Latest news with #SydneyBasinKoalaNetwork
Sydney Morning Herald
30-07-2025
- General
- Sydney Morning Herald
Will a new national park protect Sydney's chlamydia-free koalas?
A promised national park along the Georges River has been created to protect koalas in south-west Sydney, as the state pushes ahead with the construction of 73,000 homes on the Cumberland Plain where a healthy koala population is located. The park, Warranmadhaa or Georges River Koala National Park, will safeguard an important north-south koala corridor between Campbelltown and the Southern Highlands, but environmentalists warn that crucial east-west habitat connectivity between the Georges and Nepean rivers is lacking. Environment Minister Penny Sharpe said in a statement on Wednesday that the government had committed $48.2 million to establish and manage the park, which she said was 'one of the most important in the state for koala conservation'. The plans for the park were announced in 2023 as part of the Cumberland Plain Conservation Plan to allow urban development in the region. Planning Minister Paul Scully said in a statement on Wednesday: 'This is a strategic approach which aims to balance urban development with the protection of important biodiversity including threatened plants and animals.' The park covers 962 hectares, from Long Point to Appin, and the government plans to grow the park with land transfers to protect up to 1830 hectares of habitat, which the government said was a priority but would take time. Stephanie Carrick, manager of the Sydney Basin Koala Network, welcomed the government gazetting the existing state-owned parkland as national park, but pointed out that half was still in private ownership. 'The thing that we're concerned about is a lot of the properties in the footprint that haven't been gazetted are actually trading on the open market, so we're not sure when they'll ever be part of the national park,' she said.
The Age
30-07-2025
- General
- The Age
Will a new national park protect Sydney's chlamydia-free koalas?
A promised national park along the Georges River has been created to protect koalas in south-west Sydney, as the state pushes ahead with the construction of 73,000 homes on the Cumberland Plain where a healthy koala population is located. The park, Warranmadhaa or Georges River Koala National Park, will safeguard an important north-south koala corridor between Campbelltown and the Southern Highlands, but environmentalists warn that crucial east-west habitat connectivity between the Georges and Nepean rivers is lacking. Environment Minister Penny Sharpe said in a statement on Wednesday that the government had committed $48.2 million to establish and manage the park, which she said was 'one of the most important in the state for koala conservation'. The plans for the park were announced in 2023 as part of the Cumberland Plain Conservation Plan to allow urban development in the region. Planning Minister Paul Scully said in a statement on Wednesday: 'This is a strategic approach which aims to balance urban development with the protection of important biodiversity including threatened plants and animals.' The park covers 962 hectares, from Long Point to Appin, and the government plans to grow the park with land transfers to protect up to 1830 hectares of habitat, which the government said was a priority but would take time. Stephanie Carrick, manager of the Sydney Basin Koala Network, welcomed the government gazetting the existing state-owned parkland as national park, but pointed out that half was still in private ownership. 'The thing that we're concerned about is a lot of the properties in the footprint that haven't been gazetted are actually trading on the open market, so we're not sure when they'll ever be part of the national park,' she said.
