Ensuring Thriving Koala Populations - Why Koala's and why now?

Koalas help to maintain tree health, including but not limited to Eucalypts. Their presence is an indicator of great landscape management, a real credit to landholders who have maintained good tree-pasture balance in their paddocks and along their waterways. We recently completed a koala research project which investigated records of koalas populations in Western Queensland; how abundant they were, what condition they were in, where were the greatest concentrations, and what assistance landholders wanted to support these populations. The research and knowledge gained from the project has helped inform our latest koala project, Ensuring Thriving Koala Populations in Southern Queensland, which will aim to addresses some of those most critical issues to improve koala climate resilience, habitat condition and threat reduction.

Ensuring Thriving Koala Populations - Who is this project for?

This project is open to any landholder in the wider Western Queensland region. The project has known koala hotspots in areas around Augathella, Adavale, Quilpie and Eulo. These areas are highlighted on the project map which can be found on the project landing page (view map here). However, we will be working with landholders right across Southwest Queensland. There are also opportunities for all the community to get involved, collecting DNA material to help understand how koala populations are related, and sharing their koala sightings to broaden our knowledge of their range and condition.

What happens with the information I provide to the Ensuring Thriving Koala Populations project?

Landholder koala sightings and private information shared through this project with Southern Queensland Landscapes are kept confidential and only used with your permission. Information collected during the project including sightings will be added to National databases to help inform management and future funding.

Ensuring Thriving Koala Populations - Who are my points of contact?

Southern Queensland Landscapes are coordinating this project. This project is funded by the Queensland Government’s Natural Resource Management Expansions Program. Your points of contact with the team at Southern Queensland Landscapes are Chris Crafter, Erin Landsberg and Jackson Shillingsworth from our Charleville office. Either submit an Expression of Interest form on our website, or call our head office on (07) 4620 0111 and one of our team members will be in contact with you.

What support am I entitled to through the Ensuring Thriving Koala Populations project?

Financial support to complement your in-kind contribution towards: • Feral dog control • Invasive cactus control • Koala bridges/crossings • Low-intensity burning

What do Southern Qld Landscapes expect from me as a landholder through the Ensuring Thriving Koala Populations project?

Once we have discussed what you would like to do, our agreement outlines the works to be completed, the funding we will provide, the timeline for completion, and follow-up monitoring.

How do I get involved in the Ensuring Thriving Koala Populations project?

This project is currently underway and will conclude in June 2028. To register your interest in this project, please complete the Expression of Interest form below, or call us directly (07) 4620 0111. Once your form submission has been received, a member of our projects team will assess your application and subsequently reach out for further discussion with you.

Koalas in Southern Queensland are facing increasing threats from the loss of connectivity between the habitats essential for their survival. This almost $2.5 million project aims to support koala movement and survival across Southern Queensland through targeted action to remove key threats including wild dogs and invasive cactus.

Project outcomes and activities will cover:

• Cool burning to ensure healthy forests of koala food trees and sufficient recruitment of these trees to support future generations of koalas

• Pest animal control, particularly wild dogs, to reduce predation pressure on koala’s while most vulnerable, when moving to new foraging/breeding areas

• Remove invasive cactus species (tiger pear, coral cactus, harissa cactus) from koala habitat to prevent injury or impediment to safe and swift movement

• Install koala ‘bridges’ over wild dog exclusion fences to support koala movement through the landscape

• Define the genetic relatedness of koala populations in the priority areas to baseline change over time

This project will focus on supporting koala movement through the landscape by removing three key challenges. The first is being preyed on by wild dogs. The second is infection and death from cactus spines. The final is fences that pose a physical barrier to movement. The key long-term measure for successfully addressing these challenges is change in genetic relatedness of populations. This project will baseline the level of relationship between koala populations in priority areas to allow long-term (10 years and beyond) success monitoring. Challenges will be addressed at priority areas in the region, as determined by a combination of local expert knowledge, public datasets and data from prior Southern Qld Landscapes projects.

The survival of Queensland koalas in the face of predicted weather extremes, is reliant on retaining the highest possible genetic diversity. We will be collecting eDNA samples and providing analysis of population relatedness both within and beyond the project area through collaboration with other community-based koala projects. Such analysis will add value to future investment decisions related to securing the future of the koala in the wild.

In summary, this project is a priority for our region and Queensland because it aims at:

• Supporting koala’s seasonal movement needs by lowering predation pressure, reducing cactus spread and installing ‘koala bridges’ over exclusion fences in koala habitat.

• Alignment with the Flourishing Landscapes and Healthy Communities Plan.

Ensuring Thriving Koala Populations - Why Koala's and why now?
Koalas help to maintain tree health, including but not limited to Eucalypts. Their presence is an indicator of great landscape management, a real credit to landholders who have maintained good tree-pasture balance in their paddocks and along their waterways. We recently completed a koala research project which investigated records of koalas populations in Western Queensland; how abundant they were, what condition they were in, where were the greatest concentrations, and what assistance landholders wanted to support these populations.

The research and knowledge gained from the project has helped inform our latest koala project, Ensuring Thriving Koala Populations in Southern Queensland, which will aim to addresses some of those most critical issues to improve koala climate resilience, habitat condition and threat reduction.
Ensuring Thriving Koala Populations - Who is this project for?
This project is open to any landholder in the wider Western Queensland region. The project has known koala hotspots in areas around Augathella, Adavale, Quilpie and Eulo. These areas are highlighted on the project map which can be found on the project landing page (view map here). However, we will be working with landholders right across Southwest Queensland.

There are also opportunities for all the community to get involved, collecting DNA material to help understand how koala populations are related, and sharing their koala sightings to broaden our knowledge of their range and condition.
What happens with the information I provide to the Ensuring Thriving Koala Populations project?
Landholder koala sightings and private information shared through this project with Southern Queensland Landscapes are kept confidential and only used with your permission. Information collected during the project including sightings will be added to National databases to help inform management and future funding.
Ensuring Thriving Koala Populations - Who are my points of contact?
Southern Queensland Landscapes are coordinating this project. This project is funded by the Queensland Government’s Natural Resource Management Expansions Program. Your points of contact with the team at Southern Queensland Landscapes are Chris Crafter, Erin Landsberg and Jackson Shillingsworth from our Charleville office. Either submit an Expression of Interest form on our website, or call our head office on (07) 4620 0111 and one of our team members will be in contact with you.
What support am I entitled to through the Ensuring Thriving Koala Populations project?
Financial support to complement your in-kind contribution towards:

• Feral dog control
• Invasive cactus control
• Koala bridges/crossings
• Low-intensity burning
What do Southern Qld Landscapes expect from me as a landholder through the Ensuring Thriving Koala Populations project?
Once we have discussed what you would like to do, our agreement outlines the works to be completed, the funding we will provide, the timeline for completion, and follow-up monitoring.
How do I get involved in the Ensuring Thriving Koala Populations project?
This project is currently underway and will conclude in June 2028. To register your interest in this project, please complete the Expression of Interest form below, or call us directly (07) 4620 0111. Once your form submission has been received, a member of our projects team will assess your application and subsequently reach out for further discussion with you.

Get Involved!

If you would like to know more and are interested in partnership funding, please complete the Expression of Interest form below and our team will contact you. The map below shows the project priority areas, please do not self-assess, contact the Southern Qld Landscapes team to find out more.

This project is being delivered in Southern Queensland throughout 2025-2028. It is an almost $2.5 million dollar investment from the Queensland Government through the Natural Resource Management Expansion Program.