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To support Northern New South Wales’ rapidly declining Koala population, FNPW awarded a grant to Friends of the Koala Inc to expand its East Lismore nursery by 80,000 trees for the food and shelter of Australia’s koala population.

The grant awarded to Friends of the Koala Inc. will extend the capacity of its current nursery to plant a total of 100,000 trees per year. This will be a major step in supporting the recovery of New South Wales’ North Coast and the Gondwana Rainforest World Heritage Area, of which 50% was devastated by the fires, destroying the habitats of thousands of native animals.

Before the Black Summer fires savaged Australia’s landscapes there were signs that some populations of koalas were beginning to stabilise after years of terrible decline.

Up to a third of the surviving population was killed in the fires, and if trends continue the WWF predicts the animal will be extinct in the state by 2050.

The Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife, in partnership with Friends of the Koala Inc, L'occitane and One Tree Planted, launched an expansion of the charity’s tree planting efforts.

On a warm wet morning, the volunteers showed off neat ranks of over 25,000 saplings, ready to be planted in fire-ravaged habitats. With the extra funding, they will produce another 240,000 feed and habitat trees over the next three years and expand the adjoining koala hospital, which already receives up to 400 patients a year.

Veterinarians will be able to access better training in order to prepare them for future disasters, following the hundreds of thousands of wildlife deaths during the Black Summer bushfires.

In NSW alone, a minimum of $1.8 million of free vet services are administered to wildlife each year, with this figure estimated to be far greater following recent disasters.

Veterinarians report that many aspects of their formal education had not adequately prepared them for emergency wildlife care.

As a result, The Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife is launching the Wildlife Friendly Vets program as part of its 'Wildlife Heroes' project, which aims to support wildlife volunteers around the country.