Koalas were declared an endangered species in New South Wales in 2022. Two years later, the government made a promise that the conservation world has been waiting decades to hear: a 476,000-hectare national park — the largest koala conservation area ever proposed — would be created to protect them.
In 2026, that promise is becoming reality.
What the Park Will Cover
The Great Koala National Park will integrate 176,000 hectares of state forests with existing protected areas, forming a vast conservation corridor stretching from Kempsey to Grafton on the NSW Mid North Coast and extending inland to Ebor. The total protected area will reach approximately 476,000 hectares — roughly the size of Luxembourg.
An estimated population of over 12,000 koalas live in the proposed park boundaries, along with more than 100 other threatened species, including around 36,000 greater gliders.
Logging Already Stopped
Critically, the NSW Government has already implemented an immediate moratorium on timber harvesting across the 176,000 hectares of state forests earmarked for the park. No new logging operations can commence while the transition to national park status is finalised.
The government has committed $140 million in funding — $80 million from the 2023–24 State Budget, plus a further $60 million for NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service — to support the park's development.
Legislation in 2026
The formal establishment of the park requires a Bill to be introduced to Parliament. The NSW Government has confirmed this will happen in 2026, pending the successful registration of a carbon project under the Australian Government's Improved Native Forest Management method — a process whose public consultation concluded in January 2026.
Updated proposed park boundaries have been released, designed to facilitate effective long-term management and maximise protection for koalas and other threatened wildlife.
Why It Matters
Without intervention, koalas face extinction in NSW by 2050. Their decline is driven by habitat destruction, disease, road accidents, and climate change. Protected continuous forest — where koalas can move, find food, and mate — is their best chance of survival.
The Great Koala National Park would give them 476,000 hectares of exactly that.
For a species that became a symbol of crisis in 2022, it would become a symbol of recovery.
Sources: NSW Environment · National Parks NSW · Mongabay (October 2025) · Guardian Australia · WWF Australia
