What's Next After the Fires?

Devastating wildlife losses, and unprecedented fire conditions, have led us to take unprecedented measures. In December we rescued 12 koalas from Kanangra-Boyd National Park to keep them safe from bushfire (read more here) and we returned them back to the wild with a bonus joey, so we put back 13!

Now we need to know where the koalas are throughout the Blue Mountains ranges, so we can allocate resources to protect them before the next fires come. If there are pockets of surviving koalas in the wild, then we need to know where they are, how many there are, and how connected they are to each other as that will impact if the population can grow again. We also need to learn more about the state of the trees in their habitats and the rate of vegetation recovery after fire, to understand if there will be enough quality habitat around for them to survive. We’re starting all of this vital work from July onwards.

But koalas are not the only species that suffered during the bushfires. Due to the massive and unprecedented scale of the fires, species that were listed as common or with a conservation status of least concern could now be in trouble.  So, a critical step is to survey for surviving wildlife so that we can develop plans to protect them.

While we are out in remote areas looking for koalas, we have an opportunity to assess other species too. We could tie this into our koala scat surveys; these have been focussed on koalas until now, but we always see scats of other species. However, there’s a big difference in resources between running a scat dog through a survey area targeting only koala scats, versus teams of people fossicking through the leaflitter trying to ID every scat they find and then sending some of the poop off for genetic testing if species ID is uncertain. 

We also have 90 cameras we bought during the bushfire crisis, which is also a great start, but to design and run large scale camera trap surveys in remote areas for multiple species we need funding.  

Work of this scale is expensive, and we need help right now. After delays due to covid-19, our first surveys for koalas start in September, the start of koala mating season when they'll be moving around more. Please consider conserving more of our precious wildlife with a donation. All donations are tax-deductible

Please donate now and help us to work on the big picture to secure a future for koalas. 
For other ways to help or get involved, please visit our website

For everyone who donated during the bushfires, and after, thank you. It’s a long road ahead, and we appreciate your support.