Few animals tug at Australian hearts like the koala. Yet the marsupial, once common along the eastern seaboard, was declared endangered in New South Wales (NSW) in 2022. Habitat loss, climate stress, and disease have driven populations down so far that a parliamentary inquiry warned they could vanish from the state before 2050. The proposed remedy is ambitious: the Great Koala National Park (GKNP), a 475,000-hectare protected area stretching from Kempsey to Grafton and inland to Ebor. If delivered in full, it would stitch together 176,000 hectares of state forests with existing reserves, creating a landscape on par with the Blue Mountains or Kosciuszko. The plan, formally unveiled in September, represents a once-in-a-generation conservation decision. Australian Premier Chris Minns justified choosing the largest option, insisting “koalas will go extinct in the wild by 2050 unless we make this decision.” The announcement came with a moratorium on logging across the proposed boundaries, immediate funding for worker transition, and a promise of new infrastructure to draw tourists. To environmentalists it was a long-awaited breakthrough. To timber workers it was a crushing blow. The conservation case Drone surveys conducted earlier this year estimate the region holds more than 12,000 koalas, among the most significant populations in the state. The park is also home to 66 other threatened fauna species, from greater gliders to glossy black cockatoos, and dozens of rare plants including spider orchids. Protecting intact native forests offers not only biodiversity gains but also climate benefits. Forests allowed to grow beyond harvest…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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