Fears State koala strategy doesn’t protect urban koalas

The State Government says its new koala conservation strategy will protect more habitat in the State’s southeast but fears are growing urban koalas will not survive unless the new mapping changes urgently.

Community and the WWF have raised further concerns about Premier Annastacia Palaszczukz and Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch’s new koala mapping and conservation strategy. PiC Mike Batterham

ONE of the world’s largest conservation foundations has backed Moreton Bay region koala action groups saying they fear for the future of koalas in Queensland’s south east despite the State Government saying it’s introducing tough new measures to protect them.

It is understood the Department of Environment and Science (DES) is meeting this week with Moreton Bay Regional Council (MBRC), which has one of the largest urban koala populations in the south-east, to discuss the Koala Conservation Strategy and mapping concerns.

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WWF Australia’s Protected Areas and Conservation Science Manager, Martin Taylor said the State Government’s new koala conservation strategy allowed a “slate of exemptions in SEQ where less than a third of habitat remains according to government modelling”.

Mr Taylor said the government “has been allowing landholders to destroy koala habitat just because once upon a time it was cleared – even though it has now regrown at or near maturity.

“We estimate over 300,000ha of prime koala habitat in Queensland has been given away like this.”

Community fears are growing that habitat where urban koalas like Joyner’s Meghan and Archie live is no longer protected under the State Government’s new koala habitat mapping strategy. Photo Sam Wakerley

Mr Taylor urged the Queensland Government to “expand the scope of its strategy to protect and where necessary restore critical koala habitat across the entire state.”

“The strategy should also reform laws to remove any exemptions or loopholes for clearing of critical koala habitat,” he said.

Mr Taylor’s comments come as Moreton Bay Region koala conservation groups call for urgent changes, reinstatement of the previous mapping and more public consultation on the mapping and strategy which they say was rushed through.

Following backlash from both sides - including the State Government declaring SEQ councils mapping was inaccurate and the MBRC saying the new mapping left the region looking like a slice of “swiss cheese” - community groups said they were “desperate” for government to do the work necessary to protect existing koala populations especially those living in urban and peri-urban areas.

Pine Rivers Koala Care spokeswoman Sam Wakerley said the policy appeared to rely on trying to tell koalas where they should live “and that doesn’t work for koalas … they need to be protected where they live”.

WildNet recorded sightings across Joyner. Image supplied.

In questions to the Department of Environment and the Minister for the Environment, the Herald asked if existing populations (approx 4000 sightings in the Moreton Bay Region) mapped via Wildnet, heat sensor tracking and local community were protected on land now known as low-to-medium habitat in urban and peri-urban areas.

Neither replied specifically to this question.

The Minister for Environment Leeanne Enoch said the new regulations and mapping put in place “in South-East Queensland this year are the strongest koala protections our state has ever seen”.

She said the mapping protected more than 64,000 hectares as koala habitat.

“I recently met with the Acting Mayor of Moreton Bay Regional Council and we had a productive discussion about how to ensure the best protections for koalas in that region,” she said.

“I also spoke with local community representatives and assured them that the government is committed to protecting sustainable koala populations into the future.”

The Herald also asked if the existing populations in urban and peri-urban areas were considered unsustainable by the Minister and DES.

The Minister and DES did not respond.

A conservation expert, who did not wish to be named, said although the new mapping added koala habitat the quality of the habitat was questionable and “has no real benefit and adds no viability to habitat outcomes for Koalas”.

“Analysis shows that over 80,000 Hectares of mapped 2010 Koala Bushland is no longer mapped as Koala Habitat in 2020,” the expert said.

The expert said large losses occured across the Sunshine Coast, followed by Moreton Bay Region.

“Overall close to half of all Koala Bushland no longer mapped is of Medium Value.”

WHAT KOALA CARE GROUPS SAY

KOALA ACTION INC

Koala Action Inc president Vanda Grabowski said “these policies have been rushed through with only a brief consultation period over Christmas into late January and minimal time to study or critique the extremely flawed mapping”.

“The reforms are totally inadequate and should be condemned accordingly,” she said.

“The Government (needs to) rethink its ineffective koala mapping and planning reforms and start again … as it stands thousands of hectares of locally known koala habitat with koala food trees and known koala habitation both in the past, right up to the present has been excluded from any sort of protection.

“Such incompetency is unacceptable considering that Australia’s koala population is in crisis from the ongoing drought and the recent devastating bushfires.”

Ms Grabowski said the Department had not responded to the joint submission written by Koala Action Inc, Moreton Bay Koala Rescue Inc. and Queensland Koala Crusaders Inc.

“I am so disappointed, disgusted and depressed about the whole thing,” she said.

“If the mapping isn’t right and supported by actual koalas living there then koala habitat is doomed and so are the animals depending on koala food trees and other natives to feed on, shelter in and move through.

“We may well be seeing the beginning of the end for koalas in South East Queensland. The issues are the same in the Redlands Koala Coast region, Logan and Ipswich.”

PINE RIVERS KOALA CARE

“Most of the old habitat is no longer protected” Pine Rivers Koala Care spokeswoman Karin Machell said.

“The urban koalas live quite well amongst us at the moment. With their habitat potentially being cleared, this will change dramatically,” Ms Machell said.

She said the removal of protection from the Warner study area was an “unintended consequence of the change to the mapping in the Koala Conservation Strategy”.

“This unintended outcome could create a catastrophic result in Warner, where, just as in other areas of the region, the felling of trees would be lawful,” Ms Machell said.

“We have been advised there are not protections in place to safeguard animals in the vicinity of felling and that provisions for spotter catchers do not apply.”

She said there had been “no ground truthing done in the locations (such as Dayboro) where they are looking at moving the koalas to”.

“This means that they do not know two important things: whether there are things such as wild dogs that will destroy them and koalas only eat certain leaves. If you move a koala to another location and the trees he’s been living on are not there, he will starve. He will not start eating trees he’s not used to.”

Community fears unless the State Government mapping is overhauled habitat where Joyner koala Louie lives will be destroyed. Photo: Sam Wakerley.

KOALAS OF JOYNER

Koalas of Joyner spokeswoman Sam Wakerley said most of the koalas mapped in the Moreton Bay region were outside the newly mapped regions.

Ms Wakerley said koalas living across Warner were at high risk of losing their habitat which was either no longer protected with the State Government’s new mapping or were never protected.

“I’ve personally recorded over 100 koala sightings in Joyner. Every single one has been outside the mapped areas. I have had 12 different koalas on my property alone in the last 3 years. 75% of them have been healthy,” Ms Wakerley.

“My point is, that they are [mostly] healthy and they are breeding and they deserve to be protected.”

“It feels as though the state wants to tell them where to live, and that doesn’t work with koalas. We should be protecting where they are living now. Not telling them where they should live.”

She said WildNet data showed many koalas were now living outside the newly mapped areas.

“These koalas will be given no protection at all. The koala population in Moreton Bay has already suffered due to the development and increased traffic in recent years,” she said.

She called for a moratorium on clearing koala trees in Koala Priority Areas should be implemented (with effective sanctions) until the Strategy and Koala Habitat mapping are finalised, particularly in Joyner and Warner where there are development applications awaiting approval that will impact many koalas and hundreds of habitat trees if they are pushed through for approval quickly.

“The use of financial offsets as a mechanism for property owners and developers to buy the right to destroy koala habitat is unacceptable.”

She said analysis of “overall gain/loss of koala habitat in south east Queensland should recognise that areas close to the coast such as Moreton Bay can sustain more koalas per hectare than other areas further west where it is hotter and drier”.