A range of geological and environmental influences in the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves determine where forest communities grow. As these change in the future, so will the forest mosaic it is an ongoing process that has been occurring for millions of years.

High waterfalls crashing into steep gorges are spectacular examples of an important ongoing natural process erosion. Erosion by coastal rivers created the Great Escarpment and the steep sided caldera of the Tweed Valley surrounding Mount Warning. Once, this towering mountain was the buried plug of an ancient vast volcano. Today, rainforest grows on the fertile, well watered soils that remain.

The evolution of new species is encouraged by the natural separation and isolation of rainforest stands. Many plants and animals found in the property are locally restricted to a few sites or occur in widely separated populations.

Although rainforests cover only about 0.3 % of Australia, they contain about half of all Australian plant families and about a third of Australia’s mammal and bird species. The Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves have an extremely high conservation value and provide habitat for more than 200 rare or threatened plant and animal species. The distributional limits of several species and many centres of species diversity occur in the property. The Border Group is a particularly rich area with the highest concentration of frog, snake, bird and marsupial species in Australia.

The current listing of the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves includes approximately 50 separate reserves located between Newcastle and Brisbane. It is a serial listing, with only areas of reserved Crown land being listed. These reserves are managed principally by four different agencies: NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Q1d Parks and Wildlife Service, State Forests of NSW and Department of Natural Resources (Qld).

Exploring the World Heritage rainforests in the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves is easy, with many of the reserves readily accessible from major towns by sealed or graded gravel roads. A range of visitor facilities is provided at most reserves. Parts of some reserves in NSW have been declared as wilderness and access roads, facilities, lookouts and marked walking tracks are provided only on their boundaries.