Lend your voice to Koala Beach

EXPRESSIONS of interest are now open to join the Koala Beach Wildlife and Habitat Management Committee.

The residential development, nestled between Pottsville and Hastings Point, boasts 270ha of nature conservation bush land. This unique habitat is home to at least 24 threatened species and ecological communities, a testament to the community’s commitment to preserving the region’s natural heritage.

Koala Beach was designed to ensure the future sustainability of wildlife and habitats alongside residential development within and around the estate.

The committee, guided by wildlife and habitat management plans, provides input to managing the estate’s unique environmental values.

Committee members provide advice and recommendations on the wildlife and habitat management plans and reports, managing and mitigating threats to native wildlife arising from the residential areas, community engagement activities, and the Koala Beach special rate allocation. Each property owner in Koala Beach Estate pays a special rate, contributing to ongoing wildlife management.

The estate’s enduring principles include the prohibition of dogs and cats, a 40km speed limit to allow for the safer passage of wildlife, koala food and home range trees protected and planted in backyards and on roadsides, sufficient clearance between property fences and the ground to allow safe fauna movement, and ongoing funding for threatened species habitat management and monitoring programs.

Tweed Shire council said that management committees were essential to the council’s commitment to community engagement.

“They are a suitably experienced group of people appointed to give operational support, considered advice, and recommendations to management,” the council’s website said.

Members must attend a minimum of two meetings a year and review relevant wildlife and habitat management plans, reports, special rate financial reports, and other documents.

Community members are selected based on their capacity and demonstrated ability to enact change, influence and interact with the local community.

For information, visit tweed.nsw.gov.au/environment/native-plants-wildlife/private-land-conservation/koala-beach-estate