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Protected area in New South Wales, Australia
Numinbah Nature Reserve
is a protected
nature reserve
that is located in the
Northern Rivers
region of
New South Wales
, in eastern
Australia
. The reserve was
gazetted
in December 1981 with a further addition made in 1989 to make the reserve to its current area of 858 hectares (2,120 acres). The reserve is situated north-east of the rural locality of Numinbah, and south of the
Queensland
town of
Springbrook
and defines part of the state border between New South Wales and Queensland.
The reserve is part of the
Mount Warning
/
Tweed
caldera
, situated in the Border Ranges; and is part of the Shield Volcano group of the
UNESCO
World Heritage
?listed
Gondwana Rainforests of Australia
inscribed in 1986 and added to the
Australian National Heritage List
in 2007.
[2]
[3]
[4]
It is also part of the
Scenic Rim
Important Bird Area
, identified as such by
BirdLife International
because of its importance in the conservation of several species of
threatened
birds.
[5]
Description
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The area includes an
escarpment
rising to over 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) above sea level that forms part of the Queensland/New South Wales border. Below the cliffs are extensive sub tropical rainforests. The reserve is intended to be a place where the flora and fauna are free from interference from humans, domestic animals and feral pests. The southern edges are bounded by private landholdings.
Vegetation
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The vegetation is primarily
sub-tropical
rainforest
with some wet
sclerophyll
forest. A group of
Antarctic beech
are at their northernmost limit of natural distribution.
[6]
The beech trees are in an area of one hectare, within a cool temperate rainforest stand of 2.9 hectares at Best-of-all Lookout in Numinbah Nature Reserve.
[7]
Located in a high rainfall area with frequent mist. Many of the trees are in the form of a
depauperate
thicket, with stems arising from massive, gnarled, above-ground roots. An often photographed, triple stemmed tree is situated in the reserve, just south of the state border. This plant is considered to be of a great age.
[8]
The rare rainforest tree
Springbrook leatherwood
occurs in this reserve.
[9]
The subtropical rainforest at the base of the
rhyolite
cliffs is considered outstanding amongst the rainforests of Australia. Particularly at the heads of Pat Smiths Creek, Crystal Creek and Couchy Creek. Soils are enriched with
basalt
on a shelf below the Springbrook plateau. Many rare species of plants and unusually tall trees are present beside huge fallen rhyolite blocks.
Climbing plants
have been recorded at a diameter of one metre. The rainforest botanist
A.G.Floyd
has recorded the following species as record sizes in this nature reserve;
black booyong
,
purple cherry
,
red lilly pilly
,
rose marara
and
black bean
.
[10]
[11]
See also
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References
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External links
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