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“Plateau Koalas” Mapped

Dandarrga Landcare’s “Plateau Koalas” project reaches a key milestone this week, with the launch of a map series depicting the vegetation communities across three biodiversity corridors on the Plateau.

The maps show the vegetation communities within the corridors that link koala habitat in the National parks to the south & east of the plateau to the protected areas to the north & west of the plateau. The vegetation types that are useful for koala habitat are also depicted. “We selected the 3 corridors  Junuy, Bagul Waajaarr, and Deer Vale, as this is where it is most likely that koalas and other threatened species will travel between forested habitat areas.” said Project Co-ordinator Justine Elder.

“When we started, not much was formally known about Koalas on the Dorrigo plateau. There was so much anecdotal evidence of sightings, but now we know the types of plant communities that support Koalas do exist here. Understanding the existing plant communities that Koalas are utilising will help landholders select the right native species mix for restoring disturbed areas and plan their future landuse accordingly”, Justine said.

The maps will be presented on Saturday 13th July at a pop-up shop at “The Other Office” in Hickory Street Dorrigo. “We invite the Bellingen Shire to come along and check out the new maps, have a chat about Koalas on the plateau, and meet Peppermint the Koala,”said Justine. “Large format maps will be available for sale on the day, and the digital copies will soon be available online via the SEED portal”.

This two-year project received grant funding from the Australian Government and includes conserving and adding to existing habitat through regeneration and enrichment planting along and adjacent to the Mackay’s Creek Rd corridor. We would like to thank the landholders in Corridor one who were involved in the planting and restoration part of this project, volunteers from Dandarrga Landcare, and we acknowledge for their kind support Dorrigo Plateau Local Aboriginal Land Council, and Bellingen Council. 

Any landholders interested in more information on this project or receiving a site visit to discuss koala habitat regeneration options on their property are urged to contact Dandarrga Landcare on 0428 138 355 or dandarrga@gmail.com.