Living with Koalas program director and Lake Cathie resident G Henshaw said 400 tallowwood tube stock ( a favourite food tree of koalas in the Port Macquarie-Hastings area) are being cared for by Bonny Hills Nursery.

Mr Henshaw said the tallowwoood would be delivered to Lake Cathie Public School and Coowarra Park Pre-school for nurturing. 

“Every student and teacher will receive a plant,” he said. 

“The schoolchildren and staff will grow the trees for three to four months and the nursery and LWK will then return to repot the tallowwood into a 25 or 35 litre grow bag.”

Mr Henshaw said about six months later when the tube stock has developed to be over two metres tall they will be planted at an identified koala habitat in need.

Mr Henshaw said while people might be educated on the dire situation there is not a lot of action to address it.

“You have to start somewhere and little trees grow into big trees,” he said. 

He said without action predictions are koalas could be extinct in the wild within a few generations.

Over the next few months Mr Henshaw will meet with about 150 groups in the Port Macquarie-Hastings in an effort to get people to report koala sightings. 

He plans to work with the Koala Hospital and the Port Macquarie-Hastings Council who have already collated data to identify where the tallowwood trees should be planted once they are mature. 

For more information about Living with Koalas people can visit www.lwk.net.au

Schools participating in a trial program include Lake Cathie Public School, Blooming Kids Pre-School, Coowarra Park Pre-school, Columba Cottage Pre-school, Fernhill Road Pre-School and Newman Senior Technical College.