Is koala conservation working?
At Bangalow Koalas, we like to say that from small-scale beginnings, we’re now planting hope on a game-changing level. Our mission to plant 500,000 trees by 2025 is to provide hope for koalas, hope for the planet and in the face of climate change, hope for the future for all of us.
Similarly, WWF-Australia’s Koala Forever initiative is to double koala numbers across eastern Australia by 2050.
In other words, we know that koala conservation is a ‘long game’ and an investment in future generations of koalas as well as an investment in the planet’s future.
But we’re delighted to say that we’re already seeing tangible evidence that what we’re doing at Bangalow Koalas is making an impact. Trees planted just a couple of years ago as part of the koala wildlife corridor we’re creating have seen koala scats – or in other words koala poo – as well as scratchings recorded amongst them. There’s also been multiple sightings and camera footage showing koalas moving around our plant sites.
Seeing tangible evidence of koalas on trees so young gives us hope that we not only can but we are bringing them back from the brink. But it also shows just how desperate our koalas are for food – they’re using the trees we’re planting before they’re big or old enough to be utilised. This is further proof that the work we’re doing is not only important, it’s absolutely vital.