Friends of the Earth has started more "in depth" surveying of Won Wron State Forest for koalas. After surveying nearby Mullungdung State Forest for almost three years, the focus has now turned to the 7,000 hectare Won Wron forest. About 20% of Won Wron has been surveyed. Although koala numbers at Won Wron appear to be lower than Mullungdung, FoE is encouraged to have found scats at a number of locations, associated mainly with Mountain Grey Gums. The surveys are urgently needed as we continue to try and better understand the Strzelecki/South Gippsland koala.
A key finding at Mullungdung was that creek lines act like koala 'corridors' where the animals are attracted to the higher nutrients associated with the trees growing in these gully lines. This same pattern is replicating at Won Wron, with these koala "highways" probably being utilised over thousands of years. The gully lines will also cooler refuges in the hotter months. An association is also made with koalas preferring older Mountain Grey Gums, many of which survived logging that would have occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries.
An increasingly drier and more fire prone environment will mean that these refuges will be even more important in the coming decades. It is pretty amazing to be lucky enough to wander about in the forest for hours and then come upon a small stand of Mountain Grey Gum. Almost always there will be signs of koalas in these stands, which are surrounded at Won Wron, by less popular to koalas, Yertchuk forests (Eucalyptus consideniana) which dominate much of the northern areas of Won Wron.
Surveys can be tough going. Survey days usually mean a 12 hour day, with 9 hours spent navigating very tricky environments and a 5 hour drive there and back from Melbourne. We use an adapted Rapid SAT survey technique where sites are selected at 500 metre intervals. Seven trees are surveyed at these intervals, and some trees are also surveyed in a random fashion in the walks between the survey points. If "juicy" Mountain Grey Gum sites are spotted, short detours are made to have a look for koalas and scats in these areas.
Mullungdung Survey map sheet. The crosses and small circles refer to surveys sites. Over 400 were completed by Anthony Amis at Mullungdung over 3 years. A typical day will see about eight sites surveyed.
A very popular koala tree showing koala claw marks on a Won Wron Mountain Grey Gum. Note how the marks are almost all horizontal. Koalas also prefer larger older trees, so these are crucial to keep in the landscape.
Fresh koala and herbivore scats found under a Won Wron Mountain Grey Gum.
Less koala friendly, but still beautiful Yertchuk and Grass Tree forest on one of the walks between survey points.
An endangered Gang Gang cockatoo in a Yertchuk - one of the benefits of getting out from behind the desk.
Yep. Snakes are out in the middle of winter - spring and summer can simply be too dangerous. Occupational hazard.
This work is being done on a voluntary basis, as funding for wages dried up in March, so any donations are used entirely on costs associated with the surveying. Talk about working on less than the smell of any oily rag! It's great that people have donated and small donations can go a very long way.
We are also trying to keep up to speed with 16,000 hectares of pine plantations being established in the Strzeleckis, much of this in key rainforest catchments and key koala areas. An article of this plantation expansion plan was published by the ABC on August 8th.
SKAT have online meetings every two months. For more information contact: [email protected]