History
Buffalo Creek Reserve occupies the lower reaches and mouth of Buffalo Creek. Originally it was part of the floodplain and much of it was covered with saltmarsh vegetation with some mangroves along the creek. At the end of the 19th Century there were relatively few mangroves but their extent expanded greatly when the creeks and Lane Cove River silted up as a result of urban development. In the 1950s people didn't understand about the value of such ecosystems and much of the site was buried under a garbage tip. This tip, and the adjoining one in the Field of Mars Reserve, was intended to be in use for many years and would have eventually reached the height of the ridges on either side of the valley.
The Reserve adjoins Sugarloaf Point to the north, which is a valuable pocket of eucalypt bushland covering an almost conical hill on a small promontory. It became part of Lane Cove National Park in 1998 and is home to the endangered frog, the Red-crowned Toadlet. Sugarloaf Point is cut off from Field of Mars Reserve by Pittwater Road but is linked to the Lane Cove National Park conservation area by the narrow corridors of bush along the river's edge. At Sugarloaf Point the banks of the river were damaged by sandmining in the 1960s but the eucalypt area is extremely well preserved.
Bushland
in
Sugarloaf
Buffalo
Creek Reserve Today
The
old
garbage
tip
has
been
landscaped
into
a
picnic
area,
playground,
playing
field
and
toddlers'
bike
track.
It
is
an
access
point
for
the
Great
North
Walk
(Sydney
to
Newcastle)
built
in
1988.
From
Buffalo
Creek
Reserve
walkers
can
follow
the
Great
North
Walk
to
the
south
through
narrow
strips
of
bushland
and
reach
Boronia
Park
and
Hunters
Hill
or
the
north
through
the
Lane
Cove
River
valley
to
Thornleigh.
The
boardwalk
through
the
mangroves
gives
excellent
access
to
the
mangrove
forest.
At
low
tide
visitors
can
observe
animals
such
as
crabs
and
snails.
It
is
an
excellent
site
to
observe
the
contrast
between
wet
and
dry
environments.
Buffalo
Creek
Reserve
Mangrove
Boardwalk