* Code of Practice for Management of Koalas in Forestry Plantations

Timber is one of the few truly renewable resources and plantation-grown Australian hardwoods make a significant contribution to the lessening of impacts on biodiversity values in areas of native forest. Unfortunately, koalas residing or otherwise making use of Southern Blue Gum plantations in Victoria and South Australia are being injured or killed during tree-felling operations. This document promotes a Code of Practice (CoP) by which koala populations making significant use of plantation areas can be more sustainably managed. The CoP operates at several different levels, commencing at the landscape-scale with considerations of connectivity, at the local site level by requiring best-practice habitat assessment procedures and associated mitigation strategies to be implemented, and finally to the welfare of individual animals that may be caught up in the harvesting process.