Editing Kanangra-Boyd National Park (section)

==Features and location==
[[Image:Kalang Falls Kanangra-Boyd NP.jpg|thumb|[[Kalang River|Kalang Falls.]]]]
[[Image:Kanangra Walls 2002.jpg|thumb|Kanangra Walls seen from Echo Head.]]
[[Image:Mt Cloudmaker NSW.JPG|thumb|Mount Cloudmaker.]]
[[File:Kanagra-Boyd National Park.jpg|thumb|The mountains seen from The Plateau Walk]]
[[Image:Kanangra Boyd Nat Park.JPG|thumb|View from Kanangra Walls.]]
[[Image:Kanangra-Boyd National Park near Boyd River.JPG|thumb|Forest near Morong Creek.]]
[[File:Kanangra winter wonderland.jpg|thumb|Morong Creek campground in winter.]]

Kanangra-Boyd National Park is composed of two land units&nbsp;— the elevated, gently undulating Boyd Plateau and the area of creeks, rivers, gorges and ridges into which the plateau falls away. The plateau is traversed by the Kanangra Walls Road and can be accessed either from [[Oberon, New South Wales|Oberon]] or Jenolan Caves. The road leads to Kanangra Walls. There are several well known landmarks in the park, such as Mount Cloudmaker, Kanangra Walls and the Thurat Spires. The word ''Kanangra'' is generally held to be a corruption of ''Gundangura'' and was called Thurat for some time.

The national park is bounded to the north by open farmland; to the east by the [[Coxs River]], the [[Blue Mountains National Park]] and the [[Kowmung River]]; to the south{{endash}}east by the Yerranderie State Conservation Area; to the south by the [[Nattai National Park]] and the [[Wombeyan Caves Road]]; to the south{{endash}}west by the Blue Mountains National Park; and to the west by the Kowmung River, the [[Jenolan Caves|Jenolan Karst Conservation Reserve]], and open farmland and extensive state forests that surround the town of {{NSWcity|Oberon}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/nationalparks/parkhome.aspx?id=N0016|title=Kanangra-Boyd National Park|work=Office of Environment & Heritage|publisher=[[Government of New South Wales]]|access-date=6 October 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028011740/http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/NationalParks/parkHome.aspx?id=N0016|archive-date=28 October 2009}}</ref> The [[Abercrombie River National Park]] is situated a short distance, further south{{endash}}west.

===Geology===
The Kanangra-Boyd Wilderness is among the largest and most rugged wilderness areas in New South Wales. Situated to the south of {{NSWcity|Katoomba}} in the Blue Mountains and the Kanangra-Boyd National Parks, this folded belt or "Rim Rock" area is markedly different from the [[Permian|Permo]]-[[Triassic]] [[Sydney sandstone|sandstone]] dominated landforms which comprise the rest of the Blue Mountains. There are isolated residual cappings of Permian sandstone in a few places but here the [[Palaeozoic]] basement rocks, which are elsewhere buried well below the Permo-Triassic Measures, are on the surface as high land. Rock types include quartzite, diorite, Devonian rhyolites, rhyo-dacites, Silurian phyllites, slates, siltstones and tuff limestones. The Boyd Plateau comprises a dome of Devonian granite intruded into Devonian quartzites and sedimentaries. There are also intrusive igneous rocks from the Carboniferous period. Kanangra Tops at the south-eastern end of the Plateau is one of the Permian outliers. Its fringing [[Fault (geology)|fault scarp]] – Kanangra Walls – comprises Permian sedimentaries of the Capertee Group which rests unconformably on a Devonian Lambie Group Basement. Nearby Kanangra Gorge is cut {{convert|600|-|900|m}} deep in rocks of the Lambie Group, and is one of Australia's deepest gorges. Cloudmaker and Guouogang are eroded remnants of [[Ordovician]] quartzite. Further east, in the Coxs River area, is the large Kanimbla granite batholith, emplaced during the Carboniferous period. Colong Caves is another outstanding feature of the area. The main Upper Silurian limestone belt, in the [[Jenolan River]] valley to the north-west, is {{convert|300|m}} thick, {{convert|8|km}} long and located in a valley {{convert|460|m}} deep. This karst topography, created by the Jenolan and its tributaries, is one of the least understood in Australia.<ref name=colong>{{cite web |url=http://www.colongwilderness.org.au/archive/RedIndex/NSW/kanang99.htm |title=Kanangra-Boyd Wilderness|work=NSW Wilderness Red Index |publisher=The Colong Foundation for Wilderness|year=1999 |access-date=24 December 2013 }}</ref>

===Flora===
The complex geology, climate, fire regime, and topography has enabled a wide variety of ecosystems to develop. Eucalypt forest with western plain species, such as [[Eucalyptus melliodora|yellow box]] and [[Eucalyptus albens|white box]], are found in areas of rainshadow. Forests of [[Eucalyptus regnans|mountain ash]] are found on well drained soils and [[Eucalyptus blaxlandii|Blaxland's stringybark]] where soil is poor. [[Corymbia mannifera|red spotted gum]], [[Eucalyptus blakelyi|Blakely's red gum]], [[Eucalyptus macrorhyncha|red stringybark]] and [[Allocasuarina torulosa|forest oak]] are also found. [[Brachychiton|Kurrajong trees]] are found in abundance where limestone outcrops occur, and in sheltered gullies rainforest species (including [[Toona ciliata|red cedar]]) and [[Eucalyptus saligna|blue gum]] are found. On the Boyd Plateau, the misty mountain forests of [[brown barrel]], [[messmate]], [[Eucalyptus viminalis|ribbon gum]], [[Eucalyptus stellulata|black sally]], [[snow gum]] and mallee predominate. High altitude areas subject to strong winds generally support heath and closed scrub communities. In areas of impeded drainage, various swamps occur, dominated by sedges and scrubs such as ''[[Leptospermum]]'' and ''[[Baeckea]]'' species.<ref name=colong/>

About 1,000 flowering plant species occur in the Blue Mountains, in some 40 plant communities. There are over 45 rare or endangered plant species in the wilderness. A unique form of tall open forest occurs in the Kedumba Valley, dominated by [[Eucalyptus benthamii|Camden white gum]], an endangered species limited to these populations.<ref name=colong/>

===Fauna===
The Blue Mountains National Park contains 46 species of mammals, including 27 marsupials and two [[monotreme]]s. Over 200 birds and 98 reptile species have been recorded. Several species listed on Schedules 1 and 2 of the {{Cite Legislation AU|NSW|act||Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995}} are found in the Wilderness Area including: The [[powerful owl]] (''[[Ninox strenua]]''), [[squirrel glider]] (''[[Petaurus norfolcensis]]''), [[yellow-bellied glider]] (''Petaurus volans''), [[tiger quoll]] (''[[Dasyurus maculatus]]''), and [[brush-tailed rock wallaby]] (''[[Petrogale penicillata]]''). A species of [[Onychophora|velvet worm]] (''[[Euperipatoides kanangrensis]]'') has been found on the Boyd Plateau.<ref name=colong/>