 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.Hungerford had a lease of the forest and told the bushwalkers he planned to clear the blue gums to plant walnuts.Other threats to the forest included a proposed railway line, a dam, a power station and mining for coal and shale.