know an injured animal left in the wild can face a very grim future. It is vital for the person re-porting car hits to stay with the animal if possible, to give us the best chance of achieving a rescue.

Too many car hits involved healthy females with pouch or back young. Regrettably most had to be euthanased because they were unviable or died despite our best ef-forts.

A handsome young 4 year old male, “Keeley” who was hit by a car in the Byron Shire and spent months in care at Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital (AZWH) was approved to enter the Species Management Program. Because of the radial nerve damage to one of his forelimbs, Keeley will now live out his days at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctu-ary. No wonder we try so hard to prevent these massive highway upgrades through known wildlife habitat. The consequences of more suffering for koalas and other species, not to mention the loss of pristine habitat, are unconscionable.

Three koalas from Clarence Valley WIRES were trans-ferred back for release into their home ranges. Two adults were lucky survivors of dog attacks. The other, a beautiful female orphan joey, named Tabitha was in homecare for four months. She spent two weeks in her soft release site before being released, looking fit and healthy.

For half the year we were without our most effective anti-biotic medication, Chloramphenicol. The manufacturer ceased pro-duction but finally AZWH was able to procure a lim-ited production run. It was an extremely difficult time for us (and our Queens-land colleagues), account-ing for the marked reduc-tion in the number of re-leases. We have been close to full capacity at the

Care Centre but the number of releases should be above average next year.

The last few months of the reporting period were partic-ularly sad for all our carers who work with the animals at the Koala Care Centre. We lost three of our much loved permanent girls: first Joanna in April, then Hera in May and finally gentle Rosalie in June. I am so grateful for the services of our local vets who talk us through why the difficult

Pat Barnidge



In Care Released Died

Dead on Arrival

Euth. Trans. Unable to

find/ capture

Advice

Injured (16) 1 3 9 3

Road strike (66) 3 7 36 13 1 6

Dog attack (14) 1 3 2 6 2

Diseased/Sick (213) 10 14 9 2 120 34 24

Health status unknown (77) 3 32 8 34

Healthy (incl.assumed) (310) 4 306

Orphans/joeys (21) 5 5 4 1 5 1

Permanent Care (4) 1 3

Totals (721) 16 27 27 76 156 4 51 364

Koala Care Statistics 1 July 2013 - 30 June 2014

Friends of the Koala attended to or had reported a total of 721

decision to euthanase is necessary. Animals we have grown to love cannot be kept for our benefit. It is a true act of love to let them go in a humane way to relieve their suffering.

Our involvement in the anti-Chlamydia vaccine project did not quite happen, the NSW scientific licence appar-ently accounting for the hold up. From what we hear about the field trials in Queens-land the delay may be to our ad-vantage as their refinement will make the procedure less oner-ous. We have been collecting fur sam-ples for Caroline Marschner, a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Veterinary Science of Sydney University. Caroline is attempt-ing to identify the presence of any pesticides ingested by koa-las from their food source. We have long wondered about this possibility and whether there is a correlation with the amount of disease we see in our koalas.

In closing I especially want to mention two members who always go above and beyond when it comes to koala care.

First, Lola Whitney, our Care Centre Coordinator: this wonderful lady has spent hours giving intensive treat-ment to Desley and a rather sick boy, Neil. Pap is ex-tracted from deceased koalas to help restore the gut flora of these sickly animals. It is very time consuming to administer but Lola patiently takes the time out of her already busy life to give these dear animals every chance.

Second, Treasurer Susannah Keogh who, apart from manag-ing our finances is forever con-ducting rescues and travelling backwards and forward to Cur-rumbin Wildlife Hospital (CWH) with sick animals. There have been occasions when no sooner has she arrived back at the Care Centre she been asked to do a turn-round journey with another koala. I give you both my heart-felt thanks, as well as to all the rescuers, carers, leafers and rescue phone people for your tireless work.

As always my grati-tude to local vets Ray Austin and Re-becca Knee for their time and expertise in diagnosing and dis-pensing medical treatment plans for our sick koalas. Thanks also to CWH and AZWH for their amazing and much appreciated services.

—Pat Barnidge

Caroline Marschner, Pat Barnidge and Sweetie

Desley (right) and her backyoung Dixie

Hand raised orphans Piper and Noah being released



Care Centre Coordinator’s Report sity of Sydney’s Faculty of Veterinary Science. TV media use the Care Centre for koala stories wherev-er possible and following the Save Ballina’s Koalas campaign launch in February 2014 filming was even more frequent. Channel 10’s Totally Wild crew filmed our work at the Koala Care Centre following a morning at Collins Creek Public School covering the Great Koala Count in November. We also hosted local film-maker Jimmy Malecki who had been commissioned by WIRES to produce a video on koala conservation for screening at a Mexican arts festival.

Events organised from the Koala Care Centre through the year included:

♦ Lismore Carboot Market Charity of the Day. Thanks to Market Manager Marny Bonner, Susannah Keogh and Mark Wilson for organising our annual fundraiser at Lismore Square in November.

♦ Friends of the Koala’s Christmas luncheon at Gos-sips Café in Lismore organised by Pat Barnidge and attended by 38 happy members.

♦ Participation in the Lismore Volunteering Expo at the Lismore City Library in May courtesy of Jane Tsicar-las, Heather Simpson, Bev Smith and Jane Konz.

♦ Participation in the Winter Solstice Lismore Lantern Parade in June organised by Julie Reid.

I wish to thank all our wonderful volunteers for their commitment, support and compassion. You are all very important to me. Many people put in long hours every day of the year. You know who you are and don’t need naming, however I’d like to acknowledge the supreme commitment of Care Co-ordinator Pat Barnidge who is on deck 24/7 rescuing and caring for koalas plus a mil-lion and one other things to help the koalas. Also, Heather Simpson who looked after the Roster when I took a week off earlier in the year, and our leaf team who sometimes travel far afield in their daily quest for good quality leaf.

Finally, thanks to our Lismore vets, Ray Austin and Bec Knee, at Keen Street Veterinary Clinic who dedicate their time and professional curiosity to the precious ani-mals we take to them at minimal cost. The excellent veterinary assistance we are offered locally, plus the specialist services of the Currumbin Wildlife Hospital and the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital, gives our li-censed rehabilitation work an enviably high level of pro-fessional veterinary supervision.

—Lola Whitney

I t’s my privilege to report on another year’s activities at the Care Centre. Tucked away in an urban koala cor-

ridor which also encompasses the adja-cent Southern Cross University cam-pus, the Centre is ideally located for its purpose and for the volunteers which are its lifeblood.

The weekly rostered koala care team numbers over 50 people these days.

They continue to be drawn from all walks of life and be-ing so close to the campus we attract quite a few over-seas students. Work placement agencies also refer cli-ents to us. Needless to say we are always adding and losing people which makes the long-serving core of our active membership so much more valuable.

Grounds and general maintenance work is undertaken by teams provided by other agen-cies when required. This year we were able to concrete the six small enclosures and to replace the perches. The Care Centre itself was re-painted and we have tried to free-up some much needed space by installing very stylish donated shelving and purchase of a closely matching stor-age cupboard.

Signage now identifies food tree species in the Centre’s grounds, additional trees were planted and much-loved Joanna, Hera and Rosalie, who had been in permanent care and who all succumbed within months of each other, were buried.

While the animals are the Care Centre’s focus, visitors are important. Whether or-ganised groups or individu-als we try to make every visit to the Care Centre a learning experience which will increase awareness and hopefully understanding of the koala’s plight and of the breadth of work Friends of the Koala does to nurture the individual animal and to conserve the species. International visitors man-age to find us most days of most weeks as does a

steady stream of councillors and politicians. We were especially pleased to welcome colleagues from the Great Eastern Ranges Initiative, the National Parks As-sociation of NSW the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, Team Koala, Koala Connections and the Univer-

Lola Whitney

More efficient shelving and cupboard storage

Tree signage courtesy of Richard White

Lantern Hera



O ur very welcome new-look website has rejuve-nated the group’s capacity for generating aware-ness and knowledge sharing about koalas. Nev-

ertheless, the 24/7 phone service continues to be the first port of call for many, receiving not only rescues and sightings but many inquiries about tree plantings. Good news for all wildlife.

On the down side our phone Hot-liners are fielding more and more calls regarding habitat destruction and hous-ing and other developments which will impact on koala habitat. Some calls are about animals that are in appar-ently dangerous locations and require relocation to safer areas nearby. “Safer” locations may only be a few food trees in fragmented pockets of habitat.

I am encouraged that so many members of the public are becoming aware of the plight of our wildlife and how concerned they are about the negative impact many development decisions have on koalas and other native animals.

The number of calls for rescues or sightings was some-what higher than for 2012/13 (see p. 7). Trauma calls continue to be the most difficult for Hot-liners to manage because callers are sometimes upset and not always listening to the advice being given. The phone team is trained to deal with such situations in a professional and considerate way.

We welcome Carolyn Latham back to our Hotline roster. After a few months off I think she “missed us” and is now back doing a day long Sunday shift. Thank you Carolyn, your help is appreciated.

The mild days in early winter kept the phone busy over this normally quiet period. Hot-liner Margaret Russell took six koala calls in one day, over half involving actual rescues. Margaret managed the phone calls and the rescues. Well done and thank you Margaret.

Our phone team welcomes on board members Bill Sheaffe and Ros Irwin who have taken on two night shifts and have also attended several rescues them-selves. Thank you Bill and Ros for jumping into what can be a difficult area of our work. It is also hugely re-warding, as you would agree from having already re-leased an animal.

To all the phone/rescue team, thank you for remaining faithful to the task. Hot-liners are at the frontline and without your commitment Friends of the Koala would not be able to function as well as it does.

—Pat Barnidge

Phone Coordinator’s Report

S everal members attended the Great Koala Count Community Workshops held at the Pottsville Envi-ronment Centre and Southern Cross University in

October. As well as outlining the project’s citizen sci-ence focus, training was provided in using the Bio Tag App and in recording and editing sightings.

The 2014 Basic Training Day presented by Barb Dobner was held on 1 March. It was well at-tended, attracting over 50 people from across the region. The new in-teractive scenarios for-mat was a resounding success.

Responding to a signifi-cant increase in koala sightings and admittanc-es, Barb was invited to deliver koala rescue and rehabilitation training in April to 40 members of

wildlife rescue groups servicing the greater Cooma-

Monaro region.

Dot Moller and others presented a Leaf Collection Train-ing Workshop in March.

Three Care Centre Shift Supervisors completed the Ap-ply First Aid Training Course offered through Northern Rivers Community Gateway in April.

Treatment training for Care Centre volunteers presented by Lola Whitney in May was attended by ten people.

We sincerely thank Bev Smith who, earlier in the year, had to stand down from the position of Training Officer.

In the coming year members will be surveyed on their training needs.

Training Report

Barbara Dobner presents



I t has been another great year for koala habitat and nursery activities and the results that are outlined

below are a credit to the FoK team of dedicated volunteers.

Nursery Operations

The nursery is running well with thanks to my regular nursery helpers, Erina, Hendrik, Bill, Gillian, Caroline and Simon. As you can see from the

output figures below, we have really stepped up to the mark to enable more trees to be produced and ultimate-ly end up in the ground. We still continue with sales at the Lismore Car Boot Market but our emphasis is now much more on koala food trees and other revegetation or habitat species.

To meet the demand for our trees, I am pleased to have sourced additional nursery space at Southern Cross Univer-sity Nursery (3,000 trees) and at the En-viTE Nursery (6-8,000 tree capacity). Many thanks to those two organisations.

Again a big thank you to Go Grow in Ballina who have continued to offer us heavily discounted potting mix for the nursery, and to Michael and Stephanie who donated $1,000 to the nursery through Landcare Australia to assist us in continuing to promote tree planting and environmental rehabilitation.

Tree Distribution

This year 2,916 trees were distributed free of charge to areas on the North Coast. This figure is nearly twice last year’s figure so is a pleasing trend and shows in-creased interest from landholders in wanting to plant koala habitat trees.

Tree Plantings

Approximately 965 trees were planted this year. The plantings were mainly to continue the establishment of koala food plantations in the district. We now have two new plantations planted in the Lismore area; 450 trees at Nesbitt Park in South Lismore, and 215 trees in park-land adjacent to Allambie Drive, Goonellabah. Both plantations are on land provided by Lismore City Coun-cil.

Tree Sales

Profit from the nursery this year was $10,047, which is double the profit from last year. This reflects the in-creased sales mainly due to sales generated from a number of koala habitat grants in the district.

Koala Habitat Projects

It has been a very busy and productive year with regard to koala habitat projects across the North Coast. FoK have been involved in many projects in the past year that have resulted in either koala trees planted and/or koala habitat regenerated and enhanced. These projects include:

♦ Koala Connections – Tweed/Byron Shires

♦ Lismore City Council Koala Project

♦ Tregeagle Landcare Koala Habitat Project

♦ Lismore High School – Sustainability Festival planting

♦ Wilson River Catchment Schools Education and Res-toration Project: Albert Park School

♦ Blue Hills College tree planting

♦ Threatened Species Week – tree planting at South-ern Cross University

♦ Caring for Our Country Grant – Hillcrest Reserve, Goonellabah

The Coming Year 2014-15 will be a busy and hopefully a productive year. We were very pleased to have been appointed two Green Army teams for six months each with the first team starting in September 2014. Our project “Assisting the recovery of koala populations on the NSW North Coast” involves:

The Green Army working alongside Friends of the Koala volunteers in their plant nursery to produce koala preferred food trees. These trees will be available to the public who wish to expand koala habitat on their properties and provide a consistent supply for other projects aimed at increasing habitat connec-tivity for koalas.

The team will control weeds and plant 3,500 trees on the Southern Cross University cam-pus and private land using a variety of guards to protect plantings from browsers. The effectiveness of the guards and species palatability will be recorded with results col-lated and used to plan future plantings. The team will distribute trees to the community

and participate in community education events and koa-la counts.

The second team commencing on 1st June 2015 will continue and build on the work described above.

—Mark Wilson

Mark Wilson

Trees Officer’s Report

Tregeagle Junior Landcare members at work.

KOALA FOOD TREE STATISTICS 2005-2014

The past nine-year’s tree statistics are detailed below together with

grand totals since 1990.

YEAR TREES TREES TREES TOTAL

ISSUED PLANTED SOLD TREES

2005/2006 2,048 785 500 3,333

2006/2007 2,431 410 220 3,061

2007/2008 3,469 680 960 5,109

2008/2009 3,576 24 1,121 4,721

2009/2010 1,885 2,550 170 4,605

2010/2011 3,108 490 480 4,078

2011/2012 2,042 865 370 3,277

2012/2013 1,682 1,100 619 3,401

2013/2014 2,916 965 4,109 7,990

TOTALS

(1990-2014) 78,985 19,215 26,436 124,636



H ow much leaf does a koala need? Leaf collectors pick ap-proximately 7 – 10 branches of

eucalypt leaf per koala per day. The average number of koalas in care at the Koala Care Centre at any one time is around seven or eight; hence the need for continuing to plan future koa-la food tree plantations. Dedicated plantations are now providing much of our leaf - a far cry from leaf collection when I began seven years ago. Leaf was collected mainly from road verges and parks.

The dry summer resulted in poor leaf quality generally through February. Good rains started at the end of March and gently continued to dampen the ground, keeping temperatures mild right through to June. The result was an extended growing season for our food trees - a boon for leaf collectors. Combined with the sea-sonal decrease in numbers of koalas in care, the job of leaf collecting was a relatively easy one this winter.

Long handled cutters are an essential part of the leaf col-lector’s activity. The equipment suffers much wear and tear from daily use. With this in mind, we are still keeping an eye out for the most efficient

and effective cutters. A new style of cutter (2WP brand) is being trialled alongside the cutters stocked in the Res-cue Van. So far the feedback has been positive. During the year two leafing events were organised: the Christ-mas Leafers’ Lunch at Riverbank Park in December; and a Leaf Collection Training Workshop in March (three presenters and ten participants discussed the intricacies of leaf collection in the SCU Herb garden).

I have enjoyed my three years or so in the position of Leaf Collection Coordinator. I have set up an interactive Roster system; instigated and conducted Leaf Collection Training workshops; formalized protocols for safety (including Rick Stewart’s invaluable assistance with de-veloping safety protocols for the Rous Water Plantation); and communication tools. I am happy to be leaving the position with an invigorated leaf collection program and the future looking assured for the supply of leaf to the Koala Care Centre.

Special thanks are overdue to John Stock, and Paul O’Donnell, for filling in on days when other leafers have not been available. Thank you to all the wonderful Leaf Collecting team for being such a great bunch of people to work with.

I look forward to continuing leaf collecting on my usual Saturday mornings – a special privilege.

—Dot Moller

Leaf Co-ordinator’s Report

Dot Moller

H illcrest Reserve is a six ha Council-owned site in urban Lismore containing primary koala habitat but dominated by weeds.

The challenge of improving east–west connectivity for koalas on the Northern Ridge prompted a partnership in which Lismore Council agreed to maintain the site in perpetuity in return for primary weed control and plant-ing by Friends of the Koala.

Following initial weed control and koala food tree plant-ing at the top of the site in 2012 funded by a Catchment Management Authority Small Grant (matched by Coun-cil), this year Friends of the Koala was successful in ob-taining a Community Environment Grant under the Fed-eral Caring for our Country programme to continue work on the reminder of the site.

As weed control got underway over the Summer a sur-prising discovery was made – out of the Lantana and other rubbish emerged some 30 planted food trees (E.teretecornis, e.microcorys, e.robusta), approximately 10 metres in height. Their wire guards were also found. The origins of this previous planting are still a mystery.

The planned restoration of approximately 2.5ha of dry rainforest over 18 months is on target for completion by February 2015 although the original aim to plant 500 koala food trees has been modified in light of the matur-ing precursors.

The expanding species list for the site notes occasional koala sightings and scats at the base of some of the eucalypts.

Lismore Council is slashing fire trails around the site and funding other maintenance work quarterly. A field day event is planned for the coming Summer and inter-pretive signage will be installed when the project is com-pleted.

Friends of the Koala is positioning itself for entering into similar, government-assisted habitat restoration part-nerships across the Northern Rivers.

Habitat Restoration Case Study: Hillcrest Reserve, Lismore

Launch of Lismore’s Comprehensive Koala Plan of Management for South East Lismore

Lismore Mayor, Jenny Dowell (centre) with Lismore City Council Environmental Strategies Staff (l-r) Damian Licari, Fiona Sinclair, Vanessa Tallon, John Turbill (Office of Environment & Heritage), Lorraine Vass and Koala Implementation Group Members, Vanessa Pelly, Chris Moran & Jim Kinkead

Dot Moller and members of the leafing team



Advocacy and Policy Reform

T he past year has seen the relentless push to erode biodiversity protections by the Federal and State governments gather momentum. Local gov-

ernment is caught up as well, witness the Northern Councils E Zone Review and stalling of the Byron Coast Comprehensive Koala Plan of Management which was on-track for Council approval in early 2014 and is still in limbo.

Regionally we have been actively involved in a variety of matters. These include negotiating with Hancock Farm Company regarding removal of windbreaks (including briefing the parent-company, Hancock Natural Re-sources Group) and a part-owner of land at Whian Whian logged under a private native forestry licence; attending workshops on wild dogs and koala protection and the consequences of the EZone review and report; providing koala information to anti-NBN tower cam-paigners; ongoing monitoring and responding to devel-opment applications (including the West Byron Bay Ur-ban Release Re-zoning and the Draft DCP North Lis-more Plateau Urban Release Areas applications); nudg-ing along Comprehensive Koala Plans of Management (their preparation in the case of Tweed, Byron and Balli-na and their implementation in Lismore’s case); taking to the streets in Lismore’s March in March; full-on cam-paigning on the Woolgoolga to Ballina Pacific Highway Upgrade.

In regard to State-level issues we continued beavering away with registering our concerns about the planning reforms, facilitating the Lismore stage of the Nature Conservation Council of NSW’s roadshow and meeting with Thomas George in October. We wrote submissions on the amendment to the Protection of the Environment Operation (General) Regulation 2009 which will allow

some native forest material to be burned for electricity generation, the Weed Management Review, the Threat-ened Species Priorities Action Statements (PAS), the Remake of the Coastal IFOAs Discussion Paper, the Draft Biodiversity Offset Policy, and the Draft Native Vegetation Self-Assessable Codes of Practice.

Our alarm at the NSW government’s assault on the Parks estate was such that we petitioned the Member for Page to urge her colleague, the Minister for the Envi-ronment to bring them under the protection of the Envi-ronmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). We also responded to the Draft Koala Referral Guidelines, the Kings Forest Residential Devel-opment Modification Requests to the Concept Plan and Stage 1 Project Approval and the Draft Assessment Bi-lateral Agreement between the Commonwealth and NSW and the Threated Species Commissioner’s Draft Terms of Reference.

All up, we wrote over 50 submissions and letters on poli-cy issues impacting on koalas. Many matters also in-volved meetings and all involved email and phone dis-cussions; in other words an enormous amount of time. Why do we do bother? Well, be-cause we hope our efforts will make a difference, and to en-sure that Friends of the Koala’s views are a matter of public rec-ord. If we and others like us do not participate in the public dis-cussion, the greedy simply get away with murder.

Our work addresses the conse-quences of the contradictions in human society as they are re-flected in government policy. While there is ample reason for pessimism, there is also cause for optimism. We need to be mindful that we are not alone; there exists a cohort of the willing who are chal-lenging greed and small-mindedness – they are all around us, sometimes in surprising places.

In concluding I would like to acknowledge working again with Hon. Life Member, Effie Ablett. These days Effie is Ballina Environment Society’s koala advisor. She repre-sents the Society on the Ballina Shire Comprehensive Koala Plan of Management Reference Group and she is part of our small Save Ballina’s Koalas Campaign Team which also includes Cr Jeff Johnsons (Co-ordinator), the Society’s Vice President, Lee Andresen and me.

As usual, special thanks to Ros Irwin, Mark Wilson, the Northern Rivers EDO Team, North Coast Environ-ment Council and North East Forest Alliance col-leagues.

—Lorraine Vass

Demonstrating outside Ballina Shire Council Offices

Speaking on Friends of the Koala motions put to the NCC Annual Conference

At Lismore’s March in March protest against the Federal Government’s performance on environmental issues



Media and Communications Report

R eaching people’s hearts as well as their minds is a big part of galvanising support for koala con-servation. It will take a well-informed, committed

and sustained community effort for koalas in the North-ern Rivers to thrive.

There is a long way to go in raising awareness, influ-encing attitudes, and in particular, changing behaviours – teaching people to understand what they are seeing and to act – notifying us would be a good start.

We strive for a learning outcome from everything we do, whether it is advice given via the Rescue Hotline, talk-ing to visitors at the Koala Care Centre, the courses and workshops we hold, presentations we make to commu-nity organisations and schools, the content of our publi-cations whether they are print or electronic, as well as chatting with people who stop by our stalls.

Media

Media exposure is important to Friends of the Koala as it provides an effective means of highlighting the issues in which we engage and promoting our koala conserva-tion work. We don’t subscribe to a media monitoring service and we do not have a measure of reach. The feedback we receive from media people is that koala stories generate high interest across the region. Through the year we issued 11 media releases in our own right plus two with other organisations. We also wrote six letters to the editor. All were picked up in vary-ing degrees. The Great Koala Count and particularly the Save Ballina’s Koalas Campaign generated very high media interest. The daily and weekly papers, regional television and the ABC Far North Coast and 2LM (radio) are all very generous in their coverage of stories we want brought to public attention.

The Nimbin Good Times continued to publish our monthly Koala Kolumn (now in its eighth year). Editorial has been written for The Northern Star, Northern Rivers Echo, Echonetdaily, Bowls Plus magazine, a few news-letters including In the Valley (Wilson Creek Huonbrook Landcare), the Village Journal and the Coraki and Dis-trict News, as well as one-offs, most notably Nature New South Wales (journal of the National Parks Associ-ation of NSW) and Bangalow Heartbeat. We are also very appreciative of the North Coast Trader which regu-larly runs free ads for us.

Presentations, Displays, Field Days, Workshops

Participation in public forums and presentations to com-munity groups, service clubs and schools play their part in raising awareness about koalas. Some of the events we presented at during the year were a Planning and Environment Forum in Byron Bay, a Koala Habitat Restoration Workshop in Nimbin, the Dorroughby Environment Education Centre & Taronga Zoo’s Mobile Zoo collaboration: Gliders, Frogs and Koa-las, the Annual Conference of the Nature Conservation Council of NSW where we moved two motions, the Wil-son River Catchment Schools Education and Restora-tion Project’s field days, the Lismore High School Sus-tainability Festival, two public information sessions on the Draft Byron Coast Comprehensive Koala Plan of

Management, Byron’s Koalas for year 9 Geography stu-dents at Byron High School, the launch of the Compre-hensive Koala Plan of Management for South-East Lis-more, the Caldera Environment Centre World Environ-ment Day celebration in Murwillumbah and the Nimbin Our Pets, Our Wildlife Seminar.

Publications Our two major publications are the quarterly newsletter Treetops and the Annual Report Both continue to be well received and with approximately 650 copies of each issue being distributed in hard copy or by email they remain the major vehicles for keeping members, supporters, partners and colleagues close to the full extent of our activities.

I warmly thank all who contribute to Treetops – those deadlines come around far too quickly and to the Annu-al Report. Thanks also to Desktop publisher, the ever-patient and reliable Robin Dadswell and Membership Officer, Loretta Younger who looks after their distribu-tion to members.

We also prepared an information flyer on advice we can provide to developers on koala-related matters.

Social Media & Website

The Facebook page continued to bloom this year, reaching 1,000 “Likes” in June, thanks to Susannah Keogh’s great work in showcasing the koala care part of our work. Regular followers clearly love looking at and reading about the patients and often compliment Susan-nah on her insightful commentary.

Another of Susannah’s projects, the new-look website, went live in March and again she has done a fantastic job, however finding the time to keep it up to date is proving to be difficult. The website is an important vehi-cle for communicating with the public and for receiving donations and other information or enquiries. Emails received are varied, ranging from nursery enquiries, people wanting to volunteer, koala sightings, habitat and development issues, information for school project to those ever-important donations.

During the year we accepted several requests to in-clude information about Friends of the Koala in other organisations’ websites and online news magazines here and abroad.

—Lorraine Vass

The Totally Wild film crew at the Koala Care Centre



Public Fund Report

Treasurer’s Report

F riends of the Koala, Inc. and its public fund, The Friends of the Koala Care Fund, were entered on the Register of Environmental Organisations in

1994. The Friends of the Koala Care Fund is endorsed as a deductible gift recipient and is entitled under the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, item 6.1.1 of subsec-tion 30-55(1) to receive tax deductible donations.

Membership of the Fund’s Management Committee re-mains unchanged: Patron, Margot Sweeny, and four members of the Friends of the Koala Management

Committee, Lorraine Vass (Chair), Mark Wilson, Susan-nah Keogh and Dr Ros Irwin.

The Committee is required to lodge a Statistical Return of Tax Deductible Donations for the financial year end-ed 30 June by 31 October of the same year.

Veterinary expenses of $3,978 were drawn down during the year. At 30 June 2014 the Fund balance stood at $78,258.

—Lorraine Vass (Chair)

A nother busy year is behind us, so let’s look at the numbers.

The utilities have undergone a number of changes with varied re-sults in the accounts. The good news is that our Telephone bill is down by about $1,800 and will re-main that way for at least another year based on a contract we negoti-ated last June.

Repairs and maintenance at the Care Centre have been significant including the concreting of all the quarantine koala runs. This project led to other expenses, the most obvious one being higher water usage for cleaning the new floors. After lengthy discussions and training with afternoon shift volunteers, the water rates, while still higher, are now at a more manageable level.

You will notice some new accounts regarding Grant fund spending – these figures do not represent the total amount of moneys spent resulting from Grants, they are simply a tally of funds spent on specific Grants that need to be monitored.

Our Banking accounts have been reorganised to reduce their number and gain benefit from their consolida-tion. The interest received was reduced as a result of the rearrangement but next year should show a consid-erable increase.

Every year I am pleasantly surprised at the generosity of our members and the general public. At the beginning of this financial year, Power Super Foods donated a hefty $5,000 which was spent on several projects during the year. Once again, our overseas friend

Susannah Keogh

NB: Nursery & Merchandise figures are net after expenses

Income $

Donations 23,597

Fundraising 1,224

Grants 46,269

Membership 3,160

Merchandise 1,509

Nursery 10,047

Interest 2,618

Sponsorship 1.875

Other 2,794

Alexander Vorobyev has been extremely generous and local artist Amanda Bromfield has promised and deliv-ered a percentage of her art sales to our group (as well as providing a piece of her art for fundraising) for which we are so grateful. We also receive donations through a website called ‘Greater Good Organisation’ which en-courages people (mostly in the U.S.A.) to make numer-ous small donations to various causes and this year, ours totalled over $2,300.

Regardless of whether it is time or money you donate to our group, it is all precious and necessary to continue to care for our gorgeous Northern Rivers koalas.

—Susannah Keogh

Expenses $

Telephone 3,531

Koala Care 8,368

Fuel/Travel AWH 6,499

Treetops 881

Vehicle Expenses 3,389

Care Centre Exp. 16,074

Other 19,534

A big thank you to Power Super Foods (Berry Pow-er Products Range)



Acknowledgements

Volunteers Around 120 members dedicate their personal time and resources to carry out the work of Friends of the Koala. In 2013-14 the volunteers in our membership contributed an estimated 17,500 hours to achieving our mission. 8,410 hours of these was logged in the Koala Care Centre. We cannot list every individual but we thank them all for their commitment and hard work. To those members who donate financially as well (and many do), either through the Support-a Koala program or in cash, again our sincere thanks.

Donors Sponsors and Partners Friends of the Koala gratefully acknowledges the following sponsors, partners and donors, for their generous financial and/or in-

kind support in 2012-2013.

1st Clunes Girl Guides

Australia Zoo Wildlife Warriors Worldwide Ltd (Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital) Barham, Jan

Biolink Ecological Consultants

Bromfield, Amanda

Caring for our Country (Community Envi-ronment Grants) Connelly, Fiona

Crocker, Claire

Currumbin Wildlife Hospital Department of Families, Housing, Com-munity Services and Indigenous Affairs (Volunteer Grants) Department of Sustainability, Environ-ment, Water, Population and Communi-ties (Grants to Voluntary Environment, Sustainability and Heritage Organisations) Dorroughby Environment Education Cen-tre

Elders Alstonville

Environmental Defender’s Office Ltd

EnviTE Environment Farmer Charlies (Lismore)

Special thanks also to our colleagues at Northern Rivers Wildlife Carers, Inc. Tweed Valley Wildlife Carers, Inc. and WIRES Northern Rivers and also to the Northern Rivers media who give us such wonderful support.

Gagnon, Michelle

Go Grow (Ballina) Goolmangar Public School Greater.Good.org

International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) Keegan, Greg

Keen Street Veterinary Clinic

Kinsley, Lucy & Steve McKinnon

Lazzarini, Vicki Lismore & District Workers’ Club

Lismore Car Boot Market Lismore City Council Lismore Visitors Information Centre

Mackay, Di Meeve, Jane

Michael & Stephanie (via Landcare Aus-tralia) Miconi, Marco

Mottek, Donna

Multitask Human Resource Foundation Ltd

Nature Conservation Council of NSW

North, Holly

Tree of Fame

Ruth Barratt OAM

Prof Peter Baverstock

Bert Berriman (deceased) Audrey Hyde

John Hyde

Sue Phillips

Dr Geoff Tomkins

Lorraine Vass Mark Wilson

Certificates of Appreciation

Australian Wildlife Hospital Currumbin Wildlife Hospital Fran Horstmann

David Keep

Honorary Life Members Dr Effie Ablett Richard Barratt (deceased) Ruth Barratt OAM Barbara Dobner Audrey Hyde John Hyde Alister Janetzki Patricia (Patty) O’Brien (deceased) Angela Owers Wendy Reynolds

Margaret Russell Dr Geoff Tomkins Lorraine Vass

Richard Vass Magda Verbeek Isa Webb Mark Wilson

Friends of the Koala

1996: Southern Cross University Vice Chancellor’s Special Award

2000: Australia Day Achievement Award, Environment Category, Lismore City Council 2006: Community Wildlife Conservation Award, Wildlife Preservation Society of Australia, Inc. 2010: NSW Volunteer of the Year Award, Northern Rivers Region Team of the Year 2012: Nature Conservation Council of NSW Outstanding Member Group 2013: Australia Day Award, Sustainable Environment, Lismore City Council 2014: World Environment Day Award (Conservation & Land Management), Byron Shire Council Members

1997: Ruth Barratt OAM (General Div. of the Order of Australia) 1999: Mark Wilson, Australia Day Award Environment Category, Lismore City Council 2001: Audrey Hyde, Australia Day Award Environment Category, Lismore City Council 2004: Dr. Geoff Tomkins, Australia Day Award, Environment Category, Lismore City Council 2006: John Hyde, Australia Day Award, Environment Category, Lismore City Council 2007: Kay Sherring, Australia Day Award, Environment Category, Lismore City Council 2009: Barbara Dobner, Australia Day Award, Environment Category, Lismore City Council 2009: Barbara Dobner, Animal Action Award, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) 2010: Kathryn Kermode, Australia Day Award, Community Achievement, Kyogle Shire Council 2011: Pat Barnidge, Highly Commended, Senior Category. NSW Volunteer of the Year, Northern Rivers Region 2013: Mark Wilson, Ziggy Megne Volunteer for the Environment Award, Nature Conservation Council of NSW

Awards Conferred on Friends of the Koala and Members Friends of the Koala-Award Recipients

North Coast Trader Northern Rivers Catchment Management Authority Environment Trust NSW Environmental Trust Lead Environ-ment Community Group Grant Program

Office of Environment & Heritage NSW

Power Super Foods

Rous Water Shearwater School Southern Cross University

Southern Cross University Library

Stavnitzky, Angelica

Summerland Credit Union

Sweeny, Margot Tweed Shire Council Volunteering Northern Rivers

Vorbyev, Alexander Wakefield, Ken

Wickenden, David

WildlifeLink (Tony & Lisette Lewis Foun-dation) Wyrallah Road Public School

Friends of the Koala Inc. PO Box 5034

East Lismore NSW 2480

Koala Care & Research Centre 23 Rifle Range Rd

Lismore NSW 2480 24 hr Rescue Hotline: (02) 6622 1233

email: [email protected] web: www.friendsofthekoala.org

facebook: like us!

Licensed by: Office of Environment and Heritage (NSW)

to rescue, rehabilitate and release koalas Licence No. MWL000100225

ABN 69322819171 Fundraising Authority CFN 17840

Documents

AGM14 - Friends of the Koala Inc. · 2016-09-28 · announced the 2013 Ziggy Megne Volunteer for the En-vironment Award. In June Friends of the Koala won the Conservation & Land Management