NORTH Coast Local Land Services is inviting expressions of interest from landholders keen to protect key koala habitat in the North Macleay-Nambucca Area of Regional Koala Significance.

Applications must be in by midnight 25 February.

Successful landholders will be eligible for technical advice and funding to improve koala habitat on their property through activities such as weed control, revegetation, fire management actions and more.

“We are looking for landholders who already have koala habitat on their property and want to enhance and protect this vegetation,” Asheley Goodwill, Land Services officer with North Coast Local Land Services told News Of The Area.

“Koala populations are at elevated risk for a variety of reasons.

“Growing urbanisation and habitat loss have resulted in fragmented patches of poor-quality koala habitat.

“Other threats, such as drought, fire, climate change, disease, vehicle strikes and dog attacks are further impacting koala populations.

“Creating ‘habitat refuges’ in areas remote from, and resilient to, such threats is extremely important for long-term koala persistence.

“As residents of Nambucca Shire will know, the North Macleay-Nambucca area supports important koala habitat and a much-loved population of koalas.

“Landholders who participate in this project will be helping to protect this important koala population for future generations,” Ms Goodwill said.

To be eligible for the project your land must be privately owned, freehold tenure and support a continuous patch of ten hectares of koala habitat.

Properties with five hectares of intact koala habitat that adjoin a protected area, or a neighbour, will be considered after further desk-top analysis.

Landholders, with property eligible for the project, are encouraged to submit an expression of interest for the project as soon as possible.

Applications will be assessed as part of the North Coast Local Land Services Koala Project.

The North Macleay-Nambucca Area of Koala Significance covers the majority of the Nambucca Shire, excluding the coastal strip south of Nambucca Heads to Scotts Head.

For more information about the project visit https://bit.ly/NorthCoastKoala or contact koalas.northcoast@lls.nsw.gov.au.

This project is supported by Local Land Services, through funding from the Australian Government’s Environment Restoration Fund.

 

By Andrea FERRARI