Gilmore Electorate Communities Environment Program 2019-20
For the year 2020 the Commonwealth Government granted $2,800 through the Gilmore Electorate to The Coastwatchers Association Inc (matched in-kind by Coastwatchers) under the Communities Environment Program.
The purpose of the grant was identification of koala habitat with a view to future koala population revival or reintroduction. The grant enabled ten close-scale plot surveys to ground-truth wider-scale modelling of potential koala habitat in the forested patch between Wamban and Nerrigundah.
The project was carried out by the volunteer Eurobodalla Koala Project in its role as a local citizen science movement.
In summary, the project concluded the potential of the patch to offer suitable habitat for low-density koala revival was confirmed, but with significant caveats in respect of historical clearing, topography, soil fertility and possible future disturbance. The key lessons for the future environmental management of this patch are the maintenance of its landscape-scale connectivity to other habitat patches, and avoidance of further disturbance through increased frequency and intensity of wildfire, urban development or over-intensive agricultural-industry.
You can view or download a pdf version of the report via the link below (81 pages, 5.7MB.
