Landowners
You can save koalas from extinction.
By planting a Koala Clancy forest on your property, you will give koalas the habitat that they urgently need to survive in the face of climate change and put yourself on the right side of history.
Koala Clancy Foundation is a unique Victorian koala charity with a proven record for koala habitat revegetation. We are the leaders in koala tree planting, beginning the movement in 2016 and growing rapidly in the last eight years.
Our research shows that there are approximately 100 wild koalas left in the You Yangs who are heading for extinction. We need to plant 300,000 trees by 2030 to save them as they search for new habitat in the region.
Our tree planting projects are based on years of first-hand experience. We’ve learned what works and what doesn’t, and fine tuned our process to ensure highly successful projects that will provide habitat for an abundance of native Australian species, especially our beloved koalas. We’ve observed an 80-90% plant survival rate in our projects and can see the difference that they make for wildlife within the first 12 months after planting.
We work closely with landowners and want to build a friendly and professional relationship with you so that we both get the most out of our experience. Once we confirm that your property meets our project criteria, we’ll come for a visit to get to know the land that we’re working with.
Our projects are planted by our dedicated team of staff and community volunteers. We depend entirely on community and corporate support and grants to fund our projects.
Scroll down the page to read more about landowner and farm manager involvement in our projects.
Property Criteria
Location:
Koala Clancy Foundation can plant trees for koalas on farms and other private land within the area shown inside the yellow lines on this map.
If you are outside this area, please contact us – we may be able to suggest other groups for you to connect with.
Type of property
Privately- or organisation/company-owned. (We generally don’t plant on public land)
Farms of most types are suitable, including livestock and crops.
Lifestyle properties are suitable.
Other land uses may be suitable.
Trust for Nature or similar covenant is ideal.
Land for Wildlife property registration is recommended.
Note: we don’t plant trees that will eventually be cut down. So no agro-forestry projects, no planting on sites in suburban development zones, no future mine sites.
Property features
Koala Clancy Foundation prefer to plant along rivers, creeks, dams & drainage lines.
This is because koalas need trees with good access to moisture, and cool air near water bodies. Our koala tree plantings are designed to occur along river banks, streams, creeks and drainage lines. We will also plant around water-bodies, dams, and billabongs, both natural and man-made.
Any area that holds water after heavy rain may be suitable for koala tree planting.
We primarily plant to ensure survival of koala food trees. We will plant some shelter trees, shrubs and nurse plants, to benefit the koala food trees
Protection from livestock/wild animals
Newly-planted trees must be protected from wild animals by tree guards, and from livestock by fencing.
Tree guards must be welded corflute type with two stakes per guarded plant. We provide all stakes and guards, and retain ownership of them so that we can collect them 1-2 years after planting and reuse them in future projects.
If you have livestock and the planting site is not fenced off, it will need to be before planting. This cost is expected to be borne by the landowner.
Grants through your water authority may be available to cover some of these costs for sites along primary waterways.
If you are the recipient of a grant for planting trees, please let us know – funded projects are given priority. We can generally work with the requirements of these types of grants.
Landowner/Farm Manager involvement:
To ensure everyone has a clear idea of the plan and process, we prefer to have at least two on-site meetings before planting, at a time of your choosing.
Koala Clancy Foundation will produce site maps, tree species lists and numbers of plants, and will order trees – usually in November the year before planting. Landowners/managers will be expected to sign a Landowner Agreement before any work begins.
We organise a contractor to spot spray for weeds and dig holes in advance. We provide tree guards, stakes and plants. We retain ownership of the guards and stakes, and will visit the site after 1- 2 years to collect and recycle them.
If a landowner/manager wishes to provide services or equipment themselves, we insist that we are involved in species selection in advance, that we are consulted about weed management and that trees are guarded by welded corflute tree guards and two hardwood stakes each, or better. We can’t ensure planting success otherwise.
On the planting day we prefer that you are present for the first hour at least to help ensure the works proceed in a manner you are happy with.
After planting, trees do not need watering or weeding.
What we don't do:
Koala Clancy Foundation don’t plant non-native plants – we plant suitable indigenous native trees & shrubs only.
We only plant for environmental benefit, and trees and shrubs are selected to our discretion. For example, we won’t plant more trees into a site that already has enough, or where existing trees are struggling to survive. We don’t plant Manna Gums where they are not native, we don’t fill a remnant native grassland with trees.
We don’t do garden plantings – we consider a planting to be a garden if it is very close to a house, and intended primarily to be decorative.
We don’t generally prefer roadside, fence line & driveway plantings – we only consider these if the roadside, fence line or driveway runs along a riverbank or drainage line, if it provides an important corridor to another planting or existing habitat, and if the road is not a busy one.
We don’t plant a site if livestock is still present around the trees, if the site is not prepared properly, if weed management has not had time to take effect (weed management should be done 4 to 6 weeks before planting), or if a site is dangerous to our staff or participants.
Register to have koala trees planted
Are you ready to create a better future for koalas on your land? Get in touch today, we look forward to working with you.