More than 1,000 hectares of critical koala habitat will be protected as part of a new land addition to the Kybeyan Nature Reserve west of Cooma, the Member for Monaro John Barilaro said.
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The land addition will increase the size of the reserve by 20 per cent and protect preferred koala tree species, Kybeyan River frontage and endangered plants found only in the Southern Tablelands.
“The National Parks and Wildlife Service has acquired this property as it is home to a well-established and nationally significant koala population,” Mr Barilaro said.
“By permanently protecting this area we are securing suitable habitat for resident and breeding koalas and other threatened fauna species such as the spotted-tailed quoll and woodlands birds.”
NSW Environment Minister Mark Speakman said the property was located within two critical landscape corridor initiatives, the Great Eastern Ranges Initiative and the Kosciuszko to Coast corridor.
“On a landscape scale, these additional 1,013 hectares increase habitat linkages across protected areas on privately owned and other public lands,” Mr Speakman said.
“The land addition also secures the protection of 10 kilometres of remote Kybeyan River frontage, providing access to water in dry times and potential refuge against fire for these koalas and other species.”
The expanded Kybeyan Nature Reserve protects two of three known NSW populations of the endangered Zieria citriodora.
More than seven million hectares in NSW is managed and protected for conservation by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, a network covering close to 9 per cent of the state.
