00:00High up in the trees, just outside Taree, there's an encouraging sight.
00:09Koalas at rest, and plenty of them.
00:13Thermal drone and song meter surveys have revealed about 60 koalas are living around
00:18the Butuwa border supply dam.
00:21Some of them even have joeys.
00:23It equates to about one koala for every two and a half hectares.
00:28That's about seven times the LGA's average density.
00:32We've actually found one of the state's highest density koala populations here.
00:37We've always known anecdotally that it was high, but we just had no idea that it reached
00:42this level.
00:43Koalas in New South Wales are suffering decline and their population is reducing.
00:49They're a species that's considered at risk of extinction by 2050, so to find such a high
00:54density population right here on the mid-coast is really exciting.
01:00Researchers are trying to determine what makes this site so special.
01:04What we think at the moment is that the dam behind me is one of the main reasons, so having
01:09that big permanent water source that's always there.
01:12The New South Wales government has helped fund the surveys.
01:16It says the Butuwa dam site sits within an identified area of regional koala significance,
01:22places where the animals have the potential to survive over the long term.
01:27The Mid-Coast Council is working with nearby landowners to improve koala corridors around
01:33the dam site, including extensive tree planting.
01:38Local cattle farmer Bill Hopkins is focused on ensuring cattle and koalas can co-exist.
01:45He says bush regeneration on his property is achieving results.
01:49We're seeing a lot more males and for the first time this year we're starting to see
01:54mothers and joeys.
01:56Providing hope we'll discover even more koalas around here in the future.
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