Coocumbac Island Nature Reserve is a rare example of subtropical lowland rainforest

Rainforest

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...

. Situated on the Manning River

Manning River

The Manning River is a river in the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia that flows through the Manning Valley. It is one of Australia's few large river systems not to be dammed for water supply purposes anywhere along its catchment...

, New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, it is 6 hectares (13 acres) in size.

Much of Australia's lowland sub tropical rainforest was cleared

Land clearing in Australia

Land clearing in Australia describes the removal of native vegetation and deforestation and in Australia. Land clearing involves the removal of native vegetation and habitats, including the bulldozing of native bushlands, forests, savannah, woodlands and native grasslands and the draining of...

 for housing and agriculture, leaving only small patches remaining, such as at Coocumbac Island. The soils are derived from the Manning River. These alluvial soils are enriched from basaltic deposits upstream at Barrington Tops and the Comboyne and Bulga Plateaux. The average annual rainfall is 1176 mm at nearby Taree

Taree, New South Wales

Taree is a city on the Mid North Coast, New South Wales, Australia. Taree and nearby Cundletown were settled in 1831 by William Wynter. Since then Taree has grown to a population of around 20,000 people and is the centre of a significant agricultural district. It is 16 km from the sea coast,...

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Fauna

The most obvious mammal species on the island is the Grey-headed Flying Fox

Grey-headed Flying Fox

The Grey-headed Flying-Fox, Pteropus poliocephalus, is a megabat native to Australia.Members of the genus Pteropus include the largest bats in the world. The Pteropus genus has currently about 57 recognised species....

, whose numbers may reach five thousand at certain times of the year. Noteworthy birds occurring here include the Osprey

Osprey

The Osprey , sometimes known as the sea hawk or fish eagle, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and across the wings...

 and Wompoo Fruit-dove

Wompoo Fruit-Dove

The Wompoo Fruit Dove , also known as Wompoo Pigeon, is the largest of Fruit Doves native to New Guinea and Australia.-Description:...

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Flora

The ecological community on the island is known as the ‘large fig - giant stinger tree association. The genus ficus

Ficus

Ficus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes, and hemiepiphyte in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. The Common Fig Ficus is a genus of...

 is well represented, with all the strangler figs of this latitude present. Particularly prominent are the large Moreton Bay Fig

Moreton Bay Fig

Ficus macrophylla, commonly known as the Moreton Bay Fig, is a large evergreen banyan tree of the Moraceae family that is a native of most of the eastern coast of Australia, from the Atherton Tableland in the north to the Illawarra in New South Wales, and Lord Howe Island. Its common name is...

s. Other figs are Deciduous Fig

Ficus superba var. henneana

Ficus superba var. henneana is a strangler fig only occurring in Australia. It is a variety of Ficus superba which occurs in China, Japan and parts of South East Asia....

, Strangler Fig

Ficus watkinsiana

Ficus watkinsiana, commonly known as Strangler fig, Watkins' fig, Nipple fig or the Green-leaved Moreton Bay Fig is a hemiepiphytic fig that is endemic to Australia...

, Small leaf fig

Ficus obliqua

Ficus obliqua, commonly known as the Small-leaved Fig, a tree in the family Moraceae native to eastern Australia. It is a banyan of the genus Ficus which contains around 750 species worldwide in warm climates, including the edible fig...

 and Watery Fig

Ficus fraseri

Ficus fraseri, the White Sandpaper Fig or Shiny Sandpaper Fig, is one of several fig species commonly known as sandpaper figs. It is native to New South Wales and Queensland in Australia and New Caledonia...

. The meaning of the name of the town Taree, is another of the local figs, Sandpaper Fig

Ficus coronata

Ficus coronata, commonly known as the Sandpaper Fig or Creek Sandpaper Fig, is a species of fig tree, native to Australia. It is found along the east coast from Mackay in Central Queensland, through New South Wales and just into Victoria near Mallacoota. It grows along river banks and gullies in...

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Other tree species include Stinging Tree

Dendrocnide excelsa

Dendrocnide excelsa, the giant stinging tree is a rainforest tree of eastern Australia. It occurs from Tathra, New South Wales to Imbil in south eastern Queensland, and is very common at Dorrigo National Park and other rainforest walks in eastern Australia...

 and the Native Olive

Olea paniculata

Olea paniculata, commonly known as the Native Olive, is a plant of the genus Olea and a relative of the olive. It is found from Yunnan in southwestern China and Pakistan across southern Asia to Australia and New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Lord Howe Island in the Pacific Ocean.-Taxonomy:One of many...

. The Native Elm

Aphananthe philippinensis

Aphananthe philippinensis is a common rainforest tree in the Cannabaceae family. In Australia it occurs from the Manning River in New South Wales to near Herberton in tropical Queensland. It was first described from the island of Luzon in the Philippines, hence the species name. The generic name...

 grows on the island, here at its southern most point of natural distribution. A large Native Hackberry occurs on the island, 30 metres tall and with a trunk diameter of 1.2 metres. Less common trees include White Walnut

Cryptocarya obovata

Cryptocarya obovata is a large laurel growing on basaltic and fertile alluvial soils in eastern Australian rainforests. It is found from Wyong in New South Wales to Gympie in the state of Queensland. Extinct in the Illawarra region , seen in the Illawarra in 1818 by Allan Cunningham...

 and the Australian Rose Mahogany

Dysoxylum fraserianum

Dysoxylum fraserianum is a large tree species native to NSW and Queensland, Australia....

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Rainforest regeneration programs have been put in place to encourage local rainforest species and suppress the problem of invasive weeds.

Mangroves

Surrounding the island is an impressive community of two species of mangroves; Grey mangrove

Avicennia marina

Avicennia marina, commonly known as grey mangrove or white mangrove, is a species of mangrove tree classified in the plant family Acanthaceae...

 and River mangrove

Aegiceras corniculatum

Aegiceras corniculatum, commonly known as Black Mangrove or River Mangrove, is a species of shrub or tree mangrove in the Myrsine family with a distribution in coastal and estuarine areas ranging from India through South East Asia to southern China, New Guinea and Australia.-Description:Aegiceras...

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Aboriginal Australians

Coocumbac means "meeting place" in the local indigenous Biripi language. Aboriginal Australians

Australian Aborigines

Australian Aborigines , also called Aboriginal Australians, from the latin ab originem , are people who are indigenous to most of the Australian continentthat is, to mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania...

regularly visited the rainforest for the collection of food, medicinal purposes, the collection of fibres for making bags and nets and social gatherings. The rainforest has spiritual significance to local Aboriginal Australians.