The national park is home to one of the last undisturbed remnants of the native eucalypt temperate rainforest that once covered the Strzelecki Ranges until the last decades of the nineteenth century.

The pocket of undisturbed mountain ash forest, fern gully communities and associated native Myrtle Beech stands within the park are of considerable biogeographical significance.

[1] Alberton Shire Council asked the Victorian Government to set aside forest with fern gullies near Balook as a public park in 1903.

[3] The park is a popular tourist attraction with a visitor centre, picnic areas with tables, fireplaces shelters and toilets.

[3] The deeply incised river valleys of the park are dominated by wet sclerophyll tall open forest of mountain ash (Eucalyptus regnans), with an understory of blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon), hazel pomaderris (Pomaderris aspera) and tree ferns (Dicksonia antarctica and Cyathea australis).

Pockets of the park feature cool temperate rainforest, including Myrtle Beech Nothofagus cunninghamii.

There are a wide variety of birds residing in the park including the pilotbird, yellow tailed black cockatoo, eastern whipbird, and currawongs.