Celebrate National Tree Day with a guided tour of a beautiful koala habitat and pick up free koala feed trees.
The National Tree Day weekend will kick off with a koala feed tree giveaway on Friday 26 July from outside the MidCoast Council Customer Service Point at Gloucester, from 9am until stock is exhausted. There'll be 1,500 trees to give away with a maximum of 20 trees per person. Experts will be on hand to provide planting and care advice. No need to register, just turn up.
Then on Sunday morning 28 July, head to Minimbah, where nursery and koala conservation experts will teach you how to identify some favourite koala food trees as you stroll through several different types of forest.
You'll also see koala detection dogs, drones and song meters at work as you look for evidence of koalas. You might even spot a koala or two. You'll leave with your own sample box and seedling to take home.
"This is a great opportunity to learn how to identify koala habitat at all lifecycle stages, and how to collect seed and care for trees in the landscape," said MidCoast Council's Manager Natural Systems, Gerard Tuckerman.
"The collective efforts of individual landholders can have an amazing impact on koalas. You don't need to have a large property to make a difference. Even an urban backyard can become part of a safe corridor through which koalas and other threatened species can safely move to feed and mate.
"We are one of the few areas left in NSW where koalas can still thrive in the wild. That puts us in a unique and special position. It's critical that we all play a role to help them survive."
The event has been organised by MidCoast2Tops Landcare, NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust conservation agreement-holders, and MidCoast Council.
Places are limited, so be quick to register your spot at https://events.humanitix.com/koala-field-id-techniques
The National Tree Day activities are part of the Koala Safe Spaces program which is funded by the NSW Government and Council's environmental levy.
Photo credit Rachel Dimond
