Success for Koala Vehicle Sign Strategy in Uralla. The Northern Tablelands Koala Partnership has teamed up with Uralla Shire Council and Golf Club to deliver strategies and information to reduce koala vehicle strike.

Five koalas were hit by vehicles along this stretch of road, on the New England Highway, from 2020-21. These incidences sparked WIRES volunteers and concerned community members to reach out to Southern New England Landcare for assistance to reduce the koala vehicle strikes in the area.

Breeding season for koalas starts in spring when males move across the landscape to seek out a mate. This is also the time when juvenile koalas leave their mother to find home ranges of their own. The New England Highway adjacent to Uralla Golf Course is a known koala movement corridor, increasing the likelihood of koala vehicle strike.

The Northern Tablelands Koala Partnership has teamed up with Uralla Shire Council and Golf Club to deliver strategies and information to reduce koala vehicle strike, including;

• Placing two variable message signs at each end of the koala vehicle strike hotspot area from September 2022 to February 2023 to alert drivers of the koala strike zone and urge them to slow down. 
• Working with Uralla Golf Club to slash grass along the highway edge to give drivers better visibility and more chance of sighting koalas crossing the road.
• Working with the members and visitors of Uralla Golf Club to report and record koala sightings (6 reports this year, a big thank you!)
• Working with Uralla Shire Council to increase community awareness of koala’s and the vehicle strike hotspot zone.

Fortunately, over this breeding season no koala vehicle strikes have been reported, indicating the signs have helped encourage drivers to slow down and watch out for koalas. The NTKPP extends its thanks and gratitude to drivers and the community in general for helping achieve this goal in 2022-23. The program is to be repeated from September this year.

So, if you see a koala, please let us know. Report all sightings through the I Spy Koala App or via the Armidale Regional Council website.

If you think the koala is injured or showing signs of disease, please contact your local wildlife rescue group.

* Northern Tablelands Wildlife Carers: phone 1800 008 290
* WIRES: phone 1300 094 737