When will the Great Koala National Park be created?

It’s a plan to connect 175,000 hectares of publicly-owned state forests to existing National Parks, creating a 315,000 hectare nature reserve in the Coffs Coast Region and giving endangered species, like koalas, a safe place to live.

The NSW government aims to create the park in 2026.  Planning is well underway. It is a very large and complex task. NPA and other stakeholders are having input into the planning process.   You can find out more about where the process is up to and register for government updates here

The Koala - an endangered Australian icon

Koalas are the only living member of the phascolarctidae family, which makes them totally unique on this planet. The problem is, they thrive in the coastal forests often chosen for logging, agriculture and housing development. 

Their numbers are dwindling fast. They dropped by a third between 1990 and 2010 and on top of this, it’s estimated that the 2019-20 bushfires killed over 70% of the remaining koalas on the North Coast. They are now officially endangered.

The Great Koala National Park would protect prime koala habitat – putting a stop to logging in the park, restoring forests and linking lowland coastal forests to higher escarpment forests so koalas (and other animals) can roam freely and rebuild their numbers.

NPA’s campaign for the Great Koala National Park

Back in 2010 local conservationists were alarmed by declining koala numbers in NSW and worked together with experts and scientists to prepare a proposal to protect koalas on the mid north coast. In 2025 the NPA finalised the Great Koala National Park proposal, calling for the NSW government to add 176,000ha of public native forests to the existing reserve system to create a park totalling 315,000ha.

For over 10 years NPA volunteers and staff campaigned for the creation of the GKNP and in 2025 the NSW announced its intention to create the park. NPA’s GKNP campaign was delivered to the world through the Coffs Harbour Branch.