Koala Detection Report – 346-508-0002 'Rose Porteous'
VicForests' active logging coupe 346-508-0002 was investigated to assess the presence of threatened species within State Forest which is currently in the process of being clear-felled. Surveyors at WOTCH undertook a spotlighting survey on the night of 26/03/2018 within coupe 346-508-0002 ‘Rose Porteous’. During the survey, a Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) was detected inside the coupe, a rare sighting for the species in the area. There is only one record of the Koala in the Yarra State Forest north of Powelltown, which was an observation of a dead koala along Dowey Spur Road (2015) approximately 10km East of this new record (Victorian Biodiversity Atlas, 2017). The koala is a species which is very susceptible to land clearing and fragmentation (Menkhorst, 2004). It is for this reason that we request the department to refrain VicForests from continuing logging operations within coupe 346-508-0002, as this is proven to be vital habitat for a rare (and perhaps isolated) population of Koala.