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Bruce Highway Cooroy to Curra (Section D: Woondum to Curra) project Koala surveys

Frere, Celine H; Cristescu, Romane H https://research.usc.edu.au/discovery/delivery/61USC_INST:ResearchRepository/12126745030002621?l#13139309580002621

Frere, C. H., & Cristescu, R. H. (2016). Cooroy to Curra (Section D: Woondum to Curra) project Koala surveys. Department of Transport and Main Roads. https://research.usc.edu.au/discovery/fulldisplay/alma99451261702621/61USC_INST:ResearchRepository Document Type: Supplementary Material

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Please do not remove this page Bruce Highway Cooroy to Curra (Section D: Woondum to Curra) project Koala surveys (Final) Dr Celine Frere and Dr Romane Cristescu Prepared for the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR)- October 2016

Executive Summary Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine the presence / absence and habitat utilisation of koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) in an area defined by the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) in the context of the highway upgrade project: “Bruce Highway Cooroy to Curra (Section D: Woondum to Curra)”. The proposed Section D highway upgrade ranges from Woondum to Curra and includes the bypass. The results reported here provide information regarding koala presence and habitat utilisation rate relevant to the study period and make no conservation recommendations.

Survey methods Sites selected for koala surveys followed a grid pattern based on a random start point projected inside a 200 meters’ buffer zone around the proposed highway expansion. The surveys focused on koala habitat based on vegetation types (as defined in Jacobs, 2015), however, sites were added outside koala habitat to ensure no koala population was missed. Koala scat surveys were primarily conducted using detection dogs trained to locate koala scats (faecal pellets). Field surveys were conducted between February to September 2016. Fieldwork was momentarily stopped (June/July 2016) due to 1080 dog baiting undertaken across the Gympie Council area.

Limitations The sites were surveyed only once, therefore the results presented here provide a snapshot of the population during this period and it can be noted that evidence of koalas found within the study area are likely to change with increased sample size as well as seasonally. A negative site might reflect that koalas are not using the area (true negative) or that koalas are using the area but the survey failed to detect any scat (false negative), which could occur for example if koalas have not deposited any scat in the 30 trees searched during the systematic survey or if scats have decayed before the survey occurred.

Summary of findings Of the 155 sites surveyed, 35 were found to be positive for koala presence based on the detection of their scats during scat surveys (23%). In addition, we had eight opportunistic positive sightings for koala presence (7 scats, 1 koala). Our data showed that koala presence was found within previously verified koala habitat, unverified koala habitat as well as outside of koala habitat. We systematically searched 4560 individual trees and koala scats were found under a total of 173 trees. The average utilisation rate for all systematic surveys was 3.8% (± 9.4%). In positive sites, the number of trees with at least one scat present varied from 1 to 16, with an average of 4.9 trees with scats (± 3.9). The utilisation rate per site in this study ranged from 0 % (not utilised) to 53%. Our results show that koalas are utilising habitat in five regions located within the impact zone. Of these, the utilisation rate appears to be the highest at two areas in the southern end of the Section D impact zone ( and the north-east corner of Woondum State Forest). The age of koala scats found during the surveys indicated both recent and historical use of the habitat within the impact zone.