Would you believe Spring is open mic season for our Shire’s wild Koala population? Koala Karaoke is what we call our annual acoustic monitoring program, where microphones are concealed in the canopy across the region to record koala calls. Intrigued? Keep an ear out for the Koala Karaoke event in Bowral this September. . .
Though we don’t often see wild Koalas as we go about our day-to-day life here in the Southern Highlands, our Shire is home to a sizeable population. In an effort to conserve that precious local population, Wingecarribee Shire Council will continue to collaborate with the NSW Government, thanks to an extension of our Regional Koala Conservation Partnership.
Over the past 12 months, Council’s Environment Officer, Casey Taylor, has been working closely with Margot Law (DPE) on important on-the-ground conservation actions, to preserve and grow our local Koala population. Watch the video here.
“We will be working on habitat restoration, and really focusing on private land, in an effort to expand and connect Koala habitat to ensure the survival of the Koalas for future generations to enjoy,” Casey says.
The Koala Habitat Restoration Program involves encouraging land owners in priority areas to plant Koala food trees and create new habitat, with linkages in the landscape.
“Over the past year, the NSW Government has allocated additional funding for habitat restoration, vehicle strike minimisation, monitoring, and the creation of Koala habitat maps,” Casey says. Vehicle strike is a key focus in our region and WSC is working to improve driver awareness on roads that intersect Koala habitat.
The new partnership builds on Council’s Southern Highlands Koala Conservation Project which has been running since 2014. Further funding was received last year from the NSW Government of over $1.2 million to protect and preserve the koala population in the Southern Highlands.
Much is being done by our environment team and the DPE in this space, including Koala Karaoke. Do we need this, seems to be repeating itself?
Subscribe to Council’s Your Shire e-news and follow us on socials to find out when and where you can experience the bellows of our oh-so-cute Koalas for yourself, at Koala Karaoke this September. We’ll offer this as a free event for locals and provide donation boxes to raise money for dedicated local volunteer Koala carers.
