2019-03-12 Planning & Environment Committee Agenda

PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                12 MARCH 2019


REPORT
The Koala Conservation Plan was adopted by Council in April 2016. The purpose of this report is
to update Council on the delivery of the actions identified in the Plan. The Action Plan
(Attachment 1) provides a summary status of 27 actions. The more significant outcomes of the
Koala Action Plan are discussed below;
1.   Objective 1. Conserve koala populations and habitat through statutory provisions
Action 1.1. Amend the Noosa Plan to include shire-wide individual tree protection provisions
outside the mapped Biodiversity Overlay
Individual tree protection provisions were introduced into The Noosa Plan in 2016 and any
applications for removal are assessed as ‘operational works for vegetation clearing’. This means
that any applications for vegetation clearing outside the Biodiversity Overlay mapped areas also
require a development application. There are certain exemptions that apply relating to building a
house, rural property maintenance work and disaster management.
In addition, the Noosa Plan now has specific provisions for developments that occur within the
Biodiversity Overlay and are mapped as koala habitat. These provisions are consistent with and
refer to the State Nature Conservation (Koala) Conservation Plan 2017 and Koala Sensitive
Design Guideline 2012.
Action 1.2 Identify Koala Habitat Areas based on local data and approach the State for inclusion
in SPP mapping
Local koala habitat mapping is updated as new data is supplied from the USC Koala Health
Mapping Project funded by the Noosa Biosphere® Reserve Foundation. The Noosa Shire
mapping methodology is consistent with State requirements and is currently being reviewed by
the State to include in State Planning Policy (SPP) mapping for development assessment
purposes.
2.   Objective 2. Conserve koala populations and habitat through non-statutory means
Action 2.1 Secure koala habitat through land acquisition and rehabilitation
Recently Council entered into agreements with the Noosa Parks Association and the State
Government to secure 2,400ha of State Forest for conservation purposes. Not only will this help
protect existing koala habitat, 750ha of plantation license area is to be revegetated. The Yurol-
Ringtail State Forests Project is one of the largest conservation projects ever undertaken in
Noosa Shire and in South-east Queensland.
The Queensland Koala Crusaders and Noosa and District Landcare have been successful in
gaining $200,000 for vegetation rehabilitation works at Ringtail Creek State Forest, largely
through the Body Shop Bio-bridge Program.
Environment Services staff have also been in contact with the State Department of Environment
and Science Climate Change Unit in relation to further grant opportunities through the Land
Restoration Fund. The State is looking at innovative models to deliver carbon offsets through
revegetation works on public or private land. These discussions are still at early stages.
3.   Objective 4. Map and monitor local koala populations
Action 4.2 Investigate latest methods for efficient and effective ground truthing of koala
presence/absence and health
The University of Sunshine Coast ‘Detection Dogs for Conservation Unit’ are continuing their
shire-wide research into koala presence/absence using koala ‘poo’ sniffing dogs and have
recently trained a koala detection dog which can detect the smell of koalas, not just their
droppings. Data collected is used to inform koala genetic and habitat mapping.
The Queensland University of Technology has approached SEQ Council’s to undertake broad
scale koala data collection using drones and thermal imagery technology. This could be a very
cost effective and innovative measure to gain a better understanding of koala population

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