Nature in Canberra
Canberra, as a garden city, is the scene of interactions between wildlife and people as residents� gardens are adopted as habitat and a source of food by numerous species. Through quirks of landuse and history small but significant remnants of natural grassland have survived between or near suburbs and 200-300 year old trees occasionally remain.
Woodlands with shrubs, herbs and grasses as understorey provide for the maintenance of viable ecosystems through diversity of species often within reach of most suburbs.
Dry forests close to Canberra have, like woodlands, been exploited for timber in the past. Black Mountain, astonishingly diverse in its range of plants, vertebrates and invertebrates is within one kilometre of the CBD. Even in its gullies water-seeking plants are found. This specialisation is carried further in the region's higher altitude forests above 1000m where gullies and creeklines bring water into the ACT�s catchment system. These forests of the Brindabella ranges, home of the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve and Namadgi National Park are occasionally tinged with snow in the winter. Numerous walking tracks allow naturalists a real sense of wilderness within driving distance from the suburbs and a link to Kosciuszko National Park to the south.
However the disastrous fires of January 2003 have severely affected these areas & observing their magnificent biodiversity has been replaced by observing regrowth patterns and nature's response to damage on unprecedented scales.
Every year the spectacle of spring wildflowers can be followed from September in Canberra through warmth bringing colour to the ranges� flowers and on to the stunning alpine herbfields above the treeline. Birdwatchers, similarly, observe the four-seasons� effects on birds....residents� behaviour, migration, breeding patterns, Autumn dispersal and unusual sightings.
Wetlands, sewerage ponds, the shores of three large lakes, rivers, creeks and dams ensure that naturalists have birds, aquatic mammals and reptiles, fish and invertebrates to observe.
Numerous Canberrans show their commitment to nature by volunteering as Parkcare and Landcare workers, by observing wildlife, sharing knowledge and learning through nature, conservation or environment-based organisations, drawing, painting, photographing the natural world, creating native gardens and trying to live sustainably.