Noosa Council opposes vegetation clearance at quarry
Noosa Council has provided a submission to the federal government relating to the application by quarry operator Cordwell Resources Pty Ltd to clear the vegetation at its Kin Kin extraction site.
Mayor Clare Stewart said council had no assessment role regarding the vegetation clearing application, which was handled under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
New research on causes of koala deaths in SE QLD
New research from University of Queensland has found that cars are major killers of koalas in SE Queensland. “In the five years between 2009 and 2014, 52% of reported wild koala deaths were caused by car strike, 34% were from a chlamydia-related disease and 14% were because of a dog attack.”
Koala road fencing in Brisbane
Koala-proof fencing that will help protect the local koala population is being installed on the Old Cleveland Road East boundary of the Birkdale Community Precinct (BCP).
Redland City Mayor Karen Williams said the koala-proof fencing was a proactive measure that could help prevent vehicle strike of koalas and other wildlife along Old Cleveland Road East.
“Designed with input from an ecologist, the fencing will help stop koalas on the site from heading onto the busy roadway and instead guide them to move through the precinct and the Tingalpa Creek corridor,” Cr Williams said.
Highest koala count in Gympie
The region's record has been broken for the most healthy koala sightings reported in a month.
(since Council's 'Wildwatch' started nearly 4 years ago).
43 healthy sightings in Gympie region in September with the next nearest being in Sept. 2021 (41 reported)*.
September is consistently high, with all the breeding season movement.
So wonderful to see data coming in from all across the region, especially from areas where very limited info on how koalas are going there.
* there are other records on top of these figures eg sick ones
Koalas and Dogs
Did you know that every year, around 300 koalas lose their lives to dog attacks in South East Queensland? You can make a difference by taking a few simple steps to ensure the safety of both dogs and koalas.
- Keep your dog inside at night when koalas are most active.
- Create koala-friendly fencing.
- Train your dog in wildlife aversion with the free Leave It program at www.leaveit.com.au
Fairhill Native Botanic Gardens
On Saturday September 23, Board members Linda, David and Theresa, along with Bernard attended an awesome family day at Fairhill Native Botanic Gardens near Yandina, to discuss koala conservation. Through merchandise sales and donations, we were able to raise just over $300 on the day as well as attracting some new members to our team.
Two Little Witches Bush Regeneration and Planting
On Saturday September 30, Linda and David represented QKC at a bush regeneration and habitat planting day on a beautiful property north of Dayboro. Approximately 150 koala food and habitat trees were planted, kindly donated to us by Friends of Lagoon Creek Native Plant Nursery at Caboolture.
The owners of this property are committed to restoring the forest that surrounds their home to its original condition by removing invasive weed species and replanting native vegetation.
Alsahwa - Free Community Rainforest Tree Planting
On the 17th September our team joined CoExist Australia, Wildlife Noosa and Land Care Noosa at the beautiful Alsahwa Retreat.
Alsahwa draws inspiration from the Ancient Arabic expression meaning “The Awakening”.
As an eco-wellness retreat on a working farm, we believe in combining ancient with modern, spirituality with science, effort with recovery and nature with nurture.
A beautiful day filled with laughs, connection and food and of course 300 trees planted for the rainforest.
QKC Annual General Meeting
This is to advise all paid members of the upcoming Annual General Meeting of the members of the Queensland Koala Crusaders. The details of this meeting are as follows:
DATE: 25th November 2023
TIME: 5pm AEST
VENUE: UniSC, Morton Campus, 1 Moreton Parade, Petrie QLD 4502, Australia
At the meeting, members will have the opportunity to:
- Meet the supporters of QKC
- find out about QKC’s operations and finances
- ask questions about the operations and finances QKC
- speak about any items on the agenda
- vote on any resolutions proposed.
At the meeting, members will be asked to vote to:
- accept the minutes of the last annual general meeting
- accept the annual report
- accept the auditor’s report
- accept the annual financial statements
- elect board members
Nb. An email to all current members will be sent out next week with further details and voting forms.
Roving Restorers Program - Noosa Chapter - Friday 13th October
When: 8:30 AM, 13 Oct 2023 Friday
Where: Cootharaba
Join the Roving Restorers Noosa Chapter, at a property at Cootharaba, using best practice techniques to remove environmental weeds. Works undertaken will improve the biodiversity of the property and surrounding landscape.
Please contact Noosa Landcare Project Officer – Tamara - tamara.kubica@noosalandcare.org for further details.
Participants will be notified the day before the event of the exact location of the works.
Please arrive for an 8:30am start.
All tools will be provided.
Bring gloves, water, boots, sunscreen and insect repellent. Long-sleeved shirt, trousers and hat are essential (Workplace Health and Safety Regulations).
Roving Restorers Program - Noosa Chapter - Saturday 21st October
When: 8:30 AM, 21 Oct 2023
Where: Yurol State Forest
The Roving Restorer program will be conducting monthly working bees at the Yurol State Forest.
We will treat environmental weeds within the current remnant forest areas and along tracks and trails. This will help improve the resilience of both the existing high biodiversity remnant vegetation areas and also the long-term management of the revegetation areas. It also provides an opportunity to learn bush regeneration techniques, plant identification skills and to make new friends!
Please contact Noosa Landcare Project Officer – Tamara - tamara.kubica@noosalandcare.org for further details.
Participants will be notified the day before the event of the exact location of the works.
Please arrive for an 8:30am start.
All tools will be provided.
Bring gloves, water, boots, sunscreen and insect repellent. Long-sleeved shirt, trousers and hat are essential (Workplace Health and Safety Regulations).
This project has received funding support from the Queensland Government’s Community Sustainability Action grant program.
Mary River Month
From 4th Sunday in September to the 2nd Saturday in November the Mary River Catchment Coordinating Committee will celebrate Spring in the Mary with a wide range of activities, field days, forums, walks and talks throughout the Mary River Catchment.
Click here for further details
Bunnings Sausage Sizzle - Saturday 16th September
Our volunteers turned up at 7am on September 16 to prepare for a Sausage Sizzle at Bunnings Newstead. The BBQ was turned on and we sold our first sausage before 7:30am. By 1:30pm, we had sold over 800 sausages and had to send out for more. By 3pm we had sold out again having cooked 960 sausages and over 20 kilos of onions.
Total sales of sausages and drinks for the day were $3,475.91 with a cost of $1,140.51 giving us a net profit for the day of $2,335.40. In addition, we received $84.65 in cash donations on the day.
A great result and special thanks must be extended to all our volunteers who made it possible. It was a big job and could only be successful with the contributions of so many helpers, setting up, cooking, serving, replenishing supplies and cleaning up.
Jazz, Blues and Koalas - FREE Event - Sunday 8th October
Come and join us at “Jazz, Blues and Koalas 2023”, a koala awareness event hosted by Body and Soul Music and Events Australia and proudly supported by the Brisbane City Council and Councillor for Marooka Ward, Steve Griffiths and the Griffith University EcoCentre to be held at Griffith University EcoCentre on Sunday 8 October from 11 am to 7 pm.
There will be music, food and a raffle, along with lots of opportunities to learn more about koalas and how YOU can help.
Why not join one of the EcoTours and learn about Toohey Forest’s local fauna and flora? Or just relax and listen to the various musical performances and presentations scheduled throughout the day.
Check out the cool promotional video here
Register your interest at Jazz Blues and Koalas 2023
If you would like to volunteer for us on the day click here
Fantastic prizes being raffled to support koalas!
Help raise funds to support koala conservation work in Queensland by purchasing tickets to win exclusive experiences and fun prizes!
Because of the generosity of our supporters, we have wonderful prizes to raffle!
Among them, a one night stay with breakfast at RACV resort in Noosa, a one night stay with breakfast at Peppers Resort in Noosa, a gift voucher at Land & Sea Brewery, a family pass to Wildlife HQ and TWO Bunnings gift cards!
OR
simply scan the QR Code to take you to the website for tickets:
Our koala family adventure has begun!
We are on the road at last and have headed down inland NSW. We are two weeks in and whilst it has been exciting, it has also been confronting to explore areas of country NSW in drought and see the impact this is having on our much loved Koalas.
We visited Warialda, a cute little town that is home to the Australian Koala Foundation Shop. We spent lots of time and money here and came out with many new koala additions for Bella - ‘Our Koala Camper’.
Warialda have created a Koala reserve in 2019 as a result of finding two koalas dead and one in severe stress in this area at the time of the worst drought ever in history.
Thanks to a local man, John Hodge, who campaigned to establish the Koala Wildlife Reserve, Warialda has now planted many food and shelter trees and set up three watering points for the Koalas and other wildlife.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see any Koalas here. Both the visitors centre and the locals says that the population has declined but a male Koala named Dusty was spotted in this location two days prior to our visit and again two days after our visit.
We continued on to Gunnedah with the hope of seeing our first wild Koala on our trip. The story here though, is a sad one and we had no such luck.
In the 90s Gunnedah had a thriving population of koalas and as a result, named themselves ‘The Koala Capital of the World’.
Until recently, scientists from the University of Sydney had been visiting the area to study this population to try and understand how and why they were thriving. However over the years these koalas have significantly declined to the point that in May this year they ended the study because the population has now been labelled as ‘functionally extinct’. The female koalas are either too old or infertile and there are no joeys.
Heat and drought and the rapid spread of Chlamydia infection seems to be the cause behind this devastating result. During our visit, locals shared stories about the koalas that used to come and visit their town and how the residents would leave water sources out for them.
This community really seemed to care about their koalas. It’s a really sad situation.
Click here to continue reading
You can follow the journey on Instagram here
National Koala Disease Risk Analysis published
The KDRA is the first disease risk analysis to examine disease risk for an Australian wildlife species at the national level.
The KDRA Report includes:
- a problem description for disease in koalas.
- a list of all known disease hazards of koalas.
- identification and prioritisation of the 13 key disease hazards of koalas.
- detailed risk assessments and risk mitigation recommendations (see below) for the 13 selected hazards.
- discussion of other important disease hazards.
- summary of knowledge gaps.
The KDRA Recommendations section of the Report includes:
- Eight “Guiding Principles for effective action” that are designed to underpin all actions addressing disease risks facing koalas.
- 21 prioritised General Recommendations that apply to every disease hazard analysed.
- Prioritised Hazard-specific Recommendations for each of the 13 key disease hazards.
After months of pressure, logging ceases in koala hubs in Great Koala NP footprint, NSW
5% of the proposed 175,000ha proposed for the Great Koala NP in northern NSW will be protected from logging in areas designated as Koala Hubs. The EPA has also been instructed to ensure that logging does not increase in areas outside of the hubs to compensate.
The decision comes after six months of protest by community groups and NGOs as logging intensified in the proposed NP.
Community forum about koalas in Ballarat
The forum was held on September 14 and run by the Friends of Canadian Corridor. Results of the attendees survey showed strongest support for ’Stronger protection of large remnant native trees; "Active native vegetation retention on private land" and "Creeks within development projects protected/restored to enhance biodiversity”. Wildlife road crossings, wildlife signage and a Ballarat Environment Restoration Fund were also well supported.
Northern Rivers Koala Count NSW
Friends of the Koala arranged their first community koala count from 24 to 30 September.
