Protecting the Emus

There are less than 50 emus remaining along the Clarence coast. Read on to learn what Clarence Valley Council and a collaboration of community and government partners are doing to protect our iconic endangered population of coastal emus.

Since emu surveys started in 2000, the population of Clarence Valley coastal emus has declined from approximately 140 individual birds to fewer than 50 when the last survey was conducted in 2017. It is believed that collision with vehicles has caused over 50 emu deaths in the Clarence coast area since the year 2000 according to NSW Government data. Widespread and severe bushfires in recent years are also thought to have contributed to loss of more emus. The coastal emu is listed as an endangered population in the NSW North Coast Bioregion under the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act 2018. Having the status of an endangered population recognises that there are threats to the viability of the population. Threats include collision with vehicles when emus cross a road and predation by feral animals (foxes, wild dogs and pigs). The Coastal Emu Project was hatched following the death of an emu due to vehicle strike on Brooms Head Road in February 2021. This sad event galvanised the desire for more concerted action to protect the coastal emus given significant decline in population numbers over the last 20 years. The agitation of one local landowner quickly grew into a collaboration with community and government to improve awareness of the declining coastal emu population and complete proactive actions to reduce risks to the emu population. Effort to improve resilience of the endangered emus continues with the NSW Department of Planning and Environment’s Biodiversity and Conservation Division completing emu tracking using drones with thermal detection capacity, design of emu breeding and release program, recommencing a census of emu numbers, as well as control of feral pigs in areas frequented by our endangered emus. Council is supporting these additional and beneficial actions with the view to seeing our coastal emu population grow and become selfsustaining once more. Research by the University of Western Sydney, funded by the NSW Government’s Saving Our Species program, has determined that our coastal emu population is genetically distinct, however our local emus are not a separate species, nor a subspecies of the inland Australian emu. The Coastal Emu Project is a fantastic example of how communication, collaboration, combined energy and commitment to a common cause can improve onground outcomes for our environment and the things that we value in the Clarence Valley. Together, we will continue to work to protect the Endangered Coastal Emu.

To date the Project has successfully achieved the following: • Emu Zone patches installed on

Brooms Head Rd, • speed reductions for a 7-kilometre stretch of Brooms

Head Rd, • fencing trials to promote safe passage of coastal emus to/ from their favoured road crossing points, • installation of dedicated Vehicle

Approach Signs – a first for the

CVC area, and • no emus have been killed by vehicle strike along Brooms Head

Road since the project began.