Gunbower–Koondrook–Perricoota Forest

Sunrise over Little Gunbower Creek

Sunrise over Little Gunbower Creek
Photo: Arthur Mostead

Australia's second largest river red gum forest

The Gunbower–Koondrook–Perricoota Forest is Australia's second largest river red gum forest. It covers around 50,000 hectares and is home to many threatened native plants and animals. It is located downstream of Torrumbarry Weir, between Echuca and Swan Hill.

The forest wetlands are important breeding places for waterbirds and native fish.

The Living Murray icon site objectives

The vision for Gunbower Forest is to maintain and improve Gunbower Island by enabling native plants and animals to flourish, restoring the floodplain’s health for future generations. Ecological objectives for this component of the icon site include:

increase area of healthy permanent and semi-permanent wetlands
ensure maintenance of healthy river red gum communities
maintain black box and grey box communities
provide suitable feeding, breeding and refuge habitat for waterbirds, including colonial nesting species
maintain healthy populations of native fish in wetlands and increase opportunities for riverine fish to access floodplain resources
increase the diversity and abundance of native frog species within the forest.

Ecological objectives for Koondrook–Perricoota Forest are to maintain and restore a mosaic of healthy floodplain communities, as indicated by:

80% of permanent and semi-permanent wetlands in a healthy condition
30% of river red gum forest in a healthy condition
successful breeding of thousands of colonial waterbirds in at least three years out of ten
healthy populations of resident native fish in wetlands.

New environmental water management plans are being developed, which will replace the 2006–07 environmental management plan for the Gunbower–Koondrook–Perricoota icon site.