Providing a feasibility study to foster long-term survival of koalas in a high-growth urban development area

Cumberland Plain Koala Exclusion Fencing Feasibility Study

The Cumberland Plain area in southwestern Sydney is facing large-scale land-use change. However, this area is also home to one of the largest and healthiest koala populations in New South Wales. The Cumberland Plain Conversation Plan (CPCP) was developed to meet the needs of the community while protecting threatened plants and animals in the long term. The Department of Planning and Environment brought our team in to provide a potential fencing alignment and design options to help protect and conserve the koalas and their habitat. The potential fencing alignment and options would be subject to on ground conditions and approvals.

Exclusion fencing will help to prevent koalas accessing the main roads and, therefore, reduce koala road mortality. It will separate koalas from the potential threats posed by urban development and provide movement corridors for koalas in the study area where there are patches of koala habitat. We utilised a detailed desktop analysis and conducted community engagement to inform the project.

Although there are unique challenges posed by a project of this scale, it and the CPCP will bring opportunities to provide long-term, landscape-scale benefits to an important and vulnerable species.