Koala on Threatened Species Day

Saturday 7th September was Threatened Species Day. We attended  a special field day at Koala Gardens at Tuckurimba. The 7th September marks the date the last Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus), died in captivity in 1933. Unfortunately we have about 1000 species (plants and animals) that are currently on the threatened species list including the iconic koala. We first saw Katrina talk about the wonderful work she’s doing on her 14 acre property at Tuckurimba in June 2019. Since then We’ve been taking people to see wild koalas on her wonderful property. On Threatened Species Day she was holding a special field day, to show other property owners and interested people what can be done on private land to protect threatened species.

Katrina and her husband Chris bought the 14 acre property, in 2010. There were some established eucalyptus tress that koalas were using as a part of an important corridor.  they had rolling hills and one of the chores that Chris would do was to slash all the grass, to keep it looking like paradise. In 2011 they planted 400 koala food trees on a steep bit of land that they didn’t really want to slash.  in 2012 they planted another 300 koala food trees.

Unfortunately, Chris contracted ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), the slashing and other property maintenance chores took a back seat to battling this illness and Katrina devoted all her time to caring for him. A few months after his death Katrina, surveyed the property, not really knowing what she was going to do now, or how she could afford to keep the property and much to her amazement about 2000 eucalyptus trees had self seeded.

Mark from Friends of the koala

She brought in Friends of the Koala and other bush regeneration experts. She got some funding for a plan of management and applied for grants to get some of the much needed work done. She started doing daily surveys of the koalas on her property and with her super zoom camera, was able to keep a database of their nose prints, in order to identify individuals.

Fast forward a few years, she now has a

Field day

conservation order on the property, which means it will be protected for ever. More than 30 individual koalas have been sighted on the property this year.  Now more than 3000 trees have self seeded about 1000 trees have been planted. The 14 acre old cattle property now has 5 acres of forest on it. It is also home to 6 threatened species including;

• koala
• squirrel glider
• little lorikeet
• Wompoo dove

Its unclear if Katrina has saved the species on this property or they have saved her. But which ever way you look at it, it is a wonderful story about how one person can make a difference.

Vision Walks is the only tour business who is allowed to take people to the Koala Gardens. We go there on our Wildlife Safari, where we take people to see our iconic wildlife in their natural habitat.