Estelle and Landcare volunteers create koala corridors for our Aussie icons
By Estelle Gough
I’ve been asked by Landcare Australia to share my story with you. I am only one person who represents the Port Macquarie Landcare Group in New South Wales, but Landcare is a team effort. Everyone contributes in a meaningful way.
For the past 17 years of my life, I have been dedicated to Landcare. I joined because I had free time and an interest in the environment. I wanted to look after the bush, and it turned into a career where my enthusiasm hasn’t waned.
I have been able to grow from an unskilled volunteer, to learning conservation, land management and nursery skills – all thanks to Landcare. But it’s the bush that teaches you when you are out there; how good is that!
The work we are currently doing is very special to me – re-establishing our koala corridors in Port Macquarie so that our koalas can survive.
Our koalas are adored by just about everyone, especially tourists. But they are struggling to survive here because their habitat is rapidly being destroyed, as trees come down to make way for high rises. We are trying to regenerate what bushland there is left to make it koala-friendly.
The urban creeks in Port Macquarie are the arteries of our living environment, and they were clogged with weeds before Landcare started on them.
In the koala corridor, the koalas could not get to some of their food trees because lantana blocked the way. The site was poorly connected to other bushland, so it needed eucalypt trees of the right species, with understorey.
The koala corridor is very steep, and rushing stormwater had badly eroded it, threatening the stability of the reserve and adjoining properties. It was at the top of a catchment, and had transforming weeds. So we saw an opportunity to fix erosion and stop the weed washing down into our regenerating bushland downstream.
This is the basis of our Landcare group – restoring the ecosystems and animals. The koala corridor is part of this. The koalas didn’t have the trees, so we needed to plant more trees to ensure their survival. The corridor had been so degraded, and we needed to get to it or the koalas will starve to death.
This is a continuous job for many years to come, and our concern now is that we won’t have funding for that in the future.
Landcare offers what others don’t. Our success is thanks to all the volunteers from all ages – older, younger, and even volunteers who have a disability.
Landcare Australia needs your help today so that they can continuously support us and other Landcare groups around the country.
Become an Aussie Habitat Defender and empower Landcare groups throughout Australia to come together to protect our natural landscapes and the habitat of our Aussie species.
