A Blueprint for a Comprehensive Reserve System for Koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) on the North Coast of New South Wales Ashley Love (President, NPA Coffs Harbour Branch) & Dr. Oisín Sweeney (Science Officer, NPA NSW) April 2015 1 Acknowledgements This proposal incorporates material that has been the subject of years of work by various individuals and organisations on the NSW north coast, including the Bellengen Environment Centre; the Clarence Environment Centre; the Nambucca Valley Conservation Association Inc., the North Coast Environment Council and the North East Forest Alliance. 2 Traditional owners The NPA acknowledges the traditional Aboriginal owners and original custodians of the land mentioned in this proposal. The proposal seeks to protect country in the tribal lands of the Bundjalung, Gumbainggir, Dainggatti, Biripi and Worimi people. Citation This document should be cited as follows: Love, Ashley & Sweeney, Oisín F. 2015. A Blueprint for a comprehensive reserve system for koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) on the North Coast of New South Wales. National Parks Association of New South Wales, Sydney. 3 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................................... 2 Traditional owners ........................................................................................................................................ 3 Citation .......................................................................................................................................................... 3 Executive summary ....................................................................................................................................... 6 List of figures ................................................................................................................................................. 7 Abbreviations used ....................................................................................................................................... 8 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 9 Koala reserve proposals on the NSW north coast: where are they and why are they required? ................ 9 An Australian icon in peril ..................................................................................................................... 9 It’s time for a dedicated koala reserve ................................................................................................. 9 Native forest exploitation and biodiversity ........................................................................................ 10 Koala population assessments ............................................................................................................ 10 The reserve proposals: a brief summary ............................................................................................ 11 Alignment with existing management plans .............................................................................................. 15 Multi-species benefits and alignment with the Great Eastern Ranges Initiative ....................................... 15 Economic costs and benefits of the proposed reserves ............................................................................. 15 Tourism ............................................................................................................................................... 16 Forestry ............................................................................................................................................... 16 Private land ................................................................................................................................................. 17 Consultation ................................................................................................................................................ 17 Additional requirements for effective koala conservation ......................................................................... 17 Beyond reservation ..................................................................................................................................... 17 The reserves in detail .................................................................................................................................. 18 1. Tweed Coastal Range National Park ................................................................................................... 18 2. Sandy Creek National Park .................................................................................................................. 20 Poor forestry practices threaten koala populations ........................................................................... 22 3. The Great Koala National Park ............................................................................................................ 23 1. The Coffs Harbour—Guy Fawkes metapopulation ..................................................................... 26 2. The Bellinger—Nambucca—Macleay metapopulation .............................................................. 27 The regional environment and its global conservation significance .................................................. 28 4. Coffs Harbour Koala Conservation Area ............................................................................................. 34 5. Port Macquarie to Camden Haven National Park ............................................................................... 37 4 6. Greater Bulga—Comboyne—Landsdowne—Taree National Park ..................................................... 40 7. Bowman National Park ....................................................................................................................... 45 8. Wang Wauk National Park .................................................................................................................. 48 9. Extensions to Wallingat National Park ................................................................................................ 51 10. Hawks Nest Extensions to Myall Lakes National Park....................................................................... 55 References .................................................................................................................................................. 57 5 Executive summary The koala is an iconic Australian species which has experienced recent large population declines and is now under serious threat in many areas. Habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation are the main threats to the species, but there are other compounding threats including climate change. The largest koala populations are now found east of the Great Dividing Range and, in NSW, approximately 50% of koalas are found in the north-east of the state. This document proposes 10 new conservation reserves which would protect almost 50% of NSW’s koalas, including two nationally important metapopulations. The proposals align with existing conservation advice and management plans for the koala, and their importance is supported by their alignment with the findings of the 2014 Koala Count. The proposed reserves vary in their implementation: several, including the Great Koala National Park, the flagship proposal in the document, involve removing logging from State Forests and adding the forests to the reserve system. Evidence suggests that logging is not compatible with key habitat features for koalas and other species. Other proposals focus on the voluntary conservation of private land and the purchase of small parcels of high value land. All focus on increasing connectivity in the landscape to allow koalas to move in response to threats and food availability. Because of the focus on connectivity and forest protection, the proposals would also benefit a range of other threatened species and ecological communities and would make a large contribution to the ambitious Great Eastern Ranges Initiative. The Great Koala National Park is situated in an area with the most diverse tall eucalypt forests in the world which, we believe, are better protected in perpetuity than subject to logging. We believe that these forests, and the koala in particular, comprise a huge potential economic and cultural resource for the communities of north-east NSW. The proposals in this document would go a long way towards the effective exploitation of these natural resources. Maximising outcomes, for example through nature-based tourism, from these reservations will require strategic investment in the region, but would help offset any losses accrued through the removal of native forest logging. 6 List of figures Figure 1: Draft map showing indicative locations of all proposed koala reserves on the north-east coast of NSW (red polygons) ................................................................................................................................ 14 Figure 2: Draft map of the proposed Sandy Creek National Park (pink polygons) ..................................... 20 Figure 3: Geographical distribution of the Coffs Harbour—Guy Fawkes (yellow polygon) and the Bellenger—Nambucca—Macleay (purple polygon) koala metapopulations. The proposed Great Koala National Park is shown in green. Note: the tenures of forest included in the proposal are shown in Figure 5. ................................................................................................................................................................