Epping Forest National Park
Encyclopedia
Epping Forest is a national park in Queensland
, Australia
, 855 km northwest of Brisbane
. The park is a scientific national park
so it is not open to the public. Only scientists, rangers and volunteers may visit the park.
Restricted access is used to ensure Epping Forest remains undisturbed as it is the sole remaining natural habitat of the endangered Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat
. The last census of the animal estimated there was a population of about 138 of the species. In the 1970s the population was estimated to have reached a low of somewhere between 20 to 30 wombats.
Most of the park is eucalypt
woodland with patches of sandy soils that are used by the wombats for burrow
ing.
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, 855 km northwest of Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
. The park is a scientific national park
National park
A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...
so it is not open to the public. Only scientists, rangers and volunteers may visit the park.
Restricted access is used to ensure Epping Forest remains undisturbed as it is the sole remaining natural habitat of the endangered Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat
Wombat
Wombats are Australian marsupials; they are short-legged, muscular quadrupeds, approximately in length with a short, stubby tail. They are adaptable in their habitat tolerances, and are found in forested, mountainous, and heathland areas of south-eastern Australia, including Tasmania, as well as...
. The last census of the animal estimated there was a population of about 138 of the species. In the 1970s the population was estimated to have reached a low of somewhere between 20 to 30 wombats.
Most of the park is eucalypt
Eucalypt
Eucalypts are woody plants belonging to three closely related genera:Eucalyptus, Corymbia and Angophora.In 1995 new evidence, largely genetic, indicated that some prominent Eucalyptus species were actually more closely related to Angophora than to the other eucalypts; they were split off into the...
woodland with patches of sandy soils that are used by the wombats for burrow
Burrow
A burrow is a hole or tunnel dug into the ground by an animal to create a space suitable for habitation, temporary refuge, or as a byproduct of locomotion. Burrows provide a form of shelter against predation and exposure to the elements, so the burrowing way of life is quite popular among the...
ing.