Conservation park home to koalas near Brisbane to grow by 213 hectares

February 27, 2024 7:40 PM

Major conservation park home to koalas near Brisbane to grow by 213 hectares (526 acres). The state government purchases a large parcel of land that will be added to the Daisy Hill Conservation Park, which features mountain bike tracks, walking paths, picnic areas, horse riding trails, and a koala centre.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries (9 comments total)

I donated to some koala rescue group during the fires a few years ago, and so I'm very happy to hear any good news about koalas having homes!
posted by hippybear at 8:47 PM on February 27 [1 favorite]

This is a great deal for koalas. Development pressure is making it harder to maintain connections between bushland and forests along the East Coast.

This first time I saw a koala in the wild was at Daisy Hill. We'd had a truly brutal storm with serious hail damage across the region. I was out on my mountain bike the day after. The forest looked shredded. Small branches and twigs had been ripped off the trees.

I hurtled round a corner and almost ran into a hefty koala sitting on the ground looking somewhat worse for wear. It managed to communicate its disgruntlement. I could see it thinking "I am NEVER going up a tree again."

I'm very happy that my miserable koala will have a wider range of trees to mistrust.
posted by Combat Wombat at 10:01 PM on February 27 [5 favorites]

I hurtled round a corner and almost ran into a hefty koala sitting on the ground looking somewhat worse for wear.

Hmm. So the slow koalas and the fast mountain bikes are sharing the same space?
posted by pracowity at 11:51 PM on February 27

Not really pracowity. In the normal state the koalas are in the trees and the mountain bikers are on the trails. Changes to this situation are unusual and sub- optimal.
posted by Combat Wombat at 1:50 AM on February 28 [3 favorites]

I grew up right on the borders of the Daisy Hill Conservation Park! I've mentioned a few times that koala calls carry, and that you can hear them hoorking and booming away through the breeding season a km or so away. They sound far less cute than they look.
posted by Jilder at 2:53 AM on February 28 [2 favorites]

Oh wow! We went to Daisy Hill a few years ago. We really enjoyed it, but I remember how suburbia really abutted it on one side and wondered how long until it was a tiny island in the middle of tract housing. So glad to hear this.
posted by rednikki at 7:41 AM on February 28

chariot pulled by cassowaries, I just want to mention that I've appreciated all of your Australia environment/wildlife posts!
posted by dismas at 9:34 AM on February 28 [1 favorite]

Major conservation park home to koalas near Brisbane to grow by 213 hectares (526 acres).

Thanks for the unit conversion. I just saw this CNN headline today: Monster Texas wildfire is burning through 150 football fields a minute. That would be American football presumably, about two full fields per hectare, or one per acre without the end zones.
posted by Brian B. at 10:48 AM on February 28

Anecdata: I spent a month house/pet-sitting in Underwood. Took the dog for walks in Daisy Hill-adjacent Brisbane Koala Bushlands maybe 20 times? Never saw a single koala. :D Did see a few kangaroo in the distance, once or twice.
I was so convinced I'd see a koala in the wild that I refused to even consider going to any of the parks/sanctuaries that have guaranteed sighting/interaction with koalas.
Oh well, good excuse to go back to Australia some day!

unrelated: Brisbane struck me as being perhaps the most civilized big city I've ever experienced.
posted by ButteryMales at 3:04 PM on February 28 [1 favorite]