Noosa’s koalas are set to benefit from grant of almost one-quarter of a million dollars for Noosa and District Landcare through the Government’s Threatened Species Strategy Action Plan.
“Koalas are one of Australia’s most iconic animals. They are a symbol of our beautiful country, and this funding will be used to enhance and restore their habitat throughout Noosa,” Federal Wide Bay MP Llew O’Brien said.
“Through this project, Noosa Landcare will restore five koala corridors through revegetation of 22 hectares and further develop its Artificial Intelligence (AI) Enabled Drone Monitoring Network for enhanced monitoring in the area, protecting these precious animals and their habitat for future generations.”
Noosa and District Landcare general manager Phil Moran thanked Mr O’Brien and said the $249,835 funding would allow Noosa Landcare to build on its bushfire recovery projects and further develop its drone technology in conjunction with the Queensland University of Technology.
“This grant means we can carry out works like revegetation across five local properties, which will have an immediate benefit for local koala populations, and we can also expand our drone technology to do more research on where koalas are living and where we can do more work to protect them, so it has long-term benefit for future generations of koalas as well,” Mr Moran said.
“It’s the gift that keeps on giving, with short term and long term benefits – it’s a really pivotal project.”
The Australian Network For Plant Conservation will also receive $249,836 for projects in New South Wales and Queensland, including throughout Wide Bay.
“The Australian Network For Plant Conservation is working to conserve Native Guava across the country including within Wide Bay, with projects to support new growth and preventing spread of diseases and pathogens such as Myrtle Rust,” Mr O’Brien said.
Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley said conservation and restoration projects across Australia have been allocated a share of $12 million funding through the $100 million Environment Restoration Fund.
“The successful projects span all states and territories and will deliver practical action on the ground to protect more than 60 priority threatened species,” Minister Ley said.
“This includes action to restore and create important habitat, captive breeding programs to boost populations as well as new feral cat and fox management initiatives to reduce pressures from invasive predators.
“These community-led activities will help improve the trajectory of our most precious native wildlife with a range of flow-on benefits for other species that share the same habitat.
“Projects announced today will also drive forward action under the Government’s recently announced Threatened Species Strategy Action Plan, which sets a pathway to coordinate practical conservation efforts for our threatened species.”
