I must congratulate the NVI in kick-starting a plan to make the Gunnedah Shire a better place for our koalas as headlined as the Project Koala in the January 6 edition of your paper.

The NVI is to be congratulated on its efforts in getting together five partners in this project, namely the Waterways Wildlife Park, Liverpool Plains Land Management Inc., Gunnedah Urban Landcare, Gunnedah Veterinary Hospital and the Gunnedah Shire Council.

One of the major goals of the project is to plant 1000 koala-friendly trees in the right places. 

They warn, however, that it will take between 10 to 15 years for these trees to be of use to the koalas. 

On page 5 of the same edition, there is a letter from mayor Owen Hasler of Gunnedah Shire Council supporting the project and looking forward to working in partnership with other interested stakeholders. He also states we should foster an awareness of the conservations needs of the koala while doing our bit to maintain the local population during these tough conditions.

Mr Mayor, if you mean those words, then you should start by getting council to reverse its plan to knock down 37 koala habitat trees on the Wandobah Reserve as part of the council’s plan to alter the course of Blackjack Creek.

One option of the original consultants in 2010 was to construct a levee bank beside Wandobah Road to keep the floodwater on the non-urban side of the creek. This would have kept the residents happy, the landholders happy (they don’t want to lose their land under the present plan) and save those koala habitat trees.

It would also save the Wandobah Reserve from being over the 70 per cent threshold of clearing native vegetation (the second Tamworth consultants hired by the council said it was of no consequence to cross this threshold and they also ignored the sub-contracted environmental consultant’s view that the best place for Blackjack Creek environmentally, was where it was). 

The Tamworth consultants also ignored my submission that Blackjack Creek was important in heritage terms because of the number of Aboriginal sites scattered along it and the likelihood of the remains of the original house on Fermanagh being near the present well (as an archaeologist of 30 year standing, I should know what I am talking about). These consultants had no interest in Gunnedah and its environment and got their money and went and the council went along with their views.

It is not to late to help the koalas and save those habitat trees (they’re here, so we don’t have to wait 10-15 years). Why destroy a valuable koala asset when there is an alternative?