Australia's loss of animal species has been labelled an "extinction crisis" by both the World Wildlife Fund and the Australian Conservation Foundation, but people are fighting back to save one of our most iconic species.

Key points: Volunteers plant 12,000 trees from Byron Bay to Lismore, hoping to plant 100,000 by 2025

Volunteers plant 12,000 trees from Byron Bay to Lismore, hoping to plant 100,000 by 2025 Local groups are ploughing on with tree planting despite the Australian Koala Foundation declaring the species "functionally extinct"

Local groups are ploughing on with tree planting despite the Australian Koala Foundation declaring the species "functionally extinct" It's estimated only 50,000 koalas remain in the wild today, compared to 10 million at the time of European settlement

Volunteers have been turning up in droves to plant food trees for koalas along a corridor that will eventually stretch the 50 kilometres from Byron Bay to Lismore in northern New South Wales.

Over the past 18 months, Bangalow Koalas has planted 12,000 trees, with plans to plant 25,000 trees by the end of the year, and 100,000 by 2025.

People power

Bangalow Koalas president Linda Sparrow has been working with local councils to map the corridor, and the group has slashed through red tape by liaising directly with landowners.

"We are not worried about getting governments to help us. We are just doing it. We've got people constantly contacting us saying they want to join the corridor," Ms Sparrow said.

She said the group was actively working against the hopelessness that came with claims made by the Australian Koala Foundation that the species was "functionally extinct".

"We are ploughing on regardless. I am not listening to that. We've got the momentum and we are just building on it," Ms Sparrow said.

President of Bangalow Koalas, Linda Sparrow, says the group is planting a 50-kilometre-long corridor of koala food trees. ( ABC North Coast: Hannah Ross )

Koala populations dwindle

An interim report by the Senate Standing Committees of Environment and Communications estimated that, of the 10 million koalas in Australia at the time of European settlement, only 50,000 remained. Other studies put the numbers as high as 300,000 and as low as 25,000.

The president of Friends of the Koala in Lismore, Ros Irwin, said a better measure was the number being lost to road deaths, dog attacks and, most crucially, habitat destruction.

Friends of the Koala was involved in around 400 koala rescues each year, roughly half of all rescues across the state.

Ms Irwin said the number of rescues was declining marginally, which she attributed to better local awareness and grassroots actions.

"We have to celebrate our successes," she said.

"Every animal is worth saving, regardless of the various statements about their long-term future. If we can get enough action at a local level, I really think we can make a difference."

The community tree plantings are attracting people of all ages and from as far afield as Queensland. ( ABC North Coast: Hannah Ross )

Restoring habitat

The International Fund for Animal Welfare has identified the Friends of the Koala facility in Lismore as one of its global centres of excellence, and is now funding the employment of specialist koala vet nurse Marley Christian.

Ms Christian said habitat restoration was vital for koalas to have any chance of survival.

In the Northern Rivers region alone, the North East Forest Alliance has used State Government satellite images to calculate that 11,000 hectares of vegetation was cleared in the 2016–17 financial year, up from 4,600 hectares in the period between 2009 and 2016.

The group has been fighting to stop logging of koala habitat in the Gibberagee State Forest, south of Lismore, and managed to stop logging for two months after 'locking on' to machinery owned by NSW Forestry Corporation contractors.

Protestors 'lock on' to protect koala habitat from logging in Gibberagee State Forest in Northern New South Wales. ( Supplied: North East Forest Alliance )

But Deborah Tabart, chair of the Australian Koala Foundation, said her 30 years of working with koalas had taught her that people power could only achieve so much.

"I am all for communities repairing damage, but if the deforestation doesn't stop then people will never get on top of it," Ms Tabart said.

"Only legislation will control the onslaught of the bulldozers."

Kate Smolski, CEO of the NSW Nature Conservation Council, said action at a government level was vital for any meaningful progress on species extinction.

"It's what is absolutely needed," she said.

"Our wildlife cannot wait another four years for action.

"We have seen many backward steps, so we really hope that the government is serious when they say that they want to have the environment as one of their priorities."