Operating Standards
HVP have developed our operating standards from many years of sharing our workplace with this iconic animal. These practices have now been used by other industry members as a basis for other Koala Management Plans.
HVP are continually seeking to improve our operations and the outcomes for all native flora and fauna. Aligning with our company value; we will do things better tomorrow that we did today.
In Eucalypt plantations, harvesting operations are planned to avoid isolation of any koalas from adjacent habitats. Escape routes are retained for the koalas into alternative habitat areas. In a mixed age plantation, interspersed with native forest habitats, there is opportunity in almost all operations for koalas to access alternate habitat and food sources.
HVP has a strong focus on training staff, operational contractors and koala first aid & rescue personnel, to protect the welfare of koalas at both planning and day-to-day operational levels.
HVP employs trained spotters in all high risk blue gum plantations, who are also trained in wildlife rescue, to spot koalas or evidence of them in and around the trees prior to any harvesting taking place.
Operators are trained to recognise signs of koalas and search the work area prior to starting and following work breaks. If a koala is found, the individual tree it is in and many other trees surrounding it are retained until the animal moves away.
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