The Lerderderg River which emerges from the Great Dividing Range has cut a deep gorge as it winds toward the southern plains.

The Marpeang balug clan of the Wadawurrung nation are the original inhabitants of the Gorge and its surrounds until European settlers arrived on their lands in the early 1830s.

Its myriad tracks, gullies creeks and ridges form a wild, rugged environment enjoyed by bushwalkers, horse riders and mountain bikers.

Parts of the Wombat State Forest are still actively logged,[3] and some areas are designated for domestic firewood collection with a permit.

[10] In a 1994 assessment of soil erosion in the shire of Bacchus Marsh, Spinoso and Rollings used the Universal Soil Loss Equation to confirm identification in 1973 and 1985 by the Land Conservation Council of Victoria of "an appreciable erosion hazard on steep slopes increas[ing] in intensity in the low rainfall areas in the south east.

[12] In his 1869 report Smythe noted the Blackwood goldfields "on the upper tributaries of the River Lerderderg which have cut deeply into the schists, exposing in some places high cliffs," and quoted from contemporary Mining Surveyors' Reports that; "The formation of the Blackwood goldfield is peculiarly favorable for allnvial miners with limited capital, inasmuch as there is no deep sinking required, nor machinery for lifting water, as there is ample fall for drainage in every part; that, in fact, the only outlay necessary is for sluicing-boxes and mining tools.

Thus equipped, a party with small capital, and a fair share of skill, patience, and perseverance, may realize a competency in a few years.

By the riverbank are Eucalyptus ignorabilis and Manna Gums, while the understorey Gahnia microstachya, Lepidosperma tortuosum and Persoonia juniperina are uncommon elsewhere in western Victoria,[18] and a range of grevilleas, wattles and hakeas cover the gully steeps and sometimes impede passage along the river banks and bed.

Fish species include the tiny Mountain Galaxias,[20] River Blackfish, whose scarcity was noted as early as 1906,[21] and Estuary perch that all survive regular droughts and low summer flows in waterholes.