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More than 1880 hectares will be transformed into prime koala habitat to protect one of the state’s healthiest populations of the native marsupial.
The New South Wales government has unveiled a draft plan to protect critical biodiversity assets and an important koala population in the Campbelltown and Wollondilly region in Sydney’s south-west.
The draft plan includes a new koala reserve to ensure Sydney’s chlamydia-free koala population is protected.
The proposal comes after up to one third of the koala population was wiped out by the devastating bushfires along Australia’s east coast last summer.
More than 1880 hectares will be transformed into a new koala resereve to protect the beloved marsupial. Pictured is Purkunas the koala recovering at Taronga Zoo earlier this year after he was rescued from out of control bushfires in the Blue Mountains
The government will inject $84million into the project over the next five years, including the planting of 100,000 trees and install 120 kilometres of fencing to protect the much-loved marsupials.
‘The Georges River Koala Reserve will protect up to 1885 hectares of existing koala habitat and enhance the connectivity of fragmented patches of important habitat, including protecting the important north-south koala corridor so this iconic species can move about safely,’ environment minister Matt Kean said in a statement.
Planning minister Rob Stokes added:Â ‘Too often the environment has been an afterthought in urban planning.
‘This approach secures environmental conservation but with the certainty needed to support the strategic delivery of infrastructure, housing and jobs for western Sydney.’Â Â
The draft plan spans eight local government areas, including Hawkesbury, Penrith and Blacktown to Fairfield, Liverpool, Campbelltown, Camden and Wollondilly.
The NSW government proposal will protect the koala population in Sydney’s south-west Pictured is a koala in a local backyard
The plan could be bad news for Lendlease’s 1,700-home Mount Gilead development on Campbelltown’s outskirts, which may have to be downsized for the koalas’ protection.
Mr Kean issued an ominous warning to the developer.Â
‘Let me be very clear to Lendlease, I will not be signing off on the biodiversity certificate unless your development meets all the recommendations of the chief scientist’s,’ the minister told the ABC.
‘Campbelltown is koala town and that’s why we need to pull out all stops to protect them.’
NSW Greens MP Cate Faehrmann, who chaired a parliamentary inquiry into koala populations and their habitat, said the draft plan was a good start to ensuring koalas were protected.
But she had concerns over the proposed timeline.
‘Koalas can’t wait that long, so I urge the government to protect the entire 1885 hectares immediately,’ she said
‘It’s also disappointing that only one of the vital corridors which koalas use between the Georges and Nepean Rivers is included in this reserve.’
The 2019-20 bushfires took a devastating toll on Australia’s koala population. Pictured is koala rescued from Queanbeyan in the NSW southern tablelands
Conservation group Total Environment Centre says the draft plan is the last chance to protect the remaining koala habitat before it’s ‘engulfed’ by urban development.
Director Jeff Angel says it should be completed in the next five years – not by 2040 as is expected under the plan.
‘The Macarthur koala colony is the largest recovering colony in NSW; chlamydia free; and expanding north, south and west – of special importance in view of the mega bushfires that burnt the Blue Mountains,’ he said.
‘Faster protection of the Georges River Koala park area is needed with east west corridors over Mt Gilead and clear conservation for remaining bushland before the area is engulfed in urban development.’
The Help Save the Wildlife and Bushlands in Campbelltown group accused Mr Kean of not consulting the community prior to Wednesday’s announcement.
The draft Cumberland Plain Conservation Plan will be on public exhibition until September 25.
The plan aims to ensure Sydney’s chlamydia-free koala population is protected. Pictured is a koala in Sydney’s south-west, where there is an important population
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