Globally Australia in being watched to see the results and outcomes of the recent report by the Australian Parliamentary inquiry into the status of the iconic animal's population. This report acknowledges that the koala is under serious threat - our iconic animal's population is diminishing in some areas.
Following a lengthy investigation, the official report released a few days ago paints a bleak picture, indicating that koala numbers are in free fall, with few exceptions. "Declines of 80 per cent in some areas and even localised extinctions in other areas have been documented."
The report listed 19 recommendations to halt the decline. A very significant one within Logan - Scenic Rim area is koala-unfriendly roads. Although state roads in some other areas have made provisions for safer wildlife movement, this is not so with Main Roads Nerang who have road design responsibility in Logan. LACA Logan and Albert Conservation Association has been in dialogue with this team since the upgrade to Mt Lindesay Highway began with the service roads from Park Ridge to Norris Creek and the current roadworks for the overpass at Crowson Lane.
LACA has not been impressed with the lack of adequate fauna infrastructure provided to date - despite our ongoing lobbying. A mandatory retrofitting process would be beneficial. What is the pupose of a koala crossing sign in a 8- to 100 kph speed zone. SLOWING DOWN is also critical and is recommended in the report. All documents relaing to the inquiry are available here.
As a local conservation group in a local government area being pressed by state government and its agent ULDA to accommodate 200,000 plus people in the next few decades the importance of federally endangered status for the koala is critical. South East Queensland is largely unmapped for koalas and habitat is disappearing overnight - witness the $50 million monstrosity on Mt Lindesay Highway. At least 3 koalas were seen during the clearing phase and frequent road crossings by koalas have been reported in the area.
If you are concerned about the welfare of our koalas now is not the time to sit back. All the seats were taken in every public hearing and more than 70 of the 101 submissions were from community-based koala conservation groups - but our work is not yet done.
How would it look if our iconic koala became extinct?
There are preventable causes of death as Dr Jon Hangar says in his submission
a. Death or injury during vegetation clearing (this is a significant cause of loss of koalas)
b. Death on roads and rail;
c. Death or injury by domestic dogs