Canberra’s network of bushland hills, grasslands and ridgelines

Overview

Canberra Nature Park is not a single block of bushland but a network of 39 nature reserves scattered in and around the city. Together they protect grasslands, woodlands and forests that still sit close to the suburbs, giving Canberra its distinctive pattern of urban areas edged by native hills, ridges and open country.

These reserves are important well beyond their individual boundaries. As a connected system, they help wildlife move through urban Canberra and out into surrounding bushland, while also protecting ecosystems with high conservation value. That mix of city-edge access and genuine ecological significance is what makes Canberra such a distinctive hiking region.

Highlights

The character of Canberra Nature Park comes from variety rather than one single landmark. Across the reserve system you get a changing mix of rounded hills, ridgelines, open grassy slopes, patches of box-gum woodland and steeper forested country, with many of the higher points looking out across the city basin to surrounding ranges.

That contrast between built-up Canberra and native bushland is a big part of the appeal. In some reserves the scenery is broad and open, with grasslands and scattered trees; in others it is more enclosed, with wooded slopes and long ridges that feel surprisingly removed from the suburbs around them.

Best Time to Visit

Canberra’s cooler months are often the most comfortable time for longer walks, especially from autumn through spring when temperatures are generally milder and the clearer air tends to sharpen the views from the ridges and summits. Spring also brings extra interest in the grasslands and woodlands as native plants come into flower and bird activity picks up.

Summer can still be rewarding early in the day, particularly on the more exposed hills where the light is good and the open country feels at its clearest before the heat builds.

Plants and Animals

The reserve system protects vegetation of regional and national significance. More than a third of Canberra Nature Park supports critically endangered Yellow Box–Blakely’s Red Gum Grassy Woodland, and about 10 per cent supports critically endangered Natural Temperate Grassland. Those habitats are a big reason the park matters so much ecologically.

Wildlife is equally varied. The reserves provide habitat for at least 185 bird species, 30 reptiles, 10 frogs and 21 native mammals, including 12 species of micro-bats. Alongside those animals, the park also protects several threatened plant species and more than 100 rare and uncommon plant species.

Culture and Heritage

Canberra Nature Park lies on Ngunnawal Country and includes many Ngunnawal heritage places of cultural and archaeological significance, including stone artefact scatters and scarred trees. These places reflect long and continuing cultural, spiritual, social and environmental connections with the land.

The reserves also contain historic sites from later pastoral and early twentieth-century land use, so the landscape holds both Aboriginal and European heritage within the modern city setting.