Australia passes the Great Koala National Park, a refuge for about 12,000 koalas
New South Wales Parliament passed the law last week, adding more than 178,000 hectares of public forest to national parks on the state's Mid North Coast. The result is a refuge of more than 475,000 hectares that is home to an estimated 12,000 koalas, according to WWF-Australia. Conservation groups now want the rest of the state's native forests protected too.
About 12,000 koalas live in the forests of the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. Since last week, their home has the protection of a national park: the state’s Parliament passed the law creating the Great Koala National Park.
The law adds more than 178,000 hectares of state forest and other public land to the national parks already in the area. Together they form a refuge of more than 475,000 hectares, according to WWF-Australia, which has campaigned for it for more than a decade alongside koala ecologists, First Nations and local communities, and businesses.
Why this is good news
Koalas need large, connected stretches of eucalyptus forest to feed, move and find mates. “Protecting hundreds of thousands of hectares of connected habitat will give koalas and other endangered species room to recover and adapt as the climate changes,” said Dermot O’Gorman, WWF-Australia’s CEO.
The park will also protect an estimated 36,000 greater gliders, a marsupial that glides from tree to tree, and more than 100 threatened species, according to the conservation groups’ joint release. Native forest logging in New South Wales will fall by about 20%.
O’Gorman compares it to the reserves China began creating more than 60 years ago for giant pandas, which helped move them off the endangered list: “We hope the Great Koala National Park can help put koalas on a similar path to recovery.”
Aboriginal rangers, trails and support for workers
The state government will fund new Aboriginal ranger positions to care for the park, and parts of it will be open for bushwalking, camping, kayaking and mountain biking. Affected timber workers will receive a support package.
Conservation groups now want the remaining 1.76 million hectares of native state forest outside the park protected as well, with the Gumbaynggirr and Dunghutti peoples involved in managing it.
