THE 10,000th tree will be planted next week in a project that aims to conserve the coastal population of koalas in the Tweed and Byron Shires.

Koala Connections Project Officer for Tweed Shire, Scott Hetherington, said they were now on track to achieving their goal of 60,000 trees to link key habitat areas by 2016 across both shires.

To date,1200 of those trees have been planted on five properties in the Tweed.

Of 600 local landowners identified as having important koala habitat, 160 have indicated their willingness to allow council to plant habitat trees on their properties for free.

David Arrowsmith recently had 80 habitat trees planted on his half hectare property at Round Mountain.

Mr Arrowsmith, who has lived on the property for 26 years, said koala sightings used to be common in the area.

"You'd not only see them you'd hear them every night," he said.

But now days sightings are down to a couple of times a year.

He said it felt good to be able to play a small role in helping the creatures.

"I wish I could do more but I can't."

The aim is to have an additional 15,000 trees on 15 Tweed properties planted by autumn next year.

Twenty hectares of existing habitat has also been regenerated.

Byron Shire landholder Richard Smith will plant the 10,000th tree on Thursday. The Federal Government's Clean Energy Future Biodiversity Fund contributed $2 million towards the Koala connections project in June last year.

Council has contributed a further $100,000 from its Biodiversity Grant Program.

Meanwhile, the 10-day Great Koala Count which finished up on the weekend attracted a strong participation on the Tweed.

Dr. Gráinne Cleary, wildlife ecologist with the National Parks Association NSW, said there were 900 koala sightings across the state with Tweed one of the hot-spots.

Dr Cleary is still crunching the numbers on local sightings with those figures expected to be released early next year.