If you want to spot a koala, the Southern Highlands is the right place.
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It’s home to the largest population of koalas in Southern NSW – which represents about 10 per cent of the number of koalas left in the state’s wild.
More than 3000 koalas reside in the Wingecarribee, the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) announced, based on findings from the Southern Highlands Koala Conservation Project.
Council environmental project officer Joe Stammers said the official population estimate was great news for the Highlands.
“For the first time we have an accurate picture of the koalas of the Southern Highlands and can confirm it’s the largest population in southern NSW,” said Mr Stammers.
“We were quietly confident that we had a substantial population, but the data confirms what we had long suspected.”
He said well-established koala populations existed in Nattai and Yerrinbool, but the most recent data showed populations in East Mittagong, Canyonleigh, Belanglo, East Kangaloon and Wingello.
Mr Stammers said this was the first time the OEH had provided an official estimate on the number of koalas in the Southern Highlands.
During the past 18 months, more than 150 community sightings have been reported through council’s Koala Hotline and the Southern Highlands Koala Conservation Project Facebook page.
The conservation team has completed 450 spotlight surveys, fitted 20 GPS tracking collars to individual koalas and undertaken vegetation surveys to map koala habitat and preferred tree use.
“This will help us identify essential koala corridors across the shire,” Mr Stammers said.
The research informed the development of the NSW government’s Koala Strategy, with six new tree species in the Southern Highlands added to a proposed expanded list of primary koala habitat trees protected under environmental legislation.
The conservation project will expand into the neighbouring Wollondilly Shire over the next year, with the NSW government Saving Our Species program to provide a further $95,000 for 100 additional koala spotlight surveys.
Report koala sightings to 4868 0888 or visit facebook.com/SouthernHighlandsKoalas. Details: www.wsc.nsw.gov.au/koalas
