This month in our Volunteers in Focus update, we highlight the amazing work of Mark Wilson our Nursery Manager, Maria Matthes, Area Coordinator for Ballina & Richmond Valley LGAs and Friends of the Koala Emergency Response Coordinator and Fiona Dawson, Leafing Coordinator. Mark Wilson, Nursery Manager Mark joined Friends of the Koala in 1992 as … Read more
Volunteer Stories
Volunteer Week Celebrations 2023
We celebrated Volunteer Week 2023 with these amazing humans! Did you know that we now have 240+ volunteers? Some, you will have heard about, spotted in photos and many, many more, who work quietly behind the scenes. To celebrate our volunteers, we had some surprise nominations and presentations throughout the week for a number of … Read more
Volunteer Week 2023
We are celebrating National Volunteer Week – 15th to 21st May with the theme – ‘The Change Makers’ and it couldn’t be more apt for the incredible volunteers both past and present who have created enormous change in the Northern Rivers for koalas and their habitat. The work of our volunteers is immeasurable, from our … Read more
Riley donates $100 through recycling
We wanted to tell you about a young Australian entreprenuer with a passion for reycling! Riley Wood saw a problem in his local community and an opportunity to not only fix it but to ‘set himself up for life’ and make a difference. Riley who collects cans and glass or plastic bottles and recycles them … Read more
Flux Goes Home!
Flux was spotted in a row of trees by a road in East Coraki shortly after the second floods (April 7, 2022) by one of our rescuers. He was not alone; there was a female in another tree. Both displayed severe signs of cystitis (very wet and stained bums). When both were found in the same … Read more
Update: Flood Affected Koala Food Tree Plantations
The 2022 flooding event impacted six of our seven plantations. Since the end of February, the plantation maintenance team have been working two mornings per week to clear flood debris and ensure access is possible for the leaf harvesters to collect food for the koalas in care. Each plantation was affected on differing scales, our … Read more
2019-2020 NSW Bushfires – Koala rescue & Rehabilitation Publication
As data coordinator, I was thrilled to take the opportunity to work with Dr Dan Lunney, Honorary Scientific Fellow at the DPE. Through some funding, a project was set up to examine data around koala rescues, rehabilitation and release. One of the data sets used for this project was the extensive Friends of the Koala data. While … Read more
FOK Plantation News
As you can all imagine a lot of our plantations have been ravaged by the floods. We would love to have more willing hands to volunteer on Wednesday or Friday mornings, if you are interested in volunteering in the plantations please contact Kate Hayes at volunteercoord@friendsofthekoala.org. We have been getting some assistance from Lismore City … Read more
