The Central West region is not typically known as a flourishing habitat for Koalas. But a spate of recent sightings could turn that on its head.
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Mick Boller has been recording the presence of koalas in the region since at least 2014. His passion led to him being considered an unofficial authority on koala populations in the Mudgee region. If someone sees a koala, they think of Mick.
"It seems to me like this is kind of an opportunity for Mudgee... we've got no status as a koala habitat area and there's clearly populations of koalas. So what I do each time I get a sighting is I ask the person for a GPS reference and a photograph and witnesses," Mick said.
"I'm the de facto contact person in Lue, and so people go 'I saw a koala, I better contact Mick Boller, he'll know what to do.'"
Mick has kept a comprehensive record of koala sightings in a document he has maintained since early 2014.
"I'm not a koala researcher, I've got no kind of scientific idea of what's going on," he said.
A number of the recent sightings have been closer to the Mudgee CBD than ever before, with one sighted at the entrance to AREC and another on George Street. However, the proximity to residential areas poses its own threat to the koalas with at least three reports of dead koalas since June.
Mick recently contacted council about a koala sighting on Dolomite Road and a sign was placed warning motorists in the area to take care. Two weeks later Mick noticed the signs were gone.
"So I rang the council and said, 'what's happened? You put the signs up, that's great, why are they gone?' And the kind of answer I got was there was significant blowback from an unspecified section of the community, and council responded by taking the signs down.
"So I don't know what the nature of the blowback was. I don't know who, why, where, I don't know any of that but they took signs down."
Mick is in regular contact with Dr Kellie Leigh, Executive Director of Science for Wildlife and has played a part in tracking koala populations locally.
Dr Leigh will soon travel to parts of the Mid-Western LGA to conduct important koala research after funding from the Australian Government.
"The community signing stuff has been really important and Mick has been in touch for years, sending us sightings from Lue and they have got more frequent every year. So for some time I've wanted to get up there and do some surveys and it seems like the sightings are increasing," De Leigh said.
"So this survey we want to do includes around Lue, Mudgee and then across into the protected area as well."
As part the grant, Dr Leigh and her team be expanding their work into the northwest area of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area (GBMWHA) and out onto the plains and private properties that adjoin Wollemi National Park.
"The number of koalas we have been finding has been incredible, but it's where we are finding them that is so exciting. They are thriving in habitats that nobody thought could support them in decent numbers. We keep finding them in new places, on poorer soil types and utilising tree species we didn't know they could use" said Dr Leigh said.
With an apparent increase of koalas closer to Mudgee and Lue, this means that the chances of vehicle collisions has also risen.
There have been three known koala road deaths since June, something which Mick says indicates that a driver awareness campaign is probably needed and would go a long way in protecting a critically endangered species.
The Mudgee Guardian reached out to Mid-Western Regional Council to speak about the increase of sightings and an online tool it maintains for residents to log their own sightings of endangered species. A spokesperson said that council is not available for comment on this matter.
Understanding what habitats koalas can use is only the first step, protecting those habitats is also vital. As well as understanding the impact of fire on koala populations and their recovery rates, to inform fire management, an important aspect of the project is on-ground habitat restoration works.
Mid-Western Regional Council is not regarded as key Koala habitat more than 40 sightings in just one corner of the Council area would indicate it should be taken more seriously.
