Koala Woman Says

Another electorate where most the bush was burnt in the summer of 2019 – 2020, but luckily most of the two known Koala populations escaped major harm. Northeast of Bega there were estimated to be about 50 in the Mumbulla forest and a recent drone survey found 36. Koalas were formerly much more widespread in the area, stretching northeast towards Bermagui. None have been recorded here since 2012. East of Cooma, the Numeralla population appeared to be doing OK and 18 were rescued from the fires, but some must have perished. Further north there are some Koalas in private forests but no proper surveys have been done, and these forests supply logs to the Eden chipmill. Sixty years ago there were many Koalas in this electorate, in an arc stretching from Dignams Creek near Cobargo to the Murrah State Forest near Bermagui, and south to Tantawangalo State Forest,. Koalas are extinct in the Tantawangalo Forest and south of Eden. What happened in this electorate? The fur trade in the early 1900s, and millions and millions of trees shipped to Japan as woodchips to make cardboard since 1970, that’s what. “Cheap as chips” has a new meaning when it comes to Koalas in Eden-Monaro.

Will she Act or Axe?