Sheldon Forest is a pocket of urban bushland located 17 kilometres (11 mi) north-west of Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 in a narrow valley between Turramurra and Pymble.

Sheldon Forest is of high conservation status because it contains some of the last remnants of the endangered Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest

Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest

The Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest is one of six main indigenous forest communities of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is also among the three of these plant communities which have been classified as Endangered, under the New South Wales government's Threatened Species Conservation Act...

 (STIF) and Blue Gum High Forest

Eucalyptus saligna

Eucalyptus saligna, known as the Sydney Blue Gum, is a large Australian hardwood tree common along the New South Wales seaboard and into Queensland, reaching about 65 metres in height...

 (BGHF) in the Sydney basin.

Bush regeneration programs have been implemented for many years. Invasive weeds such as privet, large leave privet

Ligustrum lucidum

Ligustrum lucidum is a species of privet native to the southern half of China.-Growth:It is the largest species in the genus, growing as a tree up to 25 m tall...

, trad

Tradescantia fluminensis

Tradescantia fluminensis is a species of spiderwort native to South America. It is one of several plants known by the common name Wandering Jew. It is also known as River Spiderwort, Small-Leaf Spiderwort, Inch Plant, Wandering Trad and Wandering Willie.T...

, lantana

Lantana camara

Lantana camara, also known as Spanish Flag or West Indian Lantana, is a species of flowering plant in the verbena family, Verbenaceae, that is native to the American tropics. It has been introduced into other parts of the world as an ornamental plant and is considered an invasive species in many...

 and camphor laurel continue to be troublesome.

Historical 1st Turramurra Scout hall

Scouts Australia

Scouts Australia is an organisation for children and young adults from 6 to 26 years of age. Scouts Australia is part of the global Scouting movement and has been a national member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement since 1953...

 is located at the entrance to the forest from Warragal Road. The hall has been continuously in this location for over 60 years.

Walking Track

A walking track meanders through a range of plant communities. As you follow the track through the forest you will notice changes in the plant structure and associations. The change in plant associations occur because the underlying bedrock changes from shale

Shale

Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...

 to sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

.

Three major communities will be obvious along your walk. The blue gum tall forest occurs on the ridge tops, while closed (or riparian) forest occurs along the creeks. On the hill slopes, sandstone supports an open forest-woodland community.