The Echonetdaily article ‘Row over Tweed koalas extinction claim’ today regarding the listing of the Tweed and Brunswick koala population as endangered demands a response.
Tweed Shire Council and the Tweed Coast Koala Advisory Group prepared the nomination for this listing and welcome the final determination of the Scientific Committee. This determination recognises the severity of the decline faced by the Tweed and Brunswick koala populations and highlights the need to continue to address threats such as wildfire, vehicle strikes and habitat loss.
For the Threatened Species Conservation Society to form and state an opinion as to whether council’s management actions have ‘worked’ in the short period between publication of the Tweed Coast Habitat Study in 2011 displays a distinct lack of ecological expertise. Threatened species recovery is a long-term commitment and requires a whole of community response.
Further, for this society to make such unfounded and premature claims is entirely disrespectful to the hundreds of staff, volunteers, landholders, contractors and members of peak conservation organisations such as Friends of the Koala and Team Koala who have displayed the vision, long term commitment and determination to help save Tweed Coast koalas.
During this time, council has acted strategically and with purpose to ensure an effective response. This has included the preparation, adoption and implementation of the Tweed Coast Koala Plan of Management and securing more than $2 million dollars in funding for the Tweed Byron Koala Connections project.
Both of these programs have been successfully implemented resulting in planting more than 70,000 trees on over 100 high priority sites. These programs have been recognised by peers and experts at a national level through awards programs that are independently assessed and evaluated.
However, perhaps the best independent evaluation has been koalas using planted trees at many sites. This provides a genuine indication that the range of actions underway will contribute positively to the recovery of koalas on the Tweed Coast.
Contrary to claims made by the Threatened Species Conservation Society, Tweed Shire Council has never claimed that the population was stable. The 2015 habitat study identified the Pottsville – Black Rocks population as having a stable activity level using the same methods applied by Biolink in 2011. This is a positive sign for this area but highlights ongoing declines, and need for action throughout the Tweed Coast. From this perspective, the ongoing, uncritical focus on Black Rocks is very disappointing given that the listing of the Tweed Coast koalas as an endangered population applies to the Tweed Coast as a whole.
It is also worth noting that the Black Rocks sport field is in its current location to specifically avoid impact on koala habitat. When the Black Rocks by the Sea development was approved 20 years ago, the current location of the sports field was a grazed paddock. By locating the field in its current location, existing koala habitat was protected and an additional 102 hectares of land dedicated for additional habitat. Council now actively manages this area for the benefit of koalas and other wildlife.
The article also incorrectly states that council staff are investigating the relocation of the sports field to the Dunloe Park urban release area. Council resolved at its April meeting to retain the Black Rocks sports field, to improve the entrance arrangements and to prepare an operational plan to ensure that the sports field is managed to ensure the significant threatened species habitat is protected and valued.
The provisions of the Tweed Coast Koala Plan of Management require the proposed development at Dunloe Park to include major east-west corridors to link the coastal population with the hinterland. This will provide a highly significant outcome for koalas. The poorly thought-through proposal of the Threatened Species Conservation Society to recommend additional sport fields in this area may actually jeopardise the establishment of extensive koala corridors over the Dunloe Park area, resulting in a far worse outcome than managing the existing situation at Black Rocks.
The statement that there would be minimal costs associated with this proposal is also grossly incorrect. All land on the Tweed Coast is of high value and the costs associated with securing additional land at an alternative site have been estimated at approaching $10 million. If we had that sort of money my staff assure me that they could do a whole lot more for koalas than rehabilitate four hectares at Black Rocks!
It appears that The Threatened Species Conservation Society’s most recent position to substitute a much-required corridor in Dunloe Park for revegetation of a sports field is more aligned to the neighbourhood amenity of one of its members than the need to conserve the Tweed Coast koala population.
Tweed Shire Council has and will continue to work strategically and positively to reverse the decline of the coastal koala population.
Troy Green, general manager, Tweed Shire Council
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