This is not old growth forest as it has been logged on at least two occasions in the past. However, the recent logging in the 1970's was selective, so many mature trees and bushland give the visitor a pleasant forest experience. The walk begins and ends by the shores of Lake Durras, regarded as one of the most unspoiled waterways in the state. State Forests have promoted the Durras Discovery Trail as an example of the regard they have made to preserving valuable environmental values in the management of the forests under their control. Indeed much of the information on the boards in the walk seem to be focussed on the concept of the different uses that are made of our forests and encourage the visitor to view the forests from these different perspectives.
Forests mean different things to different people.
Sometimes we're so keen to find the things that we feel are important to us, that we miss the things that are important to others. A visit to the Discovery Trail gives a graphic reminder of the values and perspectives practised in the past by the managers of these forests. The trail itself is accessed along a 2.5km track which exhibits the results of these practices. Ugly regrowth along this track is a stark reminder that the discovery trail is, even in its limited natural state, an exception to the destructive practices followed for many decades in this and many of the other south east forests. Left to authorities with economic agendas, these forests are at risk.