Get ready for the great Northern Rivers Koala Count!
Together with Northern Rivers Koala Partnership – which includes local Councils of Ballina, Byron, Kyogle, Lismore, Richmond Valley and Tweed – we are asking you to look for koalas and make a special effort to report sightings on our website.
Our week-long initiative runs from September 24th to 30th and aims to harness the power of citizen science to provide a better understanding about where koalas live and how they use their environment. Your koala sightings will help support our important koala research, conservation and management actions.
So if you’re a nature lover, advocate for koalas or just love the outdoors please help us and join in the fun – the kids will love it too.
Important note: please do not enter private property without landholder permission.
Ember Sighting
Just in time for Save the Koala month and our campaign to ‘Adopt Ember this September‘, this darling miracle koala has been spotted with a new joey! This is Ember’s second joey (that we know of) since her release – we first spotted her in 2021 with a joey, eighteen months after her release. This is just such sweet, sweet news to us as Ember wasn’t expected to make it, let alone have multiple babies of her own. Please read more about it on the IFAW website – Koala bushfire survivor spotted in the wild with second joey. You can also read more about ‘Adopt Ember this September‘ and go ahead and adopt her. There isn’t a more fitting story for Save the Koala month!
Greater Bank Greater Northern Rivers Community Funding Competition
Friends of the Koala has been nominated for the Greater Bank Greater Northern Rivers Community Funding Competition and we would love your support to help us win!
Simply head to the voting page and vote for Friends of the Koala – visitors to the Greater Bank website may vote once every 24 hours. Please vote as often as you can on the Greater Bank voting page to maximise our chances of winning $3,000 in funding from the bank. What are you waiting for, come on! Just do it!!!
Monaltrie Residential Development Approved Despite Concerns of Impact on Koala Habitat
The proposed residential development in Monaltrie which is an area in Lismore is a koala inhabited area, where koalas are already in crisis and where Friends of the Koala have seen increasing numbers of koala road fatalities. There is no doubt that the residential development will have a negative impact on the koala sub population here.
Annual General Meeting (AGM)
Friends of the Koala invite all members to our Annual General Meeting (AGM) which will be held on Friday 13th October 2023.
Time: Please join us from 4:00pm with a 4:30pm start.
Special guest speaker: Sue Higginson, MLC, Member of the Greens.
Sue is an environmental law expert and has practiced as a public interest environmental lawyer. She is the former Principal Solicitor and CEO of the Environmental Defenders Office, Australia’s leading public interest environmental law centre.
If you are not currently a member but would like to join us please sign up here. Membership costs just $20 annually and we welcome both passive and active members. Take a look at what membership offers you!
The AGM is an opportunity for us to present our Annual Report and elect our 23/24 Management Committee and as a member you will have a voice and a vote in decision-making processes that shape the organisation’s direction.
We also invite individuals who are interested in our organisation and adopting a governance role on the Management Committtee to please contact our President Aliison Kelly on: 0428 216 079 or aliison@friendsofthekoala.org. Due to the nature of our work, we can only accept Management Committee applications from candidates based in Australia.
The full notice of the events proceedings will be sent out separately by our Secretary closer to the date to all members.