This article relates to the ongoing discussion on Australian Rural & Regional News, Open for Debate: Koalas
Updated with a further response 23 August 2024
In view of the Australian Koala Foundation‘s march in Canberra planned for 1 September 2024, and its advocacy for a federal “Koala Protection Act”, Australian Rural & Regional News felt it timely to ask some questions on koala matters and maybe even start up a useful, and very probably robust discussion.
The Australian Koala Foundation says that its proposed Koala Protection Act, “will also insist that the Koala should be treated with immense respect, and that every single tree on the Australian landscape needs to be protected”, that it “now has the precise list of trees covering the entire geographic range of the Koala. With the Koala Protection Act, we could argue that if those particular trees are present, then the answer to your application for development is NO. That is, unless you can prove that your actions will be benign to the landscape.”
Such federal legislation could have great impacts upon land use and management across Australia.
AKF’s basic position, summed up at the foot of its web pages, is “Koalas are disappearing. Loss of koala habitat and koala food trees (eucalyptus leaves) is the leading koala threat.” AKF refers to its own Bob’s Map as evidence of the substantial loss of koala habitat since European settlement and of a “disturbing trend” in koala populations. AKF claims in its Koala Population Estimates 2018 vs 2021, that:
“Since 2018, there has been an estimated 30% decline in Koalas across Australia, with populations estimated to be between 32,065 – 57,920 down from 45,745 – 82,170 in 2018. The numbers show a disturbing trend:
- A 30% decline in total Koala population since 2018. NSW is worst with a 41% decline
- Koalas are now extinct in 47 electorates with only one electorate having more than 5000 Koalas.
- Every region in Australia saw a decline in population – no upward trends.
- Some regions have remaining populations estimated to be as small as just 5-10 Koalas.”
These figures appear to be inconsistent with research published on 6 May 2024, “Broad-scale acoustic monitoring of koala populations suggests metapopulation stability, but varying bellow rate, in the face of major disturbances and climate extremes”. The lead author of this paper is Dr Brad Law, from the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD).
That research involved the assessment of “recent trends for the koala Phascolarctos cinereus, an iconic marsupial, based on 7 years of acoustic monitoring across 224 forested sites [in NSW]. The study period overlapped with a severe drought and extensive megafires in 2019 followed by 2 years of extremely high rainfall.”
To quote points from the abstract of this paper, “(e)xtinction probability increased with the extent of high-severity fire”, “koala occupancy was found to be high and stable over the study period”, “neither timber harvesting nor low-severity fire influenced koala occupancy or bellow rate” and “(g)iven the extensive area of koala habitat in the region, our results point to the presence of a large population in these public forests, and in recent years, stable occupancy (albeit with site-scale reductions in density with high-severity fire)”.
Bob’s Map and the AKF’s history of koalas in Australia is also inconsistent with the research of Vic Jurskis, ecological historian and author of The Great Koala Scam and, as readers will know, a regular contributor to ARR.News on koala issues. According to Vic, “it is an historical fact that koalas irrupted after European settlement and did not reach millions until a century later” and “Koalas at low densities in healthy open forests survived both the Federation and the Millennium droughts” and “(s)ensible fire management could restore healthy and safe landscapes with naturally low densities of healthy koalas and higher numbers of the genuinely endangered species whose habitat is being choked by scrub”. Vic has maintained that “the koala is in no danger of extinction”.
Is AKF’s advocacy, its march and its push for a federal Koala Protection Act based upon accurate information?
Australian Rural & Regional News approached Dr Brad Law, Vic Jurskis and then Deborah Tabart OAM and the AKF for their response to questions as set out below in that order.
Ideally, the discussion commenced here may help inform readers as to the answer to the complex overarching question: What is the best way to see the species (and other wildlife) living well (healthy, disease free), in sustainable numbers (not too few, not too many) in the wild? And in harmony with a productive, sustainable human society?
ARR.News welcomes further responses from the all the parties. These are being added below.
Australian Rural & Regional News asked the following questions of Dr Brad Law, the lead author the recent paper, “Broad-scale acoustic monitoring of koala populations suggests metapopulation stability, but varying bellow rate, in the face of major disturbances and climate extremes”.
- What is your view of AKF’s estimate of koala numbers for NSW? Does it correlate with your findings? https://www.savethekoala.com/our-work/bobs-map-koala-populations-then-and-now/
- According to your research, are koala populations (in NSW) in decline?
- Could the increase in hospitalisation of diseased koalas and koalas hit by cars be due (at least in part) to an increase in koala populations?
- How would closing down native forestry in NSW affect koala numbers?
- How would you assess the risk to koalas (and other wildlife) in NSW from megafires in poorly maintained forest compared to the risk to koalas from habitat loss due to a. forestry operations, b. development and c. disease?
- Can you share your view as to how best to ensure a sustainable number of healthy wild koalas?
Dr Law did not respond. A response was provided, to be attributed to a NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) spokesperson:
Since 2014, NSW Government scientists from DPIRD have been undertaking the first systematic, large-scale monitoring of koalas in hinterland forests of north-east NSW.
This period includes the Black Summer of 2019/20, when the worst bushfires on record swept across more than 5 million hectares of NSW and impacted heavily on koala habitat in the study area. 
While habitat clearing, cars and roads, dogs, disease and severe fire are demonstrated threats to the koala, this research indicates that timber harvesting under the comprehensive rulesets applying to the native forests of north-east NSW, is not a threat. 
The longer-term nature of this study (2015-2022) suggests the broad koala population is maintaining itself with no detectable effect from timber harvesting.
More frequent severe wildfires with climate change is likely to be the greatest threat to koalas in these hinterland forests. 
It is beginning to show the longer-term picture of koala status and that they are more resilient than we previously thought in large areas of well-connected forest.
Ongoing monitoring is crucial for tracking future changes, especially with predictions of more frequent, severe forest fires due to climate change.
The extensive research carried out by Dr Law, and his team at DPIRD provides us with a unique, dataset on long-term trends to help us continue to ensure a sustainable future for this much-loved native animal.
Background information:
Acoustics and AI techniques were used to record and identify koalas from over 25,000 hours of monitoring. The study period overlapped with a severe drought and the black summer fires in 2019 followed by two years of extreme high rainfall.
Forest wildlife can be difficult to detect and monitor, but new acoustic recording methods allow for efficient detection of many species.  We need sound recognisers of sufficient sensitivity to detect the calls of different species.  Artificial intelligence is now being used for this purpose.
The Government’s DPIRD forest science team has developed AI algorithms to detect several iconic forest species including the koala.
The research helps develop a comprehensive understanding of trends in the broad koala population across different forest habitats.
This will provide much needed information on the changing status of species, including in relation to the black summer fires and climate change. The method is applicable to whole of wildlife surveys in relation to developments and national parks. 
The research helps develop a comprehensive understanding of trends in the broad koala population across different forest habitats.
Some of the investigations have been done as part of a program of scientific research under the NSW Koala Strategy. Part of the program has oversight by the NSW Natural Resources Commission (NRC) under the guidance of a steering committee including NSW agencies and a panel of independent scientific experts from leading universities. 
More information:
While DPIRD Forest Science research is ongoing, several significant pieces have now concluded, with the findings published this year in peer-reviewed scientific literature and available on the following websites:
- https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/forestry/science/forest-ecology/koala-research-in-nsw-forests
- https://www.nrc.nsw.gov.au/koala-research.  
Australian Rural & Regional News asked Vic Jurskis, a regular contributor to ARR.News on koala issues, for his assessment of the Australian Koala Foundation’s Bob’s Map. Vic responded as follows:
Vic Jurskis’s assessment of AKF’s Bob’s Map
AKF says “Bob’s Map is the result of more than $15 million and 30 years of research. These maps simply and powerfully illustrate the dramatic impact humans have had on the Koala’s landscape, not to mention the devastating losses the land has felt since Europeans first settled in Australia.”
The map isn’t worth two bob because it’s based on false assumptions and ineffective surveys. This is evident right from the start. Also it is a political rather than a scientific exercise, based on electoral divisions rather than environmental features.
The first false assumption is that woodlands containing eucalypt species that can be eaten by koalas were koala habitat. This is clearly incorrect because there were no koalas on the Cumberland Plain near Sydney when Europeans arrived. Red gum woodlands, now regarded as prime habitat, did not contain koalas on the Cumberland Plain, nor in the Bega Valley, nor in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley (river red gum), nor on Queensland’s Koala Coast, to name but a few examples where they later irrupted. Koalas invaded these areas after Europeans partially cleared woodland and sowed pastures.
The falsity is clear in the following histories Act or Axe – Australian Koala Foundation (savethekoala.com)
First sighting
AKF says the first sighting of a koala was in the Hume electorate. “Bargo south of Campbelltown has the honour of the first recorded sighting of a Koala in 1798. There are still a few Koalas in the area, but most records are suspiciously next to the Hume Highway and are probably roadkills.”
It was actually a sighting of koala dung, recognised by an ex-convict who’d escaped and lived with Aborigines outside the Cumberland Plain. It was at Pheasants Nest south of the Plain. Roadkills are now increasing there because numbers are increasing.
First alleged extinction
AKF says the first loss of habitat and koalas was in Sydney electorate. “There may not have even been many Koalas here because of poor habitat quality and the best land had been rapidly cleared for farming by 1800 so this would be the first area koalas disappeared from, over 200 years ago.”
It is an historical fact that koalas were never there.
Second alleged extinction
AKF says “Parramatta [electorate] was the site of Australia’s second settlement in 1788 when good farming soil was discovered. The rest, as they say, is history. No Koala records exist for this electorate.”
Enough said.
Second or third alleged extinction
AKF says that Reid was “Probably the second or third NSW electorate from which koalas disappeared 200 years ago. The railway to Parramatta was completed in 1856 and Koalas were probably gone when subdivision started in earnest in 1867.
There were no koalas at Reid between Sydney and Parramatta in 1788. I presume that AKF didn’t say “No Koala records exist for this electorate” simply to avoid obvious repetition.
Second, second or third alleged extinction
Self-styled AKF “Koala woman” Deborah Tabart says “I don’t know much about this [Wentworth] electorate except that Vaucluse was developed very early on, beginning in about 1810. After about 1940 the only vegetation left was at Cooper Park, where a remnant of good Koala habitat remains. We don’t know if Koalas ever used this bush, or when they disappeared. We can just assume that if there are Koala trees then there were Koalas”.
History shows this to be a patently false assumption. Wentworth, east of Sydney, is irrelevant to the ecological history of the koala, because the species never lived there, but Wentworth is important to the politics because Teals member Allegra Spender is one of very few who’ve not ruled out support for the AKF’s proposed Koala Act.
Fourth alleged extinction
AKF says:
“Campsie in this [Grayndler] electorate was developed for timber and firewood in the 1820s, and an old sketch from 1883 shows Canterbury Road cutting through eucalypt woodland, about the time that Ashfield Railway Station opened and extensive subdivision occurred. Koalas were likely to have been here, but there certainly hasn’t been any since then.
We would hope the Prime Minister of our country understands the significance of this iconic species to our cultural heritage and to our world standing. Every time a dignitary visits Australia and has their photo taken, usually with a Koala from a zoo, no one wants to mention that it is now listed as Endangered in some parts of the country and not in others. All Koalas should be protected given their iconic stature and economic value to Australia.
Is Prime Minister Albanese capable of heeding our concerns and supporting a Koala Protection Act?
We need to gain his support for a sustainable future. Ask him.”
Koalas are not endangered. There are many more across a much wider area than in 1788. Grayndler is between Reid and Sydney, where there were never any koalas. They are significant to our cultural heritage and ecological history because they were a rare species under Aboriginal management. Koalas irrupted into plagues at the end of the Nineteenth Century because of clearing and pasture improvement in woodlands where they didn’t live before Europeans arrived, and megafires in unmanaged forests where they’d lived in very low densities under Aboriginal management.
The zone of alleged extinctions and apparent irruptions
Immediately south and west of Grayndler is a band of seven electorates where AKF has no early historical records of koalas because there weren’t any.
AKF says koalas are extinct in Barton electorate where: “Hurstville and Kogarah were opened up for vegetable farming to supply Sydney in the 1820s, so there hasn’t been many Koala food trees since then, and certainly not enough for Koalas to live on. You have to wonder what lived in the 99% of the vegetation that is now gone, not just Koalas”.
Not any koalas.
South of Barton is Cook, until recently held by ex-PM Morrison. “Koala Woman Says – The last Koala was reported at Dolans Bay in 1976. I believe there were many more koalas at the time of white settlement but farming and then post-war housing development has sent them to extinction. How sad that it is only in the last few years that we have given thought to how Koalas and people can share the environment.”
Tabart’s “belief” is apparently unsupported by any historical data. It would be interesting to know when the first koala was reported in Cook. It certainly wasn’t in 1770, because there were none there when Cook anchored in Botany Bay. There was no need for European people to “share the environment” with koalas before koalas irrupted in the bush and invaded suburbia.
Watson is west of Barton. AKF says “This electorate already had little bush left when development took off in the early 1900s and any remaining land was covered by housing after WW2. We are not sure if there were ever any Koalas here but we see no reason why not, it was originally covered by the Cumberland Woodland with several Koala food tree species.
Although Tony Burke [member for Watson] did eventually list the Koala when he was Minister for the Environment, he did so only after enormous public pressure and a damning Senate Inquiry Report.
The Senate Inquiry in 2011 accepted AKF misinformation that there were 10 million koalas when Europeans arrived in Australia, even though virtually none were seen for the next half a century. The Report of the Senate Inquiry was farcical and the listing was ridiculous.
Banks is south of Watson. AKF’s Koala Woman says “I don’t think anyone really knows how many koalas there were at the time of white settlement but there were certainly some, the last Koala record is from 1989 in Oatley where urban development began first in the 1920s. We look forward to Historical Societies in the electorate giving us any information on koala matters over the last 200 years”.
There were no koala records in Watson electorate when clearing for houses commenced in the 1920s. It would certainly be interesting to know when the first one was seen and how many more were seen and when, before the “last” in 1989.
Blaxland electorate is north of Banks and west of Watson. “Koala Woman Says – Who knows what used to live in the native forests that are now gone? Clearing for farming began in the 1850s and it’s possible Koalas were here at least up until after WW2 when rapid population increase occurred and the last remaining patches of bush were cleared.”
We know that no koalas were seen during a century of clearing and urbanisation from 1850 to 1950.
The electoral division of Fowler is west of Blaxland. According to AKF, koalas are extinct at Fowler because “There were six sightings in 2002/2003 within a one kilometre radius so it was possibly the same Koala which may have come from Campbelltown to the south. There are no other records. The same patch of bush has been mostly cleared for the Westlink M7 Motorway and the Hoxton Industrial Zone. That Koala is gone”.
Koalas obviously didn’t live at Fowler before they started invading the area around 2002. Their advance has since been hampered by a major motorway and industrial park. Fowler is ecologically irrelevant to koalas, but politically important to AKF because independent member Dai Le has not ruled out supporting their proposed Koala Protection Act.
Werriwa electorate lies to the immediate southwest of Fowler. According to AKF, “Koalas are found only on the eastern fringe of this electorate at Minto Heights. Protection of these Koalas is essential for their long term survival in this electorate. Campbelltown City Council is one of few Councils in NSW with a prescribed list of Koala food trees and provides a good example how similar provisions in the National Koala Protection Act will apply. Minto Heights has very strong zoning laws with two–hectare minimum lot sizes and if the residents can keep their dogs in check Koalas should be able to coexist with people into the long term.
These Koalas form part of the same population in the adjoining Macarthur electorate, wouldn’t it be great to see these two politicians working together for the Koala?”
AKF doesn’t tell us the long-term history of clearing or koalas at Werriwa, presumably because none were ever seen whilst 90 per cent of the woodlands in the electorate were being cleared. AKF speculates that there are about 50 koalas ‘left’. This figure is not based on any reliable field surveys but is indicative of the high density and visibility of koalas in the small area of so-called woodlands remaining on the eastern fringe of the electorate. They are but part of the well-documented irruption occurring through the adjoining Macarthur electorate – the so-called Campbelltown koalas.
“Koala Woman Says – Koalas in [Macarthur] electorate are concentrated along the Georges River at Airds and Ruse on the fringes of Campbelltown and at Kentlyn and the Wedderburn Plateau, and has gained some Koalas from Werriwa at the redistribution [sic]. The Macarthur population appears to be reasonably stable but will need great diligence from the community to prevent rezoning and unsustainable development.”
There were no koalas anywhere near Campbelltown when the town was established in 1820. Which outer metropolitan electorates they now reside in is ecologically irrelevant. Unnaturally high densities of koalas can indeed “coexist with people” in suburbia. This has been demonstrated on Queensland’s Koala Coast. But they suffer overcrowding, malnutrition, disease, dog attacks and vehicle trauma as a consequence.
Encouraging koalas to expand out of their natural habitat in forests, and live crowded lives in suburbia is cruel. Well-meaning people donate lots of money to AKF thinking that are helping to reduce koalas’ suffering and protect the species. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Alleged koala decline
Historical evidence clearly shows that there are many more koalas than in 1788. The species is in no danger. But koalas are suffering disease and trauma because they are too prolific.
AKF misrepresents history by deliberately assigning numbers from the period of widespread irruptions in the 1880s back to 1788.
CSIRO’s National Koala Monitoring Program uses modern data from a range of mostly ineffective survey methods and attempts to compensate for deficiencies and biases using statistical gymnastics. NKMP doesn’t seem to have achieved any monitoring yet. They’re still mainly statistically refining dodgy estimates based on pre-existing data whilst they collect more baseline data.
| In 2023, their data comprised the following records: | |
| Presence only from ineffective survey methods | 79,962 |
| Presence/Absence from ineffective survey methods | 1,520 |
| Presence/Absence from sniffer dogs | 4,062 |
| Presence/Absence from acoustic recording | 123 |
| Counts by ineffective methods | 3,104 |
| Drone counts | 43 |
| TOTAL | 88,814 |
So, with about 89,000 mostly unreliable observations across a small proportion of the koala’s range, NKMP has established a 2024 baseline estimate of 224,000 – 524,000 wild koalas in Australia. This includes 95,000 – 238,000 northern or ‘listed’ koalas which supposedly “broadly aligns with the TSSC estimate of 92,184”. These numbers are all a bit of a joke but closer to reality than AKF’s estimate of 38,648 – 63,665 total population. https://www.nkmp.org.au/docs/NKMP_2024estimates_report_150424.pdf
There are very few examples of accurate and precise monitoring. One was a radiotracking study of a subset of the Campbelltown koalas which showed that they continued to increase through the Millennium Drought. Translocation of some surplus koalas into supposedly unoccupied habitat further south showed that it was already occupied.
A study of koalas at low densities in Central Queensland found they remained in stable numbers through the Millennium Drought whilst others at high densities in supposedly better habitat crashed. Other repeated surveys, though less precise, showed crashes of dense aggregations in the Pilliga and on the Koala Coast during the Millennium Drought. This was no surprise because the same thing happened during the Federation Drought.
Intensive monitoring by acoustics during Dr. Law’s logging effects studies on NSW north coast showed that logging had no effect on koala numbers regardless of its intensity (i.e. degree to which it was regulated), and that numbers continued to increase despite losses in Black Summer fires. The results were seemingly misrepresented. It was reported that regulations ‘protected’ koalas from (implied) otherwise adverse logging impacts. Data were apparently diluted with less precise data from a wider region to ‘show’ that numbers remained stable through Black Summer fires.
The point is that there is no accurate and precise measure of the current koala population, but it is much greater than it was before Europeans arrived. Since then, there have been repeated boom and bust cycles all over the place and stable but low numbers of invisible koalas in extant forests through its range. The koala is in no danger of extinction and hasn’t been at any time since Europeans arrived. At present, generally increasing numbers and expansion into former woodlands where koalas didn’t live naturally are evident in increasing disease, dog attacks and vehicle injuries. The species is under no threat but animal suffering is a huge and growing issue consequent to Lock It Up and Let It Burn ‘conservation’ policies.
Vic’s assessment published above contains some small revisions and deletions provided subsequent to the version provided to AKF but the substance is essentially unchanged.
Australian Rural & Regional News then sought a response from Deborah Tabart OAM, Chair of the Australian Koala Foundation and the AKF to the following questions:
- Are you aware of recent research showing that koala populations across NSW are stable and not in decline?
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.11351; https://arr.news/2024/06/12/broad-scale-acoustic-monitoring-of-koala-populations-suggests-metapopulation-stability-but-varying-bellow-rate-in-the-face-of-major-disturbances-and-climate-extremes/ - Are you aware that this research shows that timber harvesting under the rules that apply to native forests of north-east NSW is not a threat to koalas, and that the broader koala population is maintaining itself with no detectable effect from timber harvesting?
- Have you considered that the threat to koalas and other wildlife from megafires, exacerbated by poorly maintained forest, far outweighs the threat to koalas from habitat loss from timber harvesting (which, as mentioned according to the research above, is nil)?
- Why does your manifesto not address the immense and, according to some commentators, primary threat to koalas from bushfire?
- Why does your manifesto not address the habitat loss and threat to koalas from renewable energy developments and infrastructure such as transmission lines?
- Regarding AKF’s Bob’s Map. I have received a submission (attached) pointing out numerous flaws with this map from Vic Jurskis, ecological historian. Broadly, Vic argues that the map is based on false assumptions about where koalas lived before European settlement – the map alleges koalas have been made extinct in various areas where they never lived – and ineffective surveys. Your response to these and the other propositions in this submission is invited.
- How would your approach to koala protection be altered if you acknowledged the threat to koalas from megafires outweighs the threat from other habitat loss?
Deborah Tabart OAM responded directly. A subsequent response was provided by AKF Landscape Ecologist, Dr David Mitchell.
Deborah replied that she was delighted AKF has been given the opportunity to answer the questions and that:
“I am confident our science is as good as it can be and we are always open to suggestions that have adequate science to back up concerns about what we say scientifically and publicly. Many of Mr. Jurskis’ comments are personal opinions in my view, as are mine in some cases.
[Deborah’s book the Koala Manifesto] was originally going to be launched in late 2019, then came the fires, then came COVID and it launched in March 2021. I do believe I have dealt with the threat of fires.
One of our properties went up in flames on 5th December 2019 and Mr. Derek Johnson has just finalised his final paper as part of his PhD about the re-growth that has occurred. Fire, as we know will play a major role in Australia’s future.
AKF does not believe the fires in NSW killed as many Koalas as others have quoted.
By and large many of the habitats that burnt were indeed, by our reckoning empty of Koalas. I am confident we have a map to identify the areas that burnt.
I do not believe that forestry has a long term future for both humans and Koala alike and I believe it plays a major risk to Koalas. We have also signed the Glasgow documents to stop native logging by 2030.
It is important to remember that Koalas are not stable, in New South Wales, if they were, they would not have met the criteria for Endangered in 2022 under the EPBC Act. Facts are facts and I am proud to say that AKF played a substantial role in providing the necessary science in a Senate Inquiry in 2011 when the Koalas was then listed as Vulnerable …
I think it is important to remember that the pressure should now be applied to the Federal Government to initiative incentives to landholders to protect Koalas and their biodiversity.
[Deborah recommended] the Koala Kiss Project which will work with landholders to achieve such outcomes.”
Dr David Mitchell, AKF Senior Landscape Ecologist responded:
Thank you for your questions Fiona. I will answer them one by one. I have had a look at the articles you have posted under https://arr.news/politics/open-for-debate-koalas/ and welcome the opportunity to provide a more balanced view of the science surrounding Koalas.
Firstly, the research you mention by Dr Brad Law was not carried out “across NSW” as you suggest but at 224 sites on the NSW North Coast. Therefore, this research cannot draw any conclusions about the status of Koalas across NSW. Further, in an interview with ARR (https://arr.news/2022/11/25/more-on-koala-monitoring-brad-law/), Dr Law states that “that koala occurrence or site occupancy … is not the same as koala numbers.” Following this theme, this research method records Koala bellows, which are mostly (95 per cent) made by males, and found no significant differences in call frequency between logged and unlogged State Forest, and National Parks. This finding is great for the logging industry (which funds Dr Law’s research) but says nothing about females or joeys, which, by any measure, constitute the actual data required to decide whether Koala populations are stable or increasing. Other research (https://doi.org/10.7882/AZ.2024.023) combined call counts with actual sightings where Koala sex was recorded. This study “validates the findings of earlier studies that high quality core (breeding female) koala habitat is characterized by complex forest structure and a high diversity of local food tree species and is eliminated by intensive clear-fell harvesting.” My own research (https://www.publish.csiro.au/WR/WR22093) has found that, in their home ranges, Koalas prefer areas of higher tree canopy height. Of course, these areas are also preferred by loggers because the trees are larger.
Both these papers are at odds with Dr Law’s conclusions, and therefore, any assertations made about Koalas not being affected by logging are incorrect. Any Koala food tree removed from a home range will affect the value of that home range. At this juncture I will also mention that, in AKF’s view, we have seen the continued deterioration in the pre-logging survey quality required for logging in State Forests, and that there are no survey requirements required for private native forestry. How can population trends be monitored if there are no surveys?
The question of “megafires” and Koalas certainly came into view during the summer of 2019-2020. There is no question that many Koalas died in these fires. However, research shows that Koala populations recover from fires, repopulating forests as they themselves recover. The only exception to this scenario that I am aware of is the Grampians in western Victoria where, because of several fires this century, they are nearly extinct. Regarding “poorly-maintained forests exacerbating wildfires” this assertation is incorrect. Much research shows that wildfires are exacerbated by the trash left behind by logging (David Lindenmayer research etc). Bushfires have been increasing in severity (burnt area) over the last several decades, most likely due to climate change, but intensive logging practices will result also in more severe local effects. It is AKF’s view that yes, bushfires are an important factor, but because they are stochastic (i.e., random) events, they have much less effect on Koala populations than the insidious, and sometimes blatant, loss of habitat due to human resource development over an extended period of time. For example, we have had many thousands of Koala deaths in southeast Queensland over the last 30 years, and we have seen Koalas being killed in blue gum plantations in Victoria and on Kangaroo Island. These deaths are preventable.
In summary, AKF does not acknowledge that the threats to Koalas from “megafires” outweigh those which can be attributed to loss of habitat from human-induced factors.
Your next point, questioning why the Koala Manifesto (https://www.savethekoala.com/the-koala-manifesto/) does not address habitat loss due to renewable energy development, is simply because this has only become an issue since the Manifesto was published. AKF does not discriminate when it comes to habitat loss, we have recently provided information to assist an NGO to object against a wind farm in north Queensland.
Finally, I will address the criticisms Vic Jurskis raises about Bob’s Map, which summarises AKF’s understanding of Koala populations across the Koala’s range in NSW, QLD, SA, and VIC (there are none in the ACT). Vic asserts that there is little or no evidence of Koalas in early colonisation of Australia, i.e., around Sydney. There is a paradigm in science, “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence”. Vic promotes himself as a “ecological historian”, in many of his writings he refers to the diaries of the early explorers, none of whom mention Koalas. This does not mean they were rare! In fact, most of the explorers’ descriptions of native wildlife were limited to “we shot some kangaroos for the dogs” or “we had a fine mess of native ducks”, i.e., early settlers were only interested in the wildlife they could use to survive. They may have seen Koalas, but because they had no value until they were suddenly discovered by the fur trade later in the 1800s and early 1900s, they weren’t worth mentioning. Millions of Koala skins were exported during this time.
In the end, Koalas were listed as Vulnerable in 2012, and Endangered in 2022 by the Commonwealth Government in the ACT, NSW, and QLD.
Australian Rural & Regional News welcomes further responses from all the parties and other parties mentioned or relevant to this discussion. These are being added below.
Response from Vic Jurskis, 21 August 2024:
DPIRD stated: “While habitat clearing, cars and roads, dogs, disease and severe fire are demonstrated threats to the koala, this research indicates that timber harvesting under the comprehensive rulesets applying to the native forests of north-east NSW, is not a threat”.
This statement is incorrect. Cars, roads, dogs, disease, and severe fire are no threat to “the koala”, only to overabundant koalas. They are increasing in parallel. DPIRD’s research and older Forestry Commission Research clearly show that the “comprehensive rulesets” are irrelevant to koala conservation because koala numbers increased as a result of both highly intensive logging and plantation establishment. They are currently unaffected by logging regardless of intensity.
The statement that: “Ongoing monitoring is crucial for tracking future changes, especially with predictions of more frequent, severe forest fires due to climate change” is misleading. Historically, koalas have increased with megafires, for example in the Strzeleckis and the Sydney water catchments. DPIRD data show that koalas at lower altitudes on NSW north coast continued to increase despite losses in Black Summer fires.
Dr. David Mitchell’s comment is an insult to the memory of Surveyor-General Major T.L. Mitchell who was one of the greatest scientists ever in Australia. Mitchell meticulously recorded plants and animals in his explorations through most of the koalas range. He recorded many new species, both extant and extinct (in cave deposits).
Famous naturalist John Gould employed Aborigines to find koalas around 1840 with little success. They were so rare he predicted they would soon be extinct.
Koalas were shot in the 1880s because they were in plagues and suffering malnutrition and disease. It was a humane and economic response. Now (in the new millennium)1 diseased, injured and/or overcrowded and starving koalas are being euthanised or translocated to shift the problem out of sight. At the same time governments are spending millions of tax dollars to ‘count’ them and claim credit for increasing their numbers.
1. Starving koalas secretly culled at Cape Otway: ‘overpopulation issues’ blamed for ill health: ABC News (4 March 2015); Cape Otway Koala Management Actions (DELWP) (29 May 2015)
