There’s been a lot of bad news lately. It’s tempting to crawl into bed and cover your eyes and ears.
Not here. Tree planting season is upon us, and the Koala Clancy Foundation team are out and about, checking past and new planting sites.
And what we see would make anyone want to get out of bed.
Little baby forests!
Planted by our hands – and yours – just two and three years ago.
On the Sutherlands Creek just south of the Brisbane Ranges National Park, something magical has happened. A paddock in 2021, is now a teenage forest. It’s unrecognisable.
And look at it now, just 4 years later…
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It’s so huge, the aerial shots from google maps show it best.
Better still, the landowners report incredible bird activity in the site every time they visit. While we were there we heard Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters, Red-rumped Parrots, Red-browed Finches, Grey Fantails, Common Bronzewings and Superb Fairy-wrens constantly. Some of these birds were never seen on the site before the planting.
Has a koala found it yet? Yes!
The owners have seen four koalas since the planting in 2021. The most recent – male “Staughton” – was seen on 6 December 2025, while we were visiting with our members. Most exciting, koala scratches were seen on several of the baby trees in the plantation, suggesting that Staughton had been on site for a few days.
The other three koalas were brief visits. Keep in mind that in the decade before that the owners didn’t see any koalas at all.
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On a tributary of the Moorabool River at Gheringhap, a little steep gully was fully planted by our team and the team from Bar Clara in just one day in August 2022.
That one day of work is a vibrant little forest now, teeming with birds, bursting with fruit and flowers. Watch:
No matter what you hear, don’t curl up in bed. Take action. Your action today could grow a home for a koala tomorrow.
