SARA RFI - Ecological Assessment Report

Koala survey report – Serenity Close, Noosa Heads
Prepared for Litoria Consulting


individuals, can require a detection dog search effort of up to 1km for every 2 to 3ha of land.
However, providing absence data with a high degree of confidence (standard ≥95%) for any
species and using any tool, always requires a more intensive search effort. OWAD’s requirement
to provide clients with a high degree of confidence in Koala absence, is to apply maximum search
effort for any given site; strictly no less than 1km of detection dog search per 2-3ha of land is
applied, however, not set maximum effort is set. Effort continues above the strict minimum, if and
as time and budget allow for any given study. In this survey, a search effort equivalent to 2.2km
per 1ha of land (or 1km per 0.45ha) was applied which is approximately fourfold OWAD’s
minimum standard, hence this study provides a very high degree of confidence in the Koala
absence data provided in this report.

As a result, it can confidently be stated that the subject site is not currently used, nor has recently
been used, by any Koala individual.

As with any mobile species, the fact that there was no current or recent evidence of Koala
presence on the site at the time the survey was performed does not preclude the possibility of a
Koala visiting or utilising the site in the future. Given the very poor connectivity of the site to the
greater landscape, and the developed and disturbed surroundings, it is considered unlikely that a
wild Koala would currently be able to access the site unassisted. Caution must be exercised in
urbanised environments, however, especially in areas where the Koala is highly valued by the
local community, as humans can sometimes displace/relocate/or guide Koalas to unexpected
places they wouldn’t have been able to reach or access without human intervention of some sort.




OWAD Environment                                                                                Page 7