Squirrel Glider Goings on

The past month or so has seen a lot of local Squirrel Glider action.

The Squirrel Glider survey was super successful with 21 people willing to come along and check nestboxes. They were rewarded with a glimpse of fur in two boxes and another two boxes having leaf nests that indicated they were being used. Squirrel Gliders often have multiple nesting sites, to avoid predators.

Coal Point Public School is doing their bit to assist the local population with a National Tree Day planting of a Squirrel Glider garden. The Year 6-Kinder/Yr 1 buddy teams planted one hundred wattles and banksias in a memorable morning . These plants are favourite food sources of the Squirrel Glider providing nectar, winter pollen and sap.  To celebrate biodiversity month in September a nestbox will be installed in the Squirrel Garden Grove.

Lake Macquarie City Council released the Draft Squirrel Glider Planning and Managementguidelines 2015 for comment until 14^th September.

The document makes several mentions of the local Squirrel Glider population at Coal Point and the importance of “effective strategic planning to ensure conservation of habitat and viable populations of gliders in areas fragmented by existing and future development”. It goes on to say that any existing population must be considered as viable (p36).  Reassuringly it states  in “locations such as Morisset and Coal Point, detailed analysis on site indicates that restoration measures could be effective in connecting (habitat) components that are currently regarded as isolated (p27).

In discussing conservation issues the guidelines states “ a separate issue for conservation is consideration of the feasibility of maintaining squirrel glider populations in urban areas in the long term. Gliders currently known to exist in some urban locations such as Coal Point where there are small Council reserves and extensive native tree cover. With the expected change in the presence of native vegetation in such locations over time, the already small glider populations will be under threat. Separate planning guidelines mat be required for squirrel glider in urban settings, when compared with rural areas or land currently zoned for conservation purposes, and this may require further scientific surveys”(p35)

The guidelines make several reference to the need for more scientific surveys to better understand the nature of the local population. The Progress Association has recently lodged a funding application that if successful would use citizen scientists to understand the movement of the Squirrel Glider within an urban bushland matrix.