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Restoring Balance in the Big Scrub
Reforestation efforts reconnect forests and create safe homes for koalas and wildlife.
October 28, 2025
Through strategic planting and partnership, the Big Scrub rainforest is returning — and with it, homes for koalas.
Koalas are a national symbol of Australia’s unique wildlife. These iconic marsupials can sleep up to 18 hours a day, curled safely in eucalyptus trees, but that refuge is growing harder to find. Across the southeast and eastern coasts, from Queensland to Victoria, their forests are disappearing fast.
Once-abundant regions like the Big Scrub in northern New South Wales have been reduced to fragments of what they once were, mirroring a broader crisis across the continent. In just the past two years, deforestation and wildfires in New South Wales have tripled, uprooting the habitats koalas rely on. Between 2017 and 2022, more than 2.2 million hectares of bushland were cleared, and the 2019–2020 bushfires destroyed another 12.6 million hectares.
Stripped of their trees, koalas are forced to the ground where they face dangers like cars, dogs, disease, and stress. Today, they are officially Endangered in New South Wales, Queensland, and the Australian Capital Territory under Australia’s national environmental law (the EPBC Act). Without urgent action, this beloved species could vanish in our lifetime.
Trees as a Lifeline for Wildlife
The solution is rooted in the very thing koalas need to survive: trees.
Once spanning more than 75,000 hectares (185,000 acres), the Big Scrub was Australia’s largest continuous subtropical rainforest — a dense, vibrant ecosystem rich in biodiversity. Today, only about 1% remains, dispersed into small, isolated pockets that can no longer fully support the wildlife that depends on them.
Despite its fragmentation, the area remains ecologically significant, providing habitat for iconic and endangered species such as the koala, platypus, spotted-tailed quoll, Richmond birdwing butterfly, and rare birds like the regent bowerbird and wompoo fruit dove.
More than just planting, reforestation is about rebuilding homes, reconnecting habitats, and restoring balance to ecosystems under stress. Every tree planted helps create safe corridors where wildlife can not only survive, but thrive.
Rebuilding Forests Through Partnership and Strategy
The loss of rainforest has lasting impacts: over 70 native plant species and 35 animal species are now threatened, and degraded forests contribute to erosion, invasive plants, and reduced climate resilience. Severe floods in 2022 highlighted how vital healthy forests are for both wildlife and communities.
That’s why the Arbor Day Foundation is working alongside our local partner ReForest Now to restore the critically endangered Big Scrub rainforest. Through the Australian Critically Endangered Rainforest Restoration Project, we’re helping reconnect this fragmented landscape and create lasting habitat for koalas and countless other native species.
By planting native trees along waterways and across the landscape, this project restores habitat connections, supports seed dispersal, reduces erosion, improves stormwater absorption, and strengthens community resilience — all while creating local jobs and fostering long-term stewardship.
Our approach combines global partnerships with local expertise, ensuring each project is rooted in science and strategy. Using tools like our Forest Priority Index (which ranks this project an 8 out of 10 for ecological significance), we pinpoint where every tree has maximum impact. Even small plantings contribute to a larger, connected network of forests that restores ecological balance and strengthens biodiversity.
Through collaboration, innovation, and the simple act of planting trees, we’re proving that with trees, there’s hope. And with hope, action.
