Mt Field National Park

Mount Field National Park Tasmania
IUCN category II (national park)
Russell Falls
Map of Mount Field National Park in Tasmania
Nearest town or city	Maydena
Coordinates	42°39′19″S 146°35′15″E / 42.65528°S 146.58750°E / -42.65528; 146.58750Coordinates: 42°39′19″S 146°35′15″E / 42.65528°S 146.58750°E / -42.65528; 146.58750
Established	1916
Area	162.65 km2 (62.8 sq mi)
Managing authorities	Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service
Website	Mount Field National Park
See also	Protected areas of Tasmania

Mount Field National Park is a national park in Tasmania, Australia, 64 km northwest of Hobart. The landscape ranges from eucalyptus temperate rainforest to alpine moorland, rising to 1,434 metres (4,705 ft) at the summit of Mount Field West.

Mount Field National Park was founded in 1916, making it, along with Freycinet National Park, Tasmania's oldest national park. The area around Russell Falls has been protected for its natural beauty since 1885, when it was set aside as Tasmania's first nature reserve. The last known wild thylacine was captured in the region in 1933. The reserve was called "National Park" before 1946, but was officially renamed to its present name in 1947.

During the period a snowfield covered the top of the Mount Field plateau which fed glaciers in the surrounding valleys. A large, 12 km long glacier formed the broad river valley and the cirque walls above Lake Seal. Twisted Tarn, Twilight Tarn and the tarns on the tarn shelf were formed by glacial scouring. A glacier flowed south from the Rodway Range, forming lakes Belcher and Nelton, and north to form the Hayes Valley and Lake Hayes.

In alpine areas podzolic, humus and leached soil is most common. The podzols often occur on deep periglacial solifluction deposits down to 450 m. Alluvial floodplains have developed in the lower park on deposits of quaternary alluvium.

The park has good representation of much of native Tasmanian fauna including Wombats, Platypuses, eastern barred bandicoots, echidnas, and the Tasmanian devil.

Mount Field National Park is also home to an enormous diversity of fungi. Fungi are ecologically important and megadiverse, yet their significance in underpinning the terrestrial ecology of the Park is little recognised.

While the Management Plan for Mt Field National Park only mentions fungi in the context of their destructive effects (Phytophthora cinnamomi and Chalara australis), the Park has a great variety of fungi that perform beneficial ecological roles. In fact, most fungi perform positive rather than negative roles. Even parasitic fungi – often regarded only negatively – are a vital part of healthy ecosystems, regulating ecosystem functions.