Nature, culture and history
Natural environment
The dry sclerophyll forest of Dinden West Forest Reserve. Photo: Tamara Vallance.
Emerald Creek is nestled in among the dry sclerophyll forest of Dinden West Forest Reserve. The vegetation is characterised by eucalypts, acacias and grevilleas with some pandanus trees, paperbarks and cypress pines in moister gullies. Leaves of eucalypts often look quite similar, but the barks of these trees vary considerably. Those of ironbarks are solid and thick with longitudinal furrows. The bark of bloodwoods is often tessellated, or chequered, loose and flaky. Gum trees shed their bark annually exposing the new, smooth, inner bark below.
While on the walk to the falls, look for the bushmen's clothes peg tree Grevillea glauca. This tree produces hard woody fruits that are partially split, creating ideal emergency clothes pegs or paper clips.
Look for dragonflies and damselflies near the creek. They are similar but easy to tell apart—at rest a dragonfly holds its wings open, horizontally, while most damselflies rest with their wings more closed and upright. Damselflies are usually smaller but the black and blue damselfly, a common sight around sunlit sections of streams, is particularly large and heavy. The giant petalurid dragonfly with a wingspan up to 18 cm, a pale striped body, and see-through wings may also be seen.
Last updated 26 April 2012