Where are Australia’s eucalypt forests?
Eucalypt forests are found throughout Australia except in the most arid regions (Figure 1). For national reporting, eucalypt forests are grouped into 11 categories defined by dominant species and structure (Table 1). The most important of these are the eucalypt medium woodland (38% of Australia’s total forest area), eucalypt medium open forest (19%) and the eucalypt low woodland (9%). The forests of southeastern Australia contain a wider range of dominant eucalypt species than those of southwestern or northern Australia. In the southeast, the greater topographic variability results in major changes in species groupings. In southwestern and northern Australia, where the topography is less variable, a few species of eucalypts, such as woollybutt (E. miniata), stringybark (E. tetrodonta) and jarrah (E. marginata), dominate large areas of forest, although many other species occur in localised areas.
