KOALA RECOVERY PLAN A "JOKE" WHILE BERMI LOGGING CONTINUES
 
The Government"s $1.2 million koala recovery program launched on Sunday morning (30 November 2008) has been described as a "joke." The plan, launched by Environment Minister Carmel Tebbutt aims to "rehabilitate the marsupials' habitat and come up with strategies to protect them from threats."
Spokesperson for the Chipstop campaign against woodchipping, Ms Harriett Swift says that one of the biggest threats to the koala on the far south cast is the logging of Bermagui forest.
"How can the Minister keep a straight face as she launches this plan while the logging of koala habitat at Bermagui is in full swing"" she says.
Ms Swift says that logging of Bermagui forest is destroying a critical corridor between the last two known koala populations on the far south coast.
"If the species is to have a future here, the precautionary principle must be applied," she says.
 "A young koala was sighted and photographed almost directly across the road from where the logging started and another new sighting was recently reported in Mumbulla forest."
"The sick joke is compounded by the fact that the Bermagui logging will almost certainly cost NSW taxpayers more than it will return in royalties to Forests NSW.
"Minister Tebbutt could actually save taxpayers money and help the koala by stepping in to halt this logging" Ms Swift says.
30 November 2008
 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/11/30/2433562.htm

$1.2m koala recovery program launched

Posted 14 minutes ago

The New South Wales Government will study successful koala colonies in an attempt to increase the state's overall population of the animals.

The study is part of a $1.2 million koala recovery plan, being launched today, which aims to rehabilitate the marsupials' habitat and come up with strategies to protect them from threats.

Environment Minister Carmel Tebbutt says the first statewide survey of koalas in 20 years showed many koala colonies had dwindled, but a few had flourished.

"For example one of the projects under the plan is tracking the koalas in Gunnedah to get a better understanding of why they've grown and what's happened in that part of the world to support the koalas, and whether that can be replicated in other parts of the state," she said.

Tags: endangered-and-protected-species, human-interest, animals, nsw