Tourism, carbon credits and koalas to replace logging

The timber industry has criticised the decision to establish a national park to protect koalas. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS)

The timber industry says workers have been treated with "total disregard" in the process of establishing a gigantic national park to protect koalas and other endangered wildlife.

Some 176,000 hectares of state forest will be connected to existing national parks to create a reserve twice the size of the Blue Mountains national park, on NSW's north coast.