The NSW MidCoast region is home to some of the state’s highest recorded densities of koalas with the MidCoast Koala Conservation Strategy responsible for guiding the conservation and management of koalas and their habitat across the region over five years.
With the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust (BCT), MidCoast Council is working with local communities and landholders to protect and conserve koalas through planning, community engagement, and conservation measures.
Key to that work is understanding the distribution and abundance of koalas across the region to help inform conservation management efforts.
With the help of local drone operators, thermal cameras have been used to survey bushland, including koala habitat on several BCT conservation agreement properties. The drone surveys have helped researchers track koalas in the hard-to-reach areas across 3670 hectares of land.
The 56 areas surveyed included privately owned conservation areas at Elands, Cells River, Killabakh, Minimbah, and Bulahdelah, as well as areas in an adjoining public National Park.
Sydney Hunter Acting Regional Team Leader Brendan Mee said the survey results were promising, with 16 individual koalas identified through the drone surveys, including joeys.
Greater Gliders were also spotted in several locations, which Brendan said indicated the broader biodiversity of the private land conservation areas.
“These findings underscore the crucial role of Conservation Agreement and Biodiversity Stewardship Agreement properties in the region, not just for koalas but also for other threatened species,” Brendan said.
“The collaboration between MidCoast Council, the BCT, and local conservation landholders is an important step in securing the long-term survival of these iconic creatures.”
MidCoast Council will conduct further koala surveys this year, including more surveys on local BCT conservation agreement sites, with plans to continue building on the data gathered to meet the region's conservation goals.