Community spotlight: Georgina Jones, koala project officer
Georgina Jones is an environmental consultant and project officer for a collaborative koala conservation project in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales.
'I live on the north coast of New South Wales, near Nimbin, on a property that is part of a wildlife corridor actively rehabilitated since 2002.
It has been great to witness the transformation of what was a very fragmented and degraded site to a healthy, biodiverse, connected environment supporting many threatened species, including koalas.
I work for a not-for-profit community environmental organisation called Envite Environment. In August 2019 I was engaged as the project officer for the North East Hinterland koala recovery and conservation project funded through Saving our Species.
The project is applying contemporary ecological and social science to deliver regional koala conservation and recovery actions.
We are supporting key recovery actions including koala habitat restoration.
The primary objective of this project is to secure perpetual conservation agreements with private landholders through the Biodiversity Conservation Trust in the areas that have been identified as the highest regional priority for koala habitat.
We are also supporting other key recovery actions including the restoration of koala habitat on private land and implementation of vehicle strike mitigation measures in identified hotspots in the Lismore and Ballina local government areas. Another important action is the development of practical guidelines for koala-friendly farms to assist with the management of habitat.
Current fires and ongoing drought conditions have placed even more pressure on koala populations, this project is a great opportunity to engage new landholders to protect koalas.
Tweed, Byron and Ballina Shire councils, together with Lismore City Council and Friends of the Koala, have a long history of successful collaboration in koala conservation.
For the first time, information is available on the areas of highest regional significance for koalas throughout the jurisdictions of the 4 Northern Rivers council project partners.
Friends of the Koala have also provided training to vets and veterinary nurses in the clinical treatment of koalas. They have been able to engage a veterinary nurse part time at their triage treatment and pathology clinic.
I’m really excited about the possibilities we are creating through this project.'