1000 new trees restore ‘missing link’ in koala corridor

Published 03 August 2020

Tree planting

One kilometre of new koala corridor along the North Pine River has been established as part of Moreton Bay Regional Council’s green infrastructure program.

Over 1000 eucalyptus trees have been planted between Nelson Road and Ron Thomason Reserve in Lawnton to re-establish a missing link of koala habitat on the southern side of the river.

Mayor Peter Flannery said the new tree passage is the longest koala corridor planting undertaken by Council to date.

“We are about the only Council area in Australia that is successfully growing our koala population on public land, and it is important that we continue to support this growth by conserving this precious species in their natural habitat,” Cr Flannery said.

“Providing improved corridor connectivity will help koalas move around the region safely, particularly along the North Pine River.

“As leaders in koala population growth and conservation in South East Queensland, we have successfully helped increase the local koala population at The Mill site by over 22% per annum in the past three years and we are committed to delivering a range of koala conservation projects that ensure this growth continues.

“Council has trialled deep-stem planting methodology to accelerate the growth of these gum trees in the hope of creating koala habitat much faster.

“Planting longer rooted trees deeper into the ground has achieved quite spectacular results, with some of our recently planted trees already nearing two meters tall.”

Cr Flannery said more than 45,000 trees will be planted in our region over the next three years, including replanting’s that are currently underway at Wyllie Park directly opposite from The Mill.

“Council regularly plants trees to compensate for unavoidable tree loss associated with its extensive road construction program.

“Additionally, we’ve installed over 20 fauna rope bridges and more than 10,000 meters of fauna exclusion fencing and 10 wildlife underpasses to help keep our wildlife and motorists safe.

“And In our 2020-21 Budget, we announced a $1.8 million land buyback initiative to protect wildlife corridors, koala habitat and greenspace.”

 

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