Lismore City Council (LCC) and Friends of the Koala (FOK) are working together to reduce the impact of Golden Rain Tree on council reserves in Lismore. FOK have taken on the daunting task of restoring East Lismore’s urban bushland that is known Koala habitat and provides safe refuge for Koalas. This work is part of a greater Koala corridor project from Southern Cross University to the Wilson River and is being funded over three years by the NSW Environmental Trust with the aim of enhancing habitat and increasing connectivity of these remnants to create safe passage for our vulnerable Koala population.

Weed invasion is one of the most relentless and insidious of the many threats to urban bushland. Many of our council reserves, such as City View Drive, are in a seriously degraded state due to the incursion of weeds from surrounding backyards, garden waste dumping and the dispersal of weed seeds by native fauna such as flying foxes and fruit eating birds. Golden Rain Trees adjacent to reserves are spreading at an alarming rate into bushland. These trees dominate where native trees should occur. Natural regeneration of Koala food trees cannot compete with these and other, exotic species. For example, the Golden Rain tree  (Koelreuteria elegans subsp. Formosana) is prolific and will dominate gardens and bushland in a very short time, however it is easy to control and can be replaced with a range of native species such as the Cheese Tree (Glochidion ferdinandi).

LCC are assisting FOK by providing funds to enable the removal of mature trees in close proximity to Koala habitat on their reserves.