Flora and Fauna
In the more fertile areas dense forests of eucalyptus, southern sassafras and myrtle beech, acacia (wattle), and leatherwood (Eucryphia lucida) are found, with low growing ferns, climbing heath, bauera, mosses and lichen. In sheltered wet patches, stands of temperate rainforest still exist.
The region is also host to specimens and stands of unique and ancient Huon pines, which are extremely slow growing but can live for thousands of years and form one of the most durable timbers on Earth, as well as the fascinating celery-top pines (Phyllocladus aspleniifolius).
The exposed and more infertile areas, particularly around the extreme south-west, consist largely of low growing native grasses such as the unusual buttongrass, heaths, and hardy melaleucas. These plants grow right to the water’s edge, and stain the pure unpolluted water the colour of tea.
Fauna is typically Tasmanian, though population densities are not high, especially in the more infertile areas. Due to its remoteness, the wilderness is touted by some as a possible place for a breeding population of thylacines (Tasmanian tigers) to have survived since its official extinction in 1936, though most authorities would agree that areas in north-west Tasmania such as the Tarkine wilderness are more likely, as this region provides more suitable habitat and more prey for the thylacine.
Rivers can be rich with fish, such as giant trout, as the area is not overfished by humans. Bird life can be varied, including rosellas, honeyeaters, native wrens and robins, thornbills and currawongs. The region around Melaleuca is home to summer breeding grounds of the highly endangered orange-bellied parrot.
Read more about this topic: South West Wilderness
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