Why these Sydney neighbours built a backyard wildlife corridor

Lesley Hulbert remembers when the bird-filled forest behind her Kurrajong Heights home went quiet. Bushfires raged for months at the end of 2019 and the start of 2020, and the gang-gang cockatoos, koalas, and wallabies that used to frequent her backyard seemed to disappear.

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I used to find lots of koala droppings on the property. All that stopped.

Now, Hulbert and her neighbors are worried about a different threat: development encroaching on the national parks surrounding Sydney's north-west Hawkesbury region. To combat this, they have formed a 40-hectare wildlife corridor, connecting the Wollemi and Blue Mountains national parks. "Even the people who live here don't know what we've got," Hulbert said. "But governments certainly don't, and developers absolutely don't."

Polly Bennett, another neighbor whose property contributes 30 hectares to the corridor, emphasized the importance of preserving this "web of life." The neighbors entered into a formal agreement through the Community Environment Network's Land for Wildlife program. This involved identifying native flora, removing invasive species, and keeping native species intact.

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Even the people who live here don't know what we've got. But governments certainly don't, and developers absolutely don't.

Concerns about development are fueled by past applications, such as one near Kurrajong Heights that cleared habitat trees for eight residential blocks. The 2010 approval included a koala habitat assessment that claimed no koalas were present, despite residents like Stephanie Clay stating the area has always been known koala habitat. Hulbert and Bennett are worried about such developments pushing into Sydney's forested edges.

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It's our biodiversity. That's our web of life.