Forest Lodge Rainforest Reserve is an 80.94 hectare property containing old growth cool temperate rainforest located at Pyengana, 26 km inland of the town of St Helens in northeast Tasmania. The property was purchased by Rainforest Rescue in August 2012.
The property is located on the Rattler Range and is surrounded on three sides by the Mount Victoria State Forest Reserve, which has been designated by the Tasmanian government as a conservation zone.
The dominant trees on the property are old-growth Myrtle Beech and Sassafras. Cool temperate rainforest in Tasmania occur where rainfall it over 1,200 mm per year and underneath the canopy the cool damp microclimate provides ideal conditions for the growth of ferns, mosses and lichens. A feature of the property is the very large number and size of Soft Tree Ferns (Dicksonia antarctica) that are known in Tasmania as Man Ferns.
The property provides suitable habitat for the Tasmania Wedge-tailed eagle and the Tasmanian devil, an animal that is in great danger of extinction from habitat loss and facial tumour disease. It may also be home to other rare and endangered animals such as the Spotted-tail Quoll, which is the second largest of the world’s surviving marsupial carnivores.
