Treetops · Treetops may be your Christmas present. ... has held its last meeting for the year plus a bit of homework thrown in. The Spring quarter has

Licensed by the Office of Environment and Heritage to rescue, rehabilitate and release koalas—Licence No. MWL000100225. ABN. 69322819171

Fundraising authority CFN 17840 P.O. Box 5034, East Lismore NSW 2480 . Phone 02 6622 1233 . www.friendsofthekoala.org. The views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of ‘Friends of the Koala’ Inc.

What’s Inside

Treetops Jesse’s Story

J esse came into care on 7th November 2007. She was found on the ground

on Munro Rd Dunoon about 20 kms north of Lismore. Her coat was brown, she was thin, weak and covered in ticks. She weighed 2.3kg. I brought her home with me for a couple of days before tak-ing her up to the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital. Tests were needed to try and find out what was wrong.

Amber Gillett was her vet that day and I still remember it. Jesse was diagnosed with a heart murmur and pneumo-nia. She also had a PCV of 9. PCV (Packed Cell Volume) is a measurement of anaemia. For a healthy koala it should be in the range of around 30-

45. Most other species would not survive with a PCV be-low 10 but koalas being koa-las manage to do it – albeit they are a very sick koala.

Low PCV is a common sign of disease in our area. In most cases the koala has leukaemia or some other disease process going on. Sometimes it is caused by ticks or a blood parasite. With Jess, the anaemia was regenerative which I was told was a good sign and gave her a

chance. She was placed on supplements and sent home with me – I wasn’t at all confident.

Happily Jesse improved and within a month her PCV was within the normal range for a koala. She was still a bit thin with a body score of 6 so I kept her in care until this improved. She was re-leased a very healthy looking koala on

1st March 2008 on a property just off Dunoon Rd on the northern side of the village.

Late in the evening of 26th October this year the phone rang and Care Co-ordinator Pat told me one of the koalas I had cared for had come back in and would I like to come in first thing in the morning to have a look? The person who had called in thought the koa-la may have been hit by a car. There were no obvious signs

of injury and Pat wondered whether the “blood” seen coming from her ear, was in fact her red tag. ‘Of course I would be there first thing!!’

Jesse had spent the rest of the night in a room at the Care Centre. She was moving well but she was restless. Her body score was okay. From the look of her there was nothing seriously wrong. Being Sunday we decided to keep her at the Centre until a Vet could see her the following day. Besides, I already had several koalas at home. Jes-se had different plans. She tried to es-cape from the door and paced up and down the room wanting to get out. I drove back into town that afternoon and brought her home.

The transformation in her behaviour when I put her into my run was quite amazing. She went from being a bit of a stress-head to being like one of my home-cared joeys again. I would like to think it is because she felt at home, but who really knows?

The Vet scored Jesse’s health quite dif-ferently. She was anaemic again with a PCV of 17. Even worse, she had small cysts on her ovaries despite having no outward signs of chlamydia. Finding cysts on the ovaries of a female koala is unfortunately an automatic death sen-tence as they cannot be treated. In very rare cases we have had cysts removed surgically but the koala must then re-main in permanent care as it is infertile. It is a long process with strict require-ments for which there are good reasons.

What to do? We couldn’t bring our-selves to euthanase her straight away so we devised a plan in which we would first address the low PCV, then the cysts.

Jesse was given supplements (which she lapped up enthu-siastically as if she was an infant again) and medica-tions, however her PCV did not improve. Within two weeks she also developed clinical signs of cystitis and lost weight despite having supplements and ravenously eating leaf. An ultrasound showed the cysts had dou-bled in size. In such a short time-frame this was not a

good sign. Jesse was quietly put to sleep.

I brought Jesse home again, this time to rest in peace under a tree.

Jesse had 5½ years in the wild she would not have had if it was not for the care she had received when first admit-ted as an infant. Over that time she trav-elled around 16km as the crow flies alt-hough I am sure she

—continued page 2

» President’s Message ..................................... 2 » Care Coordinator’s Report ........................... 3

» Joey Releases ............................................... 4

» Koala Care Statistics .................................... 4

» Care Centre Co-Ordinator’s Report .............. 5

» KIDRG Research ......................................... 6

» Dates for your Diary ..................................... 6

» Wildlife Rescue App. ................................... 6

» The Great Koala Count................................. 7

» Small schools, leading the way..................... 8

» Advocacy and Policy Reform Report .......... .9

» Tweed Byron Koala Connections Project.. .10

» Leafers’ Thankyou .................................... .10

» Meet Your Committee ............................... .11

» Member Profile – Lyn Isbester .................. 11

» Koalas Endangered by Complacency ......... 12

» From the Nursery ....................................... 13

» Bulletin Board ............................................ 14

» Application/Renewal Form ........................ 15

» Contact Details ........................................... 15

Jessie in pre-release in early 2008

Jessie in care , November 2013

Page 2 Friends of the Koala 1989 - 2013 - 24 years of licensed koala rehabilitation

Treetops … the Newsletter of Friends of the Koala Inc. December 2013

President’s Message Biomedical Innovation can’t come quick enough for us, especially since we’re hearing that the trials in Queensland are going well.

December usually means a bit of a recap on the year and 2013 has certainly been memorable. Here are a few highlights:

• Friends of the Koala voted Lismore City Council’s 2013 Australia Day Sustainable Environment Award win-ner.

• Approval by the NSW Department of Planning & Infrastructure of the Comprehensive Koala Plan of Man-agement for South-East Lismore, although the Koala Advisory Group which will oversee the Plan’s imple-mentation has only recently been ap-pointed and is due to meet on 9 De-cember.

• 17 koalas admitted within a week due to Ex-Tropical Cyclone Oswald. Abandoned back-youngs Dexter and Wally have since been released.

• The Region’s koala junkies flocking to the Ecology Workshop presented by Ross Goldingay and Steve Phillips in February (fantastic turn-out!).

• Releasing the Friends of the Koala QR Code.

• Contemplating our future at the Strategic Planning Workshop.

• Attending the 3-day National Koala Conference in Port Mac-quarie with Lola, Sue, Sally, Jo, Ros and Bill.

• The windfall that came our way from the wind-up of the North-ern Rivers Environment Trust.

• Relieving Indigo of her track-ing collar (at last) and re-

releasing her in good shape back into Goonellabah

• Cleaning up Jack’s awful conjunctivi-tis (although the unfortunate fellow has suffered a bit of a relapse and is back with us).

• The Koala Care Centre’s face-lift.

• Securing a Caring for our Country Community Environment Grant to continue restoring and connecting primary koala habitat in urban Lis-more’s Hillcrest Reserve.

• Working with schools via the Wilsons River Catchment Schools Education & Restoration Project (and others).

• Trees Officer Mark Wilson’s, great work recognised by the NCC’s 2013 Ziggy Megne Volunteer for the Envi-ronment Award.

• High regional participation in the successful NSW Great Koala Count (we accounted for more than half the koala records!).

• Friends of the Koala’s Facebook page up to well over 800 “likes” – more than double this time last year.

A nother year’s end is fast approach-ing and at the rate I’m going Treetops may be your Christmas

present. I was hoping to get to this issue in the last week of November but it seems that every organisation with which Friends of the Koala is affiliated has held its last meeting for the year plus a bit of homework thrown in.

The Spring quarter has been particularly busy. Lots of animals, the AGM, Whian Whian, the NCC Annual Con-ference, a few plant-ings, a bit of filming and media, grant ac-quittals, the Great Ko-ala Count, the Lismore

Car Boot Market Charity of the Day, Vice President Donna’s farewell, Uni-versity of Sydney PhD student Caroline Marschner’s visit, the usual submission deadlines, the Wildlife Council, and our Christmas lunch. The “to do” list is longer than ever.

Elsewhere, particularly in the Blue Mountains and the Hunter, koalas have been in big trouble. Early bushfires con-sumed many parts of the State. Our thoughts were and remain with our koala-caring colleagues who are dealing with the consequences of those fires and the poor burned creatures that are still un-dergoing treatment.

While we felt ourselves very fortunate to have escaped that particular ordeal, our Northern Rivers koalas continue to drop like flies. There have been in excess of 80 mortalities over recent months, due overwhelmingly to disease. More is said about this in Pat’s Care Co-ordinator report (pp.4-5).

In Jesse’s Story (p.1), Barb Dobner rais-es the issue of apparent health (absence of overt physical signs of disease) at the same time diagnostic testing demon-strates its presence. We have long spec-ulated on the true extent of disease in our Northern Rivers koalas, believing that it constitutes a key threatening pro-cess in the circumstances of our particu-lar region.

We roll our eyes hearing the constant reference to road and dog attack mortali-ties being the real threats to koala sur-vival. We accept that disease is normal in the condition of any species, however when its incidence is as high as we be-lieve it is, then disease cannot be the afterthought it’s so often assigned.

The Chlamydia vaccine trials to be con-ducted by QUT’s Institute of Health &

Lorraine Vass

• Online publication of Home range areas of koalas in an urban area of north-east New South Wales by Ros Goldingay and Barbara Dobner

http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/AM12049

• Getting together for Christmas lunch (thanks Pat).

Every year is a busy one in koala con-servation. The work on all fronts, wheth-er rescue and rehab, habitat enhance-ment, policy development, advocacy, community education, governance or admin is relentless. I sincerely thank all of you who have invested so much of your lives to our work through the year. We share the low points and try to re-member to celebrate the victories but the real reward is knowing that if we were-n’t doing what we do, and all those other koala champions working in the clinics and hospitals, in the field, in the labs and raising awareness, weren’t doing what they do, our koalas would be in a lot worse shape.

I trust you’ll find plenty of interest in this issue of Treetops and that this Holi-day Season is safe, joyful and restoring.

—Lorraine Vass

did it in a roundabout way. I found it interesting that

she went from being in pretty good hab-itat at release to being found in marginal habitat – maybe this is because she was sick so could be pushed out by the oth-ers?

Another point of concern is that she didn’t actually look that sick when she came in the second time. However it became quite obvious, over a short time, she was coming down with acute dis-ease. As always it makes me wonder how many sick versus healthy koalas we actually have out there.

I am also SO glad we are required to tag all our released koalas because if it had not been for her tag we would not have known Jesse’s history.

Thank you Jesse for helping me learn. —Barb Dobner

Home-carer

—from page 1

Christmas lunch at Gossips Café, Lismore

Friends of the Koala 1989 - 2013 - 24years of licensed koala rehabilitation Page 3


him but he decided it was not to his taste and went back out to find his own food.

As fate has it, Barbara now has another four joeys: Sabrina who has been in care for a few weeks; Tuppence who came in at 500gms; Tabitha, a female from the

Clarence; and Missy, the most recent arrival. The cycle of milk/paste feeds and leaf-cutting starts again!

Another of our home carers, Jenny Graham recently lost her little joey from the Clarence. Gumnut came in at 427gms and after a rocky start had started to thrive when he took a turn for the worse and died

suddenly before Jenny could get him to Currumbin Hospital. He had contracted an aggressive bacterial infection in his lungs. He had been three months in care and our thoughts were with Jenny be-cause his death occurred so unexpected-ly.

We had a tagged koala named Alex come back into care in August. He had been released in March 2012 after being

treated for conjunctivitis. This time he had a badly torn claw that had become infected. After going to Currumbin for surgery he was back at the Care Centre when his weight started to drop quite dramatically. He was re-turned to Currumbin and it was discov-ered he had gone into renal failure and had to be euthanased. At least Alex was a good age at 10 years.

Another tagged animal named Mulberry was rescued in a very poor, emaciated condition and euthanased. He had been released 5 years earlier. Della, a female who was released with a pouch young in February 2012 in the Wardell area was found deceased not far from her original rescue site. Esther, another female who had been released in February 2011 was also found deceased. We had a very old female who was aged at over 15 years also rescued in surprisingly good condi-tion, however she presented with bi-lateral cysts and was euthanased.

A particularly bitter-sweet rescue was one of Barbara Dobner’s hand raised

joeys, named Jesse (see cover story) that had been released in March 2008. We know that she had borne young as she had been sighted a couple of years after her release with back-young. On this occasion she was rescued after it was thought that she had an injury to her ear, which turned out to be her red ear-tag!! Jesse looked to be in excellent condition and had no outward sign of disease. However her blood count was quite low and Barbara took her into home care.

Jesse quickly took to the treats Barbara gave her, ie paste and vitamin supple-ments. In her second week of care she developed cystitis and started to lose weight. On a return vet check it was discovered that bi-lateral cysts had de-veloped. She was euthanased. Even though it was a sad end it was comfort-ing and encouraging for Barbara to know that the very sick joey who came to her in 2007 had over 5 years of life in the wild and had bred.

During this reporting period, some of our much anticipated releases were: King, a lovely boy getting on in years

but we’re confi-dent that we’ve extended his life by a few more; Harold, a gorgeous 9 year old boy who delighted us all when we heard the day after his release he was seen sitting with a girl in the next tree (so he must still have what it takes); Damian, a car strike and a very hand-some young male released in to good habitat; Mackie was also a serious car hit and after spending some time at AZWH, he was released near his point of rescue but well back from the road; Paula came in presenting with bi-lateral conjunctivitis and to our amazement she didn’t have cysts! She was released back into her home range at Myocum.

In late October Susannah and I were invited by Jo Green from Koala Connec-tions to conduct a koala information session at Gondwana Sanctuary at Tyagarah. This beautiful oasis took our breath away - to see what a small group of people dedicated to habitat restoration can do!

W hat a busy three month period it’s been on all fronts for many of us

involved in the rescue, release and care of koalas. The statistics speak for them-selves: 296 koalas reported to our hotline, almost double the number of the previous report-ing period.

The increased activity of our furry friends means many call-outs result in sad outcomes. The number of euthanasias has been quite high. Disease has been the main reason for the demise of many koalas.

Chlamydia is a sexually transmitted, debilitating disease and most koalas in the Northern Rivers koalas are plagued by it. Outward signs of chlamydia are conjunctivitis of the eyes and cystitis in the animal’s urinary and genital region. Caught early these symptoms can be quite successfully treated with antibiot-ics, however due to koalas being arbore-al, their condition most often goes unno-ticed. Even when it is reported it can still be difficult to catch these sick animals at a stage early enough for us to success-fully treat.

By the time we are called in the koalas are usually sitting on the ground too sick to climb and the disease has progressed to a point of no return for us to save them. It’s particularly sad in rescued females because they nearly all present with ovarian cysts which means they are unable to breed. Without hu-man intervention they die a slow painful death. In the New Year two of our younger male rescuers are enrolling in a tree climbing course which we hope will increase the number of animals we can get to earlier.

The high incidence of car hits in this quarter is probably due to the rescues in the Byron Shire around the Pacific High-way upgrade in the St Helena-Bangalow area. Koalas and other wildlife are be-ing reported in a disoriented and con-fused state due to the high volume of activity associated with these roadworks.

On a more positive note the number of [apparently] healthy sightings is also high and quite a few of these have been females with young.

Home carer, Barbara Dobner soft-released four hand-raised joeys: Dexter, Wally, Piper and Noah in October. Dexter returned to the soft release tree a week later. Barbara put out some leaf for

Pat Barnidge

—continued page 4

Harold

King

Mackie


Treetops … the Newsletter of Friends of the Koala Inc. December 2013 Nearly 40 people attended and hopefully we were

able to pass on our knowledge of koalas. We were given a tour of the grounds and it was heartening to see the current pro-jects that are being conducted with the planting of so many koala food trees and other species of native vegetation. We wish Jo Green and Bela Allen a big thank you for organising this lovely day along with a very yummy morning tea.

We have four boofy boys at the Care Centre currently undergoing treatment along with our four permanent girls who are all doing well, particularly Sweetie who has passed Joanna in weight and now weighs 5.2kg.

Quite a few of us (38 in fact) celebrated our Christmas lunch a week or so ago. It was lovely to socialize and enjoy the company of people who all have one thing in common – our love of koalas.

Wishing everyone a very merry Christ-mas and a happy, healthy New Year.

Finally, I think we are in for a long hot summer, so remember to keep water out for all our wildlife and happy koala spotting.

—Pat Barnidge

In Care

Released Died Dead on Arrival

Euth. Trans. Unable to capture

Advice

Injured (4) 4

HBC– Road strike (25) 1 3 1 13 3 1 3

Dog attack (5) 2 1 1 1

Diseased/Sick (75) 4 3 1 44 1 22

Health status un- known /unrecorded (24)

11 1 12

Healthy/Assumed Healthy (149)

2 147

Orphans/joeys (10) 4 4 1 1

Permanent Care (4) 4

Totals (296) 15

12 4 25 52 2 5 181

Koala Care Statistics 24 August 2013 – 21 November 2013

Friends of the Koala attended to or provided advice on a total of 296 koalas

—from page 3

Dexter the day after his release

Noah and Wally the day after their release

Noah, Wally, Dexter and Piper were released in October. Noah and Piper had been in care since November 2012. Wally and Dexter since February 2013.

Wally and Dexter were very sick when they came into care during the long peri-od of rain we had at the beginning of the

year. Both had pneumonia.

Joey Releases Noah was sick and very young at 410g. Piper was still with her mother. She had been hit by a car and unfortunately did not make it so Piper was also hand raised. The three boys have been spotted since release. Piper took off on the first night and has not been seen again. Let's hope they live long lives out there in the wild.

—Barbara Dobner

Piper and Noah being released

Wally and Dexter at release

Workshop participants enjoying a break



Care Centre Co-ordinator’s Report

H ello everyone. Christmas is almost upon us. As usual, getting ready for

the festivities must be fitted around work at the Care Centre. Regardless of the time of the year, our patients still need to be cared for and always come first. It’s been a hectic time for koala admit-tances and sadly, many have not survived.

Since September thirteen new vol-unteers have be-come carers, tak-ing the number of people working at the Koala Care Centre to fifty each week. Friends of the Koala members who volunteer at the Care Centre work on rostered shifts. They start off doing afternoons, shadowing an experienced carer. Some people prefer to stick to an afternoon shift; others want to learn treatments which occur on the morning shifts. On completion of four months the volunteer can choose. All our Care Cen-tre carers are important. They work in teams which rely on their loyalty and commitment.

The past few months has seen quite a lot of maintenance work carried out at the Centre. The most impressive has been cementing the floors of the six smaller outside en-closures and building new perches. It was a big job done over a very short time; I’d say one of the quickest ever undertaken at the Care Centre.

As it turned out, timing was very nearly perfect because within days of completion the number of koalas need-ing to be accommodated rose dramati-cally. My thanks to everyone who worked around the concreter making the dividers and flaps, those who cut the

Lola Whitney

logs for the perches and those who built them. Cleaning has become a lot easier.

Another project which I mentioned last time, has been the installation of new shelving in the Centre. When completed it will enable better display of our mer-chandise and also free-up much needed space. While it has taken us a while to get the work up and going, we’re nearly there now. Thank you to Vicki Lazza-rini who donated the shelving and to Susannah Keogh and Bill Sheaffe for organising and in-stalling.

A team of our won-derful leafers sets out each morning to travel the district looking for the best leaf to feed our koalas. The work under-pins the care we provide to animals at the Care Centre. I thank Co-ordinator Dot Moller, the leafers and the private and public landholders who make their prop-erties available for leaf harvesting.

Additional to our normal volunteers we’ve had the benefit of a Tursa team over the past five weeks.

Under the capable leadership of Tony Meredith team mem-bers have worked two hours a week tidying the grounds

(even cleared the Care Centre roof of leaves), and assisting Mark Wil-son in the plant nursery. Well done everyone; you’ve made a real dif-ference.

Visitors to the Care Centre over recent months have included people from the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, the Great Eastern Ranges Ini-tiative and Questacon, the National Science & Tech-nology Centre. We’ve also

hosted a couple of film crews, local film-maker Jimmy Mal-ecki who was making a video on koala conservation for an arts festival in Mexico and the production team of Channel 10’s Totally W ild. It’s ten years

since our work has been featured on Totally Wild; all being well the piece should go to air in February.

The Christmas luncheon held at Gossips Café in Lismore at the end of November was a huge successful. Thirty-eight peo-ple came and we all enjoyed ourselves. Care Co-ordinator Pat Barnidge de-serves a big round of applause for organ-ising our social get-togethers and espe-cially for the inventive games she con-

trives for our en-tertainment.

A special thanks to our President, Lorraine Vass and Care Co-

ordinator Pat for all the hard work they do to help make a difference for our koalas.

I wish all of our wonderful volun-

teers a fantastic Christmas this year. May you all stay happy and safe. Thank you for all you do.

Merry Christmas!

— Lola Whitney

Roy Johnson (l) and Peter Bale, building new perches

Bill Sheaffe and the new display shelving

TURSA team members working at the Care Centre

Totally Wild sound/camera man Glen and volunteers, Elizabeth Gianneas (l) and Heather Simpson



It’s at least a couple of years since we’ve heard about the work of the Koala Infectious Diseases Research Group (KIDRG). Meeting up with some of the crew at the National Koala Conference in May provided an opportunity for kick-

starting re-engagement. Both Damien Higgins and Mark Krockenberger were quick to introduce their promising PhD students. Happily, one of them, Caroline Marschner is already involving us and others in the Northern Rivers in her pro-ject, “Koala's adaptation to plant tox-ins”. Through Caroline we expect to be hearing much more about the important koala research being undertaken in the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Veteri-nary Science. In the meantime here is a summary from Damien.

I t is a busy time in the University of Sydney Koala Infectious Diseases

Research Group, with some projects coming to an end, and other new pro-jects starting up.

Quintin Lau recently completed his PhD on the diversity of MHC genes of koa-las, which are important genes in disease resistance. His findings add extra weight to the need to preserve the im-portant genetic diversity within koala populations in NSW and Queensland, through conserving koala numbers and continuity of habitat.

Lisa Black and Benjamin Kimble are

nearing completion of their PhD studies on drug metabolism on koalas. Lisa has determined the rates of elimination for several drugs used in treatment of koalas, and the antibiotic con-centrations that are needed to kill koala Chlamydia pecorum, while Benjamin has uncovered some fasci-nating differences in the abilities of koalas, ringtail possums and brushtail possums to break down drugs in their liver; probably related to the toxins in their diet that they have evolved to deal with. A/Prof Merran Govendir is contin-uing to lead Ashlie Kelsall, Christie Budd and Fumie Tokonami in more in-vestigations into absorption and metabo-lism of new drugs for the treatment of koalas.

In a new collaboration between A/Prof Mark Krockenberger and the University of Western Sydney’s Dr Ben Moore, our newest PhD candidate, Caroline Marschner is investigating the interac-tions of the koala’s amazing metabo-lism, eucalypt toxins and tree quality, pesticides and koala health. She recent-ly made a visit to Friends of the Koala at Lismore, and we are very grateful for

KIDRG News

18 January 2014: Friends of the Koala Management Committee Meeting, 2pm. SCU. 19 January 2014: Friends of the Koala Stall, Lismore Car Boot Market, Lis-more Square

February 2014: Friends of the Koala Basic Training Day Details to be ad-vised

7 February 2014: Deadline for submis-sions on the Draft EPBC Act referral guidelines for the Koala (combined pop-ulations of Queensland, NSW and the ACT) 16 February 2014: Friends of the Koa-la Stall, Lismore Car Boot Market, Lis-more Square

25 February 2014: NSW Wildlife Council 31

st General Meeting, OEH

Hurstville

Contributions due for Treetops (March issue)

Dates for your Diary

the help and hospitality she received, and the important help Friends of the Koala are giving to her project.

After years of hard work by past members of our group and, for the past year, PhD can-didate Iona Ma-her, we have had a break-through that allows us to examine the immune system of the koala like

never before.

Until now we have only been able to examine this important cross-road between health and disease through a keyhole. With the new meth-ods we have developed, Iona and Caro-line, with our collaborators at the Uni-versity of Queensland and University of Western Sydney will be embarking on long awaited studies; investigating what roles factors such as habitat, stress, and Koala retrovirus (KoRV) play on koala’s susceptibility to Chlamydial, and other, disease.

—Damien Higgins

Koala Infectious Disease Research Group

Faculty of Veterinary Science

The University of Sydney

Caroline Marschner and Pat Barnidge admiring Sweetie



W hile the Great Koala Count wasn’t the initiative of Friends of the

Koala, we certainly threw our weight behind getting it up and running in NSW.

When we learned about the South Aus-tralian Great Koala Count last year, we were stunned. It was such a good idea for generating interest in koala conserva-tion and it attracted such great media support. I can remember emailing a cou-ple of people in OEH even before the Count got underway asking if NSW was going to pick it up. No response of course but at the beginning of February I received a phone-call from a woman with a strong Irish accent and an unpro-nounceable name who said she was em-ployed by the National Parks Associa-tion of NSW to organise a similar Koala Count in NSW. Brilliant! We arranged to meet for lunch at the end of February (I don’t visit Sydney often), and the rest is history.

It’s still something of a mystery to me how Gráinne (pronounced Gronya) Cleary and her Sydney-based team came together but by mid-year the team had expanded to include the Border Ranges Alliance which is part of the

Great Eastern Ranges Initiative. The Great Koala Count Northern Rivers Working Group was formed.

I guess Friends of the Koala’s early com-mitment to the Count ensured that the organisers chose the Northern Rivers region to be the pilot’s focus. Their con-fidence was well-founded because by far the biggest concentration of participants was in our region. We contributed more than half the total number of koala rec-ords over the 11 day event. Clearly we are a community concerned about the future of our koalas and already closely engaged in their conservation.

Verification of the lodged records is nearing comple-tion. Some of you will have received an email or phone-

call from Gráinne checking a co-

ordinate or other detail. The next stage will be analys-ing the data. The report promised to all participants is well on track for release in February.

For the inaugural NSW Count to have

got up in less than 12 months I think is a great effort. Sure, some things were a bit wobbly and there are still issues needing to be addressed with the tech-nology but all in all, it worked.

We put a lot of time into organising our end and that involvement is con-tinuing. We’ve recently provided feed-back and we are assisting in the data verification and analysis processes.

From a personal perspective I spent as much time as I could af-ford during the Count searching for koalas in areas in my extended lo-cality (Wyrallah-Tregeagle-Tucki-Tuckurimba-Rileys Hill) I hoped wouldn’t be searched by others. Apart from two occasions, once when I was with Jane Baldwin and the other with Rick, I searched alone. I/we recorded a lot of ani-mals but I have to say it was heart-breaking to see so many of them display-ing visible signs of dis-

ease. Now that the Count is finished I’m back in front of my computer but I’m wondering whether that’s really the best place to be; a hard call indeed.

I think the Count has got a few of us thinking about new possibilities for broader community engagement. I’d

The Great Koala Count

GERI’s Jane Baldwin out counting

Jane Baldwin, Lorraine Vass, Gráinne Cleary and Tandi Spencer-Smith at the GKC Work-shop in Lismore

379 109 79 53 36 6

Raw data for the Northern Riv-ers from the Count.

539 records submitted by 124 recorders. (NPA Koala Count)



also suggest that Friends of the Koala has benefitted from the strong media interest (the Totally Wild production team visited the Koala Care Centre a few weeks ago) and from working on the project within the framework of the Bor-der Ranges Alliance.

So, I’d like to say thank-you to everyone who took part in the 2013 Great Koala Count. Because of your involvement and the regional media’s great support, the National Parks Association and the Great Eastern Ranges Initiative have declared it a resounding success. What’s more, planning a bigger and better 2014 Count is already underway.

The story that follows has been written by Jane Baldwin, facilitator with the Great Eastern Ranges Border Ranges Alliance. Jane did a fantastic job co-

ordinating the Count’s promotion in the Northern Rivers.

The two of us and work experience stu-dent, Rachael, visited Collins Creek Public School in late November to shoot a story with the Ten Network's Totally Wild program about the NSW Great Koala Count. The story will air in Febru-ary 2014.

—Lorraine Vass

Small schools, leading the way

A failure to read directions before we departed led to the three of us tak-

ing somewhat the long way round to Collins Creek. A right hand turn off the main road and over the railway line, Col-lins Creek Road snakes its way up the valley floor alongside Fawcetts Creek and into the Collins Creek Valley in the foothills of the Border Ranges National Park, from which Collins Creek flows.

This is the kind of place I would describe as old country, simply because you will find families who have been here for genera-tions, living on the same land. Times are changing how-ever. Farms are still large but families, seem-ingly, are not. Once a thriving dairy community, the predominant landuse is now grazing with some crop-ping and the occasional horticultural enterprise. Collins Creek might officially be a

'Small School' but the kids are larger than life. Blessed with the freedom that coun-try life brings, they are inquisitive and at ease with the environment that surrounds them.

We arrive at the front of the brightly painted school building, established in 1919 and lovingly conserved, sitting on a block of land no bigger than handkerchief in the scheme of things. Within this small space, the kids of Collins Creek have learnt a huge amount about caring for the environment.

While we wait for our other guests to arrive, Ms Carter, the School Principal, is eager to talk about the school’s environ-mental achievements.

"We have planted native trees for habitat around the bottom boundary of the school yard and have been rewarded for our ef-forts with an abundance of wildlife now visiting the school," she says.

"My students have made short animal evidence videos about all the wonderful wildlife we have seen, such as breeding pair of Tawny frogmouths, koalas, goan-nas, wallabies, snakes, land mul-lets, water dragons and the white-

faced heron.

"We've also made a 3 minute animation on food mileage and are very environmentally aware with a 10kWh solar sys-tem, veggie gardens and a food forest which our Groundskeeper, Mr Harley, helped plant.”

Like many rural schools, the stu-dents of Collins Creek Public School are nurtured like family, and together with parents and school supporters, the school offers a great learning environment for

them.

"We have a beautiful school environment," says Ms Carter "with lots of excellent learn-ing activities which focus on science , music, the arts and of course literacy and numeracy".

Surrounded by forested ranges,

the school sits in a valley of cleared land, dotted with single paddock trees and small patches of bush.

It’s a fragmented landscape. What strikes

me while we are standing there, is that Collins Creek school is living the Great Eastern Ranges Vision.

In their own small way, they are doing what they can to restore and connect habitat for the sake of the species that depend on it. They join a growing con-tingent of people working together to link and protect healthy habitats from western Victoria through NSW and ACT to far north Queensland and are actively contributing to continental-scale conser-vation.

What's more, they are keen to get the rest of the Collins Creek community involved, particularly when it comes to protecting their beloved resident koalas. "We have been thinking about talking to our school neighbours to see if they would be willing to plant koala corridor trees to help our koalas move more freely between our school yard and the forested ranges to the east and west," Ms Carter says.

"We'd also like to get Kyogle Council's help to put up some koala road signs to remind motorists that koalas frequently cross our roads," she says.

Our day with Collins Creek Public School was terrific. We were warmly welcomed and the students enjoyed par-ticipating in the Totally Wild film shoot about this year's Great Koala Count which took place between November 7 and 17.

"It was really great that Lorraine from Friends of the Koala came along as well to give the kids a talk on how to tell a sick koala from a healthy animal and what to do if you think a koala may need help. That knowledge will help the stu-dents be koala custodians for life" Ms Carter says.

—Jane Baldwin

Collins Creek Public School with the Totally Wild Produc-tion Team and us

Totally Wild’s Duane Strauss with students



I t’s been a long and tiring year on the advocacy/policy reform front. Fore-

most in my mind is the laboured pro-gress of Tweed and Byron’s comprehen-sive koala plans of management, the independent review of environmental zones in North Coast LEPs, the uncer-tainty of the NSW planning ‘reforms’ to provide even the present level of protec-tion to koala habitat, the EPA’s need for yet more consultation on habitat issues in the PNF Code and the length of time it’s taken to come up with EPBC Act final draft referral guidelines.

Dailan’s piece (pp. 12-13) succinctly expresses much of the frustration that plagues everyone working in koala con-servation and alludes to the broader is-sue of the sleaziness which is envelop-ing our democracy. One has to question whether lobbying, making submissions, visiting local members, organising peti-tions and so on makes much, if any dif-ference. Too often the agenda appears to be already set regardless of what the community wants.

In his recent piece, Invasive Gasfields: The people vs Metgasco (Round 2) Ai-dan Ricketts reminded us that non-

violent civil disobedience is the key to participatory democracy; that the theory of change behind blockades, is “not that each and every blockade will succeed in holding back the state force being exert-ed against us, it’s that in the moment of resistance we reveal the states bottom line, that it is prepared to impose this industry onto our population by force. We reveal the hypocrisy of the power holders for all to see and as they are exposed they suffer political damage. They think they can overwhelm commu-nities with force, but if communities persist the government finds itself caught in a politically and economically damaging cycle. The truth is that gov-ernments are vulnerable politically and corporations are vulnerable economical-ly but communities, whilst we are vul-nerable are also persistent, we are not going to go away.”

The private native forestry debacle at Whian Whian saw Friends of the Koala and others petitioning the landowners and Minister on the inadequacies of the PNF Code for protecting habitat includ-ing koala habitat. Residents (one or two who are also members of Friends of the Koala) blockaded the operation attract-ing police intervention. Experts drawn from the community carried out flora and fauna surveys. The highly visible logging operation was not stopped but longer-term repercussions are not out of the question.

As the end of the year approaches public exhi-bition of the EPBC Act draft referral guidelines has at last been announced, Byron Council is expected to approve the Draft Byron Coast Comprehensive Koala Plan of Management for public exhibition in early 2014, the Koala Habitat & Popula-tion Assessment: Ballina Shire Council LGA will be presented to Council on 19

December and drafting Lis-more’s Biodiver-sity Management Strategy 2013-

2033 has com-menced.

Over recent months we have commented on Richmond Valley Towards 2025, the amendment proposed to the Protection of the

Environment Operation (General) Regu-lation 2009 which will allow some na-tive forest material to be burned for elec-tricity generation, NBN-associated wire-less base stations and koalas, Lismore Council’s proposal to reclassify and rezone Council parks, a Detached Dual Occupancy proposal, the Draft DCP

North Lismore Plateau Urban Release Area, the impact of windbreak removal on Northern Rivers koala populations, the need for protecting national parks under the EPBC Act, LCC’s Biodiversi-ty Management Strategy Discussion Paper, the North Byron Beach Resort DA, the Kings Forest EPBC Act refer-ral, the state-wide weed management review and the Woolgoolga – Ballina Pacific Highway Upgrade Preferred In-frastructure Report. We also proposed two resolutions for the Nature Conserva-tion Council’s Annual Conference and drafted the letters required to action them.

The im-pact of the Pacific Highway Upgrade’s Sections 9, 10 and 11 deserves a few words because it has the potential

to destroy the Lower Richmond koala population, not to mention numerous other threatened species in its present form. Steve Phillips’ recent work on Ballina’s koala habitat and population assessment describes the koalas in the Meerschaum Vale/Blackwall Range area as meeting the “nationally significant’’ criteria under the EPBC Act. The route proposed will put a new motorway 12 km through the middle of the home range area occupied by this population, separating three areas of known koala activity.

Back in 2005 we and others vehemently argued against this route so why in the face of strong community opposition, is it being pre-ferred? Per-haps the an-swer lies in the Blackwall Range cuttings which will

provide large quantities of high quality shale for road base, massively reducing construction costs. Koalas and other threatened species again sacrificed for the sake of budgetary considerations! Much more on this next year.

—Lorraine Vass

Advocacy and Policy Reform Report

Lismore E Zones Information Session earlier in the year.

Private Native logging operation at Whian Whian. Forestry Corp. identified two Koala High Use trees. Community experts found twenty-six.

Cr. Duncan Dey exhort-ing progress on the draft Byron Coast CKPoM.



The Leaf Collectors for Friends of the Koala wish to thank all the kind and generous property owners as well as the community organizations that have given us permission to collect leaf from their trees during 2013.

The list of names below is by no means the total number of people who have offered their places for leaf collection or for planting koala food trees, though we have tried to recall most.

Please know that if we have missed your name, it is only because there are so many to remember! On behalf of our hungry koalas at the Care Centre, thank you for making our job so enjoyable.

All the Friends of the Koala Leaf Collectors would like to wish you -

“A Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year”

Bill & Betty Wotherspoon Caniaba Public School Dot & Glen Moller John Gibson Len & Denise Farquharson Lismore City Council John Curnow Rhonda Callander Robin & Liz Patch Rod Loadsman & Tina McLaren

Ros Irwin & Bill Sheaffe Rous Water Lucy Kinsley & Scott McKinnon Southern Cross University (Lismore) Steve Gibson Summerland Christian College Tina & Dave Robertson Tracey Filicietti Wyrallah Public School Wyrallah Road Public School

O ver 35 people attended the Koala Caring and Counting Workshop at

Gondwana Hall on Sunday 27th October, to hear from the Koala Caring experts, Friends of the Koala’s Pat Barnidge and Susannah Keogh.

Pat enlightened the audience on the need to recognise a koala that is in need of care. Her wealth of knowledge was obvi-ous throughout the presentation and the audience was very keen to hear all that they could to help koalas in the Tyagarah area. Susannah focussed on encouraging people to join the Great Koala Count 7-

17th November.

Tweed Byron Koala Connections Project A feature of the day was a Koala Walk, led by Bela Allen, through the estab-lished Koala trees at Gondwana and down to the new Koala Connections planting undertaken from April to June 2013. Participants were encouraged to find recent Koala scratch marks and scats near the favourite food trees, Euca-lyptus propinqua, E. tereticornis and E. robusta.

Koala Connections offers a very special thankyou to Pat and Susannah for their highly informative presentation. Special thanks also to Bela and the Gondwana

team for hosting the Workshop.

A month later the 10,000th tree in the Project was planted by Everitts Hill landholder, Richard Smith as part of a planting of 870 eucalypt and rainforest trees on his property.

Over 5,000 trees have been planted in the locality during the past year. De-pending on the weather, Koala Connec-tions’ next goal of 15,000 trees is ex-pected to be reached in early 2014.

—Jo Green Byron Project Officer



T his year’s AGM was held on 26th September at the Lismore Workers’

Sports Club in Goonellabah. There was a good turn-out for dinner with a few more arriving for the meeting.

The Annual Report had been circulated and office-holders spoke briefly on their reports.

Guest speakers, Tweed Byron Koala Connection Project Officers, Jo Green (Byron) and Tanya Fountain (Tweed) spoke about the great work that’s being achieved under the Project’s banner.

Past President and Tree of Famer, Geoff Tomkin served as returning officer alt-hough election was not required.

Office-bearers elected for 2013-2014 were: President: Lorraine Vass

Vice President: Donna Graham

Treasurer: Susannah Keogh

Secretary: Vacant Care Co-ordinator: Pat Barnidge

Care Centre Co-ordinator: Lola Whitney

Trees Officer: Mark Wilson

Meet Your Committee General Committee members: Fiona Dawson

Ros Irwin

Rick Stewart

Having relocated to take up a position in local government in Far North Queens-land Donna has since stepped down as Vice President although she is remain-ing as a general member. The Commit-tee at its November meeting accepted Ros Irwin’s nomination for Vice Presi-dent. Congratulations Ros!

The Constitution allows for a Commit-tee membership of up to 13. We are looking to fill the vacancies of Secre-tary, an office-bearing position and three general members. If you are interested in finding out more about what’s involved please contact Lorraine (6629 8388) or speak to another com-mittee member.

I enquired about joining FOK be-

cause I was trying to get my son involved. He was not able to join at the time be-cause he was too young. I thought I would have a go my-self, and from my first shift, I was hooked. I think there are some amazingly generous people at FOK, and I love being a part of that. I have always done the Saturday after-noon shifts.

What's the best thing about where you live? I think we live in a beautiful part of the world. I am also lucky to have my family close by.

What are you reading? The Story of Danny Dunn by Bryce Courtenay.

What is your favourite movie? Too many to pick one. But I love a good chick flick.

What's your favourite hobby/pastime? I love to get out on the back of my husband’s motorbike. There are some really great rides around this area, and lots of nice pubs to pull up at.

Your idea of a perfect Sunday? A lei-surely motorbike ride and lunch at one of the pubs on the Clarence River.

Your most memorable travel experi-ence? We love visiting Melbourne. There is so much to do there, and the people are really friendly. It has a great atmosphere.

What would you most like to be doing in five year's time? Hopefully doing much the same as I am now. I would like to think that I could be winding down at work and putting more time into doing things I love. Maybe in 5 years, I might have my own motorbike.

Who is the person you'd most like to meet? Pink. I think she is fabulous. I love her spunk and her energy, but she still seems grounded for all fame and celebrity. I went to her concert in Sep-tember, she was excellent.

What has been your favourite koala moment? There are lots, but proba-bly the rescue of Paisley at Wyrallah. When I found out that Essential Energy was involved in his rescue, I asked to go along. I work for EE and was very proud of their assistance. It was a real feel-good moment for everyone involved.

Member Profile – Lyn Isbester

Phone Shift Vacancy

Help is required with the Friends of the Koala

24/7 Rescue Line

Training provided.

Landline Preferred

Enquiries to Phone Coordinator Pat Barnidge: 6622 2690

Committee Vacancies

Secretary

3 General Members

Enquiries to President Lorraine Vass: 6629 8388

Back Row (l-r) Pat Barnidge, Lorraine Vass, Ros Irwin, Donna Graham, Mark Wilson. Front Row (l-r) Rick Stewart, Susannah Keogh, Lola Whitney, Fiona Dawson



This excellent article, written by NE-FA’s Dailan Pugh was published in Echonetdaily on 28 October under the title “Aiding and abetting the killing of koalas. ”

W e have long recognised that our iconic Koalas are in danger of

extinction on the far north coast and, despite having laws in place for 20 years to redress their decline, our Govern-ments collude to hasten it. Governments of all persuasions have proven that they are willing to have rules and regulations to protect Koala habitat as long as they are ineffective.

It is well past time that meaningful and effective protections for Koalas were implemented on the far north coast. The principal requirement is the identifica-tion, protection and enhancement of core breeding aggregations and the maintenance of corridor linkages be-tween them. While Councils fumble, the NSW Government is now disman-tling the feeble measures aimed at at-taining this.

With threats increasing and protection declining, people need to now stand up for our Koalas if they are to have a fu-ture.

We have removed and fragmented Koa-la habitat through land clearing and ur-ban expansion, and we have degraded it through logging. And we continue to do so. Koala’s social system can begin to break down as habitat is degraded and fragmented. As Koalas attempt to move between the remaining patches of habi-tat they are suffering increased mortali-ties due to vehicle collisions and dog attacks. As they become more inbred and stressed they are increasingly vul-nerable to diseases.

Global Warming is compounding these effects by reducing the nutritional quali-ty and moisture content of gum leaves, causing heat stress, aggravating eucalypt dieback, and increasing the frequency and intensity of droughts and bushfires.

Other developing threats are the creation of gasfields in Koala habitat near Casi-no, proposals to burn many thousands of trees from native forests for electricity at Condong and Broadwater, and music festivals in Byron Shire.

Stable breeding aggregations of Koalas are comprised of individuals with over-lapping home ranges of around 5 ha. Koalas show strong fidelity for their home ranges throughout their lives, which may be 8-10 years. The size and viability of a Koala’s home range is

dependent on the availability of re-sources within it.

In this region, for feeding Koalas prefer-entially select larger (over 30cm diame-ter) individuals of Tallowwood, Grey Gum, Forest Red Gum and Swamp Ma-hogany, though also feed on other spe-cies. They have additional requirements for other trees in gullies and the under-storey to shelter in.

Koala survival depends on maintaining and enhancing our remaining patches of core Koala breeding habitat, and enhanc-ing the linkages between these core are-as.

State Environmental Planning Policy No. 44 (Koala Habitat Protection) came into effect in 1995 with the aim to “encourage the proper conservation and management of areas of natural vegeta-tion that provide habitat for koalas to ensure a permanent free-living popula-tion over their present range and reverse the current trend of koala population decline:

♦ by requiring the preparation of plans of management before development consent can be granted in relation to areas of core koala habitat, and

♦ by encouraging the identification of areas of core koala habitat, and

♦ by encouraging the inclusion of areas of core koala habitat in environment protection zones”.

The coastal population of Koalas along the Tweed-Brunswick coast are in immi-nent danger of extinction due to major coastal development (notably Kings For-est), bushfires, and because of the sever-ing of the most important hinterland link due to the development of the North Byron Parklands festival site.

The genetically distinct coastal popula-tion south of the Brunswick River to Broken Head has partially recovered in recent years, though due to its small size (around 240 individuals) is similarly threatened by development of the Bluesfest site and the loss of core habitat and linkages in the proposed West Byron urban development.

It is worrying that when the Department of Planning was considering develop-ment proposals for North Byron Park-lands and West Byron they recognised that Koala Plans of Management (KPOM) were required, though consid-ered that these could be done after the developments had been approved.

Around Lismore the Koala population also appears to have been increasing over the past 20 years, no doubt aided by

the work of dedicated volunteers such as Friends of the Koala. In the Ballina LGA Koala populations now appear to be declining, a situation expected to worsen with the highway upgrade.

The aim of SEPP 44 was always to pre-pare Comprehensive Koala Plans of Management (CKPOM) for whole Local Government Areas. To date there is only one for part of a LGA on the far north coast. It wasn’t until early this year that Lismore City Council’s CKPOM for that part of the LGA to the south-east of Lismore was finally adopt-ed. Byron Shire Council is currently considering a CKPOM for the coastal section of its LGA, though has put this on hold because Councillors did not like the reporting of impacts of the Blues Festival.

The Byron Coast Koala Habitat Study reports on studies into the effects of the Blues Festival on Koalas in 2010 and 2012 that found that around half the Koalas were killed and, of the survivors, half displayed aversive behaviour to the music. Also worrying was a decline from 11 to 8 Koalas over this time and only one recapture. This led the Study to conclude that the genetically distinct Byron Koalas are particularly sensitive to disturbance and are likely to be dis-placed from within 650m of the stages over time.

Attempts by Byron Shire Council and Tweed Council to include high quality Koala habitat into environmental zones last year were thwarted by the interven-tion of Don Page and Thomas George to excise proposed environmental protec-tion zones from far north coast Local Environmental Plans. They went further by prohibiting the identification of wild-life corridors in LEPs.

So 18 years after the adoption of SEPP 44 it has done very little to safeguard Koalas because of a lack of will to im-plement it. When we finally started to make progress the NSW Government intervened to stop it. Now they intend to get rid of SEPP 44.

In the Byron LGA defacto protection for Koalas has effectively been provided in rural areas by a Tree Preservation Order that has been in place since 1986, though the NSW Government is also getting rid of this. Their intent is to make the Native Vegetation Act the only protection available in rural areas throughout the region. There are al-ready numerous exemptions for clearing which have no regard to Koala habitat, and these are being expanded.

The only specific mechanisms that will be available to protect Koalas in rural areas are logging codes of practice for public and private land. Given the recent

Koalas Endangered by Complacency



Treetops is printed on recycled paper.

NURSERY GIFT VOUCHERS

Friends of the Koala has plenty of native trees and shrubs available which would make great Christmas presents. Gift vouchers can also be prepared and mailed out. For details contact Mark via email at: [email protected]

attempts by the community to enforce these, the NSW Government is now also intent on getting rid of them.

For Koalas the logging codes require the retention of minimal numbers of feed trees when Koalas are found in preferred forest types. They also variously require the establishment of 20 metre exclusion areas around Koala high use trees if they are found. It is this later requirement that has the theoretical potential to pro-vide partial protection for core Koala breeding habitat.

For public lands the Forestry Corpora-tion are required to thoroughly search for Koala scats ahead of logging to iden-tify and protect Koala High Use Areas (HUAs). It wasn’t until the North East Forest Alliance caught the Forestry Cor-poration logging Koala HUAs in Royal Camp State Forest (near Casino) last year that their refusal to properly search for Koala scats and identify Koala HUA’s was publicly exposed after 15 years of avoiding this requirement.

For private lands loggers are not re-quired to look for Koala high use trees, or any other threatened species, and therefore they are not usually protected. This wasn’t publicly exposed until the local community recently intervened to identify Koala high use trees on a pri-vate property being logged by the For-estry Corporation at Whian Whian (near Dunoon). Where the Forestry Corpora-tion had identified 2 such trees, the com-munity identified 26 along with core Koala breeding habitat.

Given the NSW Government’s increas-ingly desperate attempts to meet its un-sustainable timber commitments, it should come as no surprise that they are intending to rewrite the logging codes next year. Getting rid of the require-ments to identify and protect Koala high use trees is high on their list.

It is our local National Party representa-tives, Don Page, Thomas George, and Geoff Provest who are behind these pro-posals to gut the existing protections for Koalas and burn native forests for elec-tricity. If you care, then they are the ones you need to convince to provide meaningful protection for core Koala habitat and linkages. Please hold them to account.

In the meantime see if you can convince Byron Shire Councillors to stop stuffing around and ensure they exhibit and adopt their Koala Plan of Management without further delays.

—Dailan Pugh

Lismore City Council Koala Habitat Restoration Project As a result of the Expression of Interest process around 65 applications were received from landholders wishing to have koala habitat work done on their properties. EnviTE staff members have inspected and ranked each property and following a shortlisting process around 70% will have some work done; either weed erad-ication or tree planting (some properties will have both). The work will be fund-ed from grant money received from the NSW Environmental Trust and Perpetu-al Trusts.

FoK will be providing the 3,500 or so trees for the project (fully paid for from the grants). All applicants will receive some correspondence in the next few weeks about the project work schedule and the unsuccessful ones will be di-rected to FoK for free koala trees and planting advice.

School Projects In mid-November I completed a small project with the Tregeagle Public School Junior Landcare Group involv-ing potting up some native plants that the kids will give to their parents as a Xmas present. They will be potting the plants up in the last week of School into bigger pots that they are currently deco-rating

I attended Goolmangar Public School on the 27th November to accept a donation to FoK from the children. I presented a brief koala talk and also inspected their greenhouse, giving advice on plant propagation activities the kids could undertake.

On the 29th November I participated in a community tree planting at Myocum involving a local school. We planted out 300 koala trees on two properties on the day. FoK provided the trees and I made a presentation to the kids on koala ecol-ogy.

Perpetual Trust Grant Application

I’m currently working on a grant appli-cation through Perpetual Trusts for koa-la habitat work. This is the body that EnviTE received $90,000 for koala hab-itat work. I am framing the application around the Nimbin landholders being organized by Peter Hardwick. The appli-cation deadline is13th December and Maree Thompson from EnvITE is as-sisting me in the writing.

From the Nursery Lismore Car Boot Market The Car Boot Market stall held on 17th November which was also FoK’s annual Charity of the Day, was very productive with $708 in plants sales.

Nursery

With the onset of the rains a few weeks ago, requests for koala trees increased markedly. Kim, Bill and Hendrik are all putting in some quality seedling potting time in the nursery to keep up with the demand brought about by the large num-bers of trees required in Autumn for the EnviTE projects mentioned above. I am also hoping to use the new TURSA crew in potting up activities.

—Mark Wilson

Mark with his NCC 2013 Volunteer of the Year Award



New members

A very warm welcome to the following members who have been formally accept-ed into Friends of the Koala over recent months:

Ian Callis, Heidi Holland and Coco Chen Xin of Lismore, Natalie Meyer and Peter Hardwick of Nimbin, Vanessa Standing of Kempsey, Christine McCue of Suffolk Park, Jean Robert-son of Byron Bay, David Russell of Wyrallah, Krauser of East Lismore, Peta Best of Mullumbimby, Kasumi Muka-wa and Martina Mikkelsen of Goonel-labah, Sharon Vaughan of Woodlawn, Kai Dailey of Eureka, Serena Murphy of The Channon, Maurice Seiden of Rosebank, Pepe Clarke of Newtown, and Cerin Loane of Kiama. Sioux Harrison of South Lismore, Shino Kuroda of Goo-nellabah, Jim Kinkead of Tregeagle, and Johanna & Bill Hatton of Bangalow all rejoined.

Koalas: Slow Life in the Fast Lane

This fabulous documentary on the precar-ious lives of an urban koala population will be broadcast by the ABC on Sunday 15th December at 7.30pm (its free-to-

air debut). Worth tuning in to follow the day-to-day dramas, conflicts and dangers facing a not-so-sleepy Brisbane koala colony brought about by encroaching urbanisation.

SCU Library Donation

Throughout September Southern Cross University Library and the Coffee Cart sold Caramello Koalas to raise money to help save the koalas on Lismore Cam-pus. They raised $167 which will be put towards the fees for a TAFE Tree Climb-ing Course and equipment so that injured koalas can be retrieved safely. A big thankyou to those who supported the cause and especially to the staffers who developed the idea.

Care Centre Visitors

During October the Nature Conservation Council’s CEO, Pepe Clarke, Planning

Bulletin Board Officer Cerine Loane and Media and Comms Officer James Tremain, spent five days on the road dis-cussing the threats the Planning Bill pose to the State’s coastal and regional areas. They stopped off at major centres from Gosford to Byron Bay, happily finding time to visit the Koala Care Cen-tre when they were in Lismore. Rob Dunn, CEO, Great Eastern Ranges Initi-ative also popped in later during the month.

Lismore Car Boot Market Charity of the Day 17 November

Customers of Lismore’s Car Boot Mar-ket generously contributed around $1,500 to Friends of the Koala’s coffers during our annual Charity of the Day. Susannah organised the “bucket bri-gade” and Mark the stall. Sincere thanks to everyone who contributed to the day’s success, especially to Ben in the koala cossie.

Moving On

Vice President Donna Graham has relo-cated to Far North Queensland to take up a position with the newly established Douglas Shire Council which de-

amalgamated from Cairns Regional Council earlier in the year. Although only with us for a relatively short time,

Donna was keen to put at our disposal the skills of her considerable pro-fessional portfolio. She’s remained on the Committee as a general member for the time being.

FOK Member and inau-gural Project Manager of Tweed Byron Koala

Connections, Sally Jacka is also leaving us to return to her home-town, Mel-bourne. Ex-Byron Shire Natural Envi-ronment Team Leader, Scott Hethering-ton is heading up the Koala Connec-tions Project.

Lismore’s Environmental Strategies Co-ordinator, Nick Stephens has taken 12 months leave of absence. Damian Licari has been appointed Co-ordinator and new-comer Theresa Adams is fill-ing Damian’s position.

Hello Koalas From September 2014, the Port Mac-quarie Hastings region will be populat-ed with a number of large-scale koala sculptures, manufactured in fibreglass and hand painted by celebrity artists, professional artists and community groups.

The Hello Koalas sculpture project which we heard about at the National Koala Conference in May is bold, am-bitious and imaginative. While cele-brating the Koala it’s designed to gen-erate a sense of fun and surprise for everyone who comes across one of the creatively decorated koalas resting in parkland, lazing by the beach, waiting outside the shops, or playing with school kids. See more at www.hellokoalas.com and follow on Fb.

Congratulations Lynne Former Vice Presi-dent Lynne deWeaver was awarded her PhD from Southern Cross University on Saturday 30 November 2013.

The title of her thesis is: Jumping through Hoops: Delivering More Effective Community Con-sultation during the Grant Application Process

l-r Library Koala Margie Pembroke, Lorraine Vass, Library Koala Libby Pownall, and Coffee Cart barista Ally Macpherson

NCC CEO Pepe Clarke, Lorraine Vass and Cerine Loane at the Care Centre

Ben Garland (aka Burribi) and Lili Bailly at the FOK Charity of the Day, Lismore Car Boot Market

Donna Graham (centre) farewelled by some of her FOK friends



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Post to: The Treasurer, Friends of the Koala Inc., PO Box 5034, East Lismore, NSW 2480

I agree to abide by the licensing requirements, the constitution and the policies of ‘Friends of the Koala’ Inc.

Signature…. ………………………………………………………………………………Date….…/….…/……..

The Management Committee reserves the right to refuse any application for membership or renewal.

I/We are interested in: (please tick)

� Tree Planting

� Plant Nursery work

� Caring for sick & injured koalas

� Leaf collection

� Rescue

� Committee / Administration

� Fundraising

� Publicity

� Education

� Surveys / Mapping

� Information Technology

� Phone Roster

� I/We would like someone to phone and explain about

volunteering with Friends of the Koala

Office Use Only Date Received……………Receipt #...................Donation Receipt #.....................Date Passed by Committee………..

Contact Information: 24 hr Rescue Hotline: 6622 1233 Koala Care Centre: 6621 4664 email:[email protected] web:www.friendsofthekoala.org

Volunteers Working For: Koala Rescue and Rehabilitation . Advocacy . Education . Environmental Repair

President Lorraine Vass 6629 8388 [email protected]

Vice President Ros Irwin 6621 5906 [email protected]

Secretary

Treasurer Susannah Keogh 0431 707 883 [email protected]

Trees Officer Mark Wilson 6624 5032 [email protected]

Care Coordinator Pat Barnidge 6622 3690 [email protected]

Care Centre Coordinator Lola Whitney 6621 3523 [email protected]

Training Officer

Leaf Harvesting Coordinator Dot Moller 6628 4270 [email protected]

Phone Roster Coordinator Pat Barnidge 6622 3690 [email protected]

Application/renewal form — ‘Friends of the Koala, Inc.’ Membership runs from 1st July to 30th June.

� Please tick here if a receipt is required

� Please tick here if you would like to receive Treetops by email (~ 2 mb pdf colour file)



POSTAGE

PAID AUSTRALIA

IF UNDELIVERABLE RETURN TO: ‘FRIENDS OF THE KOALA’ INC PO BOX 5034 EAST LISMORE NSW 2480 PRINT POST APPROVED 1100002148

Deadline for next newsletter: Tuesday 25th February 2014

Contributions gratefully accepted – please post to FOK or email [email protected]

Documents

Treetops · Treetops may be your Christmas present. ... has held its last meeting for the year plus a bit of homework thrown in. The Spring quarter has