Save the Koala Month 2019 (STKM) is here! This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Australian Koala Foundation’s annual fundraising awareness campain and this year’s theme is “I Need a Hero”. When asked about the theme, chairman of the AKF, Deborah Tabart OAM said: “everyone who stands up to protect Koalas and participates in STKM is a hero in our eyes and this year we want to celebrate them.”
There are so many ways to participate in Save the Koala Month! For the remainder of September the Australian Koala Foundation will post a personalised STKM certificate for every donation made through the website over AUD$30. So not only will you feel like a hero, you’ll look like one too! To receive a certificate simply forward the confirmation email of your donation to: pr@savethekoala.com. Postage is included and available Australia wide, if you are donating from overseas please let us know and we will send you an electronic copy!
Welcome to Quinlandia!
Did you know the Australian Koala Foundation has a field and research station located in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland? Welcome to Quinlans, a 40-hectare property of bush at Gheerulla (near Kenilworth), inland from South East Queensland’s coast. The property was named in honour of Peter and Julanne Quinlan, the couple who bequeathed it to the AKF. Quinlans holds primary Koala habitat and with the addition of a few more Koala food trees we are confident that it will only expand. Quinlans is home to the AKF’s ‘Plant a Tree’ program, by planting a tree you are directly contributing to Koala Habitat and your name will be engraved on a tag which is hung on Harold’s Honour Wall, see our website to find out how you can ‘Plant a Tree’.
Quinlans Research Report
Our Landscape Ecologist, Dave Mitchell, has been pretty busy lately. In May and June Dave, and 4 international students, stayed at the Quinlans Bush Camp and collected data on over 1800 trees from 44 sites for his PhD research. He is very happy with the data, and will soon start to analyse all the new information.
“We did 29 sites in Quinlans and 15 in Mapleton National Park right next door. Quinlans was dairy farm back in the 1950s, so most of the bush is regrowth. On average the National Park trees are 7 metres taller – 20% – and that means Quinlans still has a long way to go before it starts to get hollows for the little birds and critters that need them. So we’ll keep putting those nesting boxes up.
No, we didn’t measure how tall each tree was! We got that information from my RMIT colleagues who came for a week. They brought a drone with a laser on it that did all the measuring for us. It’s pretty cool technology, it can pick up the branches inside the tree canopy, and I’ll be able to relate that to the field data measurements. I think we’ll be able to map some of the tree species with a bit of luck, it’s very promising. We’ll see – no-one’s ever tried to do that before.” – Dave Mitchell, Landscape Ecologist.
Intern with the AKF
The AKF is always on the lookout for enthusiastic, bright students or graduates to undertake internships. Especially those who have undergone studies in the fields of conservation and research! On this trip Dave was joined by Elisa from France and Ben, Yulan and Katie came all the way from the United States! All four interns reported that they had an amazing and educational time out bush! If you would like the opportunity to intern for the AKF then please read more here.
Hero of the Month
September’s hero of the month is Kiele from Alberta, Canada! Kiele loved drawing Koalas in day care and wanted to learn more about them. After finding out the danger Koalas face from land clearing, cars and dogs Kiele decided she had to share the news. Kiele shared a video of the amazing presentation she gave to her class and we could not be more impressed! Kiele has raised enough money to adopt a Koala until at least December 2020, she is hoping to visit the Koala on her family trip to Australia. Well done Kiele! If you would like to support Kiele’s fundraising efforts you can visit her gofundme page here.
Enlist your mates in the Koala Army!
The Koala Army is always on the look out for new recruits. You can do your bit by enlisting fellow comrades into the Army by downloading a recruitment form! Your mission? To have the Australian Government enact the Koala Protection Act (KPA)! Find out more here.
Make a Wild Contribution
Recently the ‘Adopt a Koala’ program has had six new wild additions! Our wild Koala adoptions represent all Koalas living free in the bush today. Your monthly donation enables the AKF to sight more Koalas and track their habitat on the Koala Habitat Atlas (KHA). The KHA enables the AKF to argue more effectively for Koala conservation. Currently the KHA covers a 1.5 million square kilometre geographic range. You can view the KHA on our website here!
This year one of our goals is to keep our loyal supporters updated with Koala news throughout the year. Hopefully, you will have already been receiving ‘Deborah’s Diary’ and Koala Army News and if not you can subscribe on our website. This newsletter is written to celebrate you, our supporters, whilst still showing you very cute Koalas. If you have a supporter story to share please send an email to pr@savethekoala.com, we can’t wait to hear from you!