Managing Koala Populations in Pine Creek State Forest, Northern Rivers

Sally Radford , Ross Goldingay , Rod Kavanagh, Jon Hanger  and Jeff McKee

Pine Creek State Forest in northern NSW has been subject to intensive forestry in the past. There remains some native forest interspersed with regrowth, plantation and in many areas lantana now dominates the understorey. Using a mobile field disease ecology unit, 54 koalas were trapped, assessed, radio-collared and released.  They were periodically reassessed over three years.  The baseline health and reproductive status of these koalas is poor.  There is a high prevalence of clinical and subclinical chlamydiosis, anaemia of unknown origin, a high mortality rate and a low reproductive rate.  The poor status of these animals is associated with the high prevalence of chlamydiosis but may also relate to increased ectoparasitism, reduced structural diversity and understorey monoculture.