The Southwest Sydney Koala Project, a partnership between Greater Sydney Landcare and the NSW Koala Strategy, recently hosted its third meeting with community koala stakeholders from across Greater Sydney on Wild Koala Day, Friday, May 3rd.
Head of Landscape Restoration and Chief Remote Pilot, Katie Selhorst from Landcare Australia delivered a presentation on the latest drone technology and reporting from koala surveys conducted across Sydney as part of the WildSeek project, a partnership between Landcare Australia, WIRES, and Queensland University of Technology (QUT). She explained the methodology used, highlighting the unique approach compared to other drone methodologies. The program, managed by Landcare Australia, collaborates with government agencies, not-for-profit organisations and landholders to address the gap in baseline knowledge of koala populations in the region. Katie also discussed the challenges faced, including airspace regulations, flight restrictions, and working within the limitations of drone technology.
Katie presented the results of flights over Sutherland Shire Council Land in Lucas Heights, a peri-urban area with a high population of koalas. A parcel of land of approximately 105 hectares of Sutherland Shire Council land was surveyed, and a total of 21 koalas were detected using QUT’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Conservation Hub, designed for koala detection using drone thermal imagery.
Special guests Lilly and Pat from the Hills Hornsby Rural Koala Group shared updates on their efforts to rediscover the koala population in South Maroota, following severe wildfires in the early 2000s. NSW Government has mapped the area as high confidence for koalas to be presents, however there is still a need to better understand the population dynamics in this region. The team at Landcare Australia is supporting the group through the WildSeek program with flights over areas suspected to have koalas, based on the historical koala data and current sightings collated by Hills Hornsby Rural Koala Group.
Cita Murphy from the Country Women's Association and Julie Sheppard from the Macarthur National Parks Association presented their Rewilding Sydney’s Koalas project.
Other stakeholders present at the meeting included Campbelltown City Council, the Knitting Nanas, Australian Wildlife Sanctuary and Sydney Wildlife, WIRES, the University of Sydney (Wildlife Clinic), as well as community members and landholders.
The WildSeek Project is being delivered by Community Hubs located in New England Region in NSW (Tamworth Regional Landcare Association); MidCoast NSW (Mid Coast 2 Tops Landcare); South East Queensland (Noosa & District Landcare Group Inc.); East Gippsland in Victoria (East Gippsland Conservation Management Network); and the Sydney Region in NSW (Landcare Australia).