Discovering the secrets of Toolangi Forest

Our family took a nature discovery adventure to Toolangi State Forest today. Toolangi is located in the Shire of Murrundindi in the Central Highlands, about 1.5 hours outside of Melbourne.  

Toolangi State Forest forms part of an area that has been proposed as the the Great Forest National Park, which would create and add a new 355,000 hectares of protected forests to the existing 170,000 hectares of parks and protected areas in the Central Highlands of Victoria.  The proposal is based on five key reasons: conservation of near extinct wildlife and plants after Black Saturday and in light of future fire events (such as the Leadbeater's Possum); water catchments of Melbourne; food bowl and community security; tourism; climate (the forests store more carbon per hectare than any other forest studied in the world!); and places of spiritual nourishment. See more here: http://www.greatforestnationalpark.com.au/park-plan.html

We started at the Forest Discovery Centre and headed out on the Yea River Walk, which is a loop walk of about 4 km. There is so much to discover on the ground, in the undergrowth, among the trees and shrubs. From the small intricate details to the towering, majestic canopy of the Mountian Ash. It was an easy walk for the kids and took about an hour or so... well worth the visit!  You can pledge your support for the Great Forest National Park here.... http://www.greatforestnationalpark.com.au/supporters.html