[2] The forest consists predominantly of towering Mountain blue gum (Eucalyptus deanei) trees, with an understory of shrubs.

[5] Common brushtail possums, greater gliders, eastern grey kangaroos, spotted-tail quoll and rock wallabies are some of the many mammal species in the forest.

Following the harsh bushfires in 2006, the Blue Gum Forest and other walking tracks in the valley were closed to bushwalkers to allow the regrowth of vegetation.

[6] In 1804, the explorer George Caley climbed nearby Mount Banks, and noticed camp fires from Indigenous Australians.

[2] In 1875, the Blue Gum Forest was the scene of an artists' camp established by Frederick Eccleston Du Faur of the Academy of Art.

[7] The wealthy retail family the Horderns purchased a lease in the Blue Gum Forest, though they had no plans to develop the area.

[2] The Grose Valley became the cradle of the modern conservation movement in New South Wales when the Blue Gum Forest was saved from threatened destruction in 1931–32.

At Easter in 1931, a group from the Sydney Bush Walkers Club, led by Alan Rigby, were camped in the forest when they chanced upon a Bilpin farmer, Clarrie Hungerford.

[8] Other threats to the forest included a proposed railway line, a dam, a power station and mining for coal and shale.

One of the key activists in the campaign was Myles Dunphy, who at the time was developing his plans for the Blue Mountains National Park.