New koala national park in New South Wales
It’s Save the Koala month this September.
These beautiful animals face many threats and challenges, especially habitat loss. Deforestation, drought and bushfires have really had a terrible impact on koalas: WWF-Australia say that the numbers collapsed by over half between 2000 and 2020.
Koalas need help. And they need their habitat to be protected, like many other species.
New Great National Koala Park
So there’s news from Australia about a Great Koala National Park, the aim of which is to protect thousands of native, threatened species including koalas and gliders!
This could be the largest national park in New South Wales, with 476,000 hectares. Home to over 12,000 koalas and 36,000 gliders, it would be wonderful to visit!
Over 175,000 hectares of state forest would be added to reserves which already exist in the area.
The government said it would invest Aus$6 million to support new tourism – and small business opportunities too. What an opportunity for tourism! The government thinks it will be a real driver for visitors from overseas.
It's not assured yet...
The creation of this park depends on the federal government agreeing to assess it as a carbon project for improved management of native forest, according to the state.
New South Wales state government has imposed a ban on logging across 435,000 acres of forest to create a Great Koala National Park
Local timber mills will be impacted, stopping their activity immediately. There are about 300 workers who may be affected, but the thing is that it is understood there will be an impact, so there’s a plan in place to work through it.
The government of the state has said all businesses had been consulted; financial compensation would be available.
There needs to be ways in which conservation and business can work together. Once lost, species and habitat are lost.
The government of New South Wales says an indirect economic surplus to The Great Koala National Park was thought to be over $160 million over the next 20 years, with 85,000 extra visitor nights a year!
I really hope that Australia will see this through and that there's a way in which those in the timber industry can be helped, as well as koalas.
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