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Themes
THEMES MENU
PROJECTS MENU
- Biodiversity
  Our Biodiversity assets encompass the full variety of life found in our region, including all species of plants, animals, fungi, microorganisms and the ecosystems in which they live.
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- Land
  Land assets encompass topography and the soils that support agriculture, plantation forestry and natural ecosystems, the vegetation that covers and protects these soils, and cultural heritage values.
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- Water
  From rivulets to estuaries, saltmarshes to the sea, the coasts and waterways in Southern Tasmania are a vital part of a healthy, productive environment and we work in a number of ways.
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- Sustainable Futures
  Our Sustainable Futures theme showcases our involvement in forward-thinking initiatives that are working to both improve resilience, pro-actively manage risk and implement nature-based solutions.
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Projects
THEMES MENU
PROJECTS MENU
- Biodiversity
  - Enhancing outcomes for Swan galaxias
    Endemic to Tasmania, the endangered Swan galaxias only occurs in small, highly fragmented populations in eastern Tasmania. Under threat from invasive species such as trout and redfin perch, climate change and a small, fragmented population size, this project aims to address these threats through a series of initiatives that build upon an earlier NRM South led project completed in 2023.
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    10%
    Complete
  - Actions for Ammonite Snail
    Endemic to Tasmania, the critically endangered Ammonite Snail is known from only a handful of locations in the Greater Hobart region. In order to conserve this species, more information is needed about its habitat, range and how it overlaps with similar species. This project is working to address knowledge gaps, develop species management guidelines and work with private landowners in and around Hobart to implement conservation actions for this species.
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    5%
    Complete
  - Conservation Actions for Tasmania’s Orange-bellied Parrots
    The critically endangered Orange-bellied Parrot (OBP) survives in the wild as a diminished, single population that only breeds in southwest Tasmanian migrating to mainland south-eastern Australia over winter. This five-year project is working to safeguard Orange-bellied Parrots by investigating predator threats and management needs for Orange-bellied Parrots, improving food plant availability through burning trials, mapping foraging habitat and implementing habitat improvement along their Tasmanian migration route, and using research models to improve management.
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    5%
    Complete
  - Biodiverse Bruny
    This five-year project is working to safeguard Bruny Island’s biodiversity through the protection of the island’s threatened species and ecological communities. Through focused efforts across 4,000 ha of Aboriginal owned and managed land and addressing biodiversity hotspots island-wide, project actions will improve the trajectory of key species and ecosystems. Aligned with the priorities outlined in the Threatened Species Action Plan 2022-2032, our approach integrates Aboriginal knowledge and leadership, scientific expertise, and community involvement, forging sustainable pathways for biodiversity conservation. This initiative signifies a commitment to safeguarding Bruny Island’s natural heritage for generations to come.
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    5%
    Complete
  - Saving Swift Parrots
    The critically endangered Swift Parrot (Lathamus discolour) is a migratory species that winters on mainland Australia and breeds over summer in Tasmania. This five-year project comprises of four areas of activity that aim to improve conservation outcomes for Swift Parrots, through improvements to management actions within their breeding range in Tasmania.
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    5%
    Complete
  - Wedge-tailed Eagle Research Fund
    There is a lot that is still not understood about Tasmania’s Wedge-tailed Eagles in Tasmania. NRM South is working to address some of these knowledge gaps through the Wedge-Tailed Eagle Offset Fund for Cattle Hill Wind Farm. This fund is supporting high quality ecological or other relevant scientific research on Tasmania’s Wedge-tailed Eagles, the results of which will assist with their management and protection.
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    35%
    Complete
  - Tasmanian Quoll Conservation Program
    The Tasmanian Quoll Conservation Program (TQCP) comprises an Australia-wide group of institutions that manage the breeding of Eastern and Spotted-tailed Quolls to directly support wild populations within Tasmania and provide support for endorsed Eastern Quoll conservation programs across Australia.
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    70%
    Complete
  - Cat Management Actions for Eastern Quoll on Bruny Island
    Feral cats have contributed to the extinction of at least 22 Australian mammal species since colonisation and are continuing to drive biodiversity declines across Australia. Removing cats on a landscape scale remains an ongoing challenge in Australian conservation. Islands such as Bruny Island can be valuable safe havens for biodiversity. Island-based cat management programs that work towards eradication can have lasting positive outcomes for wildlife in these landscapes.
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    100%
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  - Protecting Tasmania’s Threatened Flora and Communities
    Tasmania is home to some of the oldest species of plants on Earth, and our geographical isolation means many of our plants are found nowhere else in the world. This group of sub-projects is addressing threats to a select number of our most at risk plants and plant communities, and includes efforts to boost seed reserves and improve genetic viability, replant and reconnect plant communities, and engage the broader community in conservation efforts.
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    100%
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  - Protecting the Forty-spotted Pardalote
    Endemic to eastern Tasmania, the endangered Forty-spotted Pardalote survives in small, isolated mainland populations in the south east, as well as on offshore islands including Flinders, Maria and Bruny. It is under threat from the loss of its habitat (principally white gum – a critical feeding resource), its small population size, and the death of nestlings due to the larvae of an endemic parasitic fly that can kill up to 81% of chicks in infested areas.
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    100%
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  - Restoring Habitat for Red Handfish
    Red handfish, which are only found at select sites in southeast Tasmania, are considered to be one of the most vulnerable marine fish species in the world. Relying on modified hand-shaped fins to move across the seabed, they are only able to move short distances and can only live in areas that meet very specific conditions – which makes them very vulnerable to extinction.
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    100%
    Complete
- Land
  - Climate Smart Farming Systems
    Providing expert guidance to our agricultural community is essential for supporting sustainable land management and ensuring the long-term resilience of our agricultural sectors. Our four-year Climate Smart Farming Systems project is working with farmers across southern Tasmania to support the adoption of climate-smart, sustainable agriculture best-practice.
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  - Igniting Communities
    This project is engaging the community to gather and learn about cultural burning from Tasmanian Aboriginal people, facilitating connectivity within communities, and supporting Tasmanian Aboriginal communities to express and practice culture through land management practice and discussion.
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    30%
    Complete
  - Soil Extension
    Increasing awareness and adoption of land management practices that improve and protect the condition of soils throughout Tasmania.
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    75%
    Complete
  - Sustainable Agricultural Facilitator
    NRM South’s Sustainable Agriculture Facilitator (SAF) forms part of a nationwide network of facilitators who work with farmers, landholders, community groups, and agriculture industries across southern Tasmania to support the uptake of climate-smart, sustainable agriculture practices.
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    20%
    Complete
  - Regional Soil Coordinator
    The Regional Soil Co-ordinator initiative is an integral component of Australia’s National Soils Strategy, creating nationally cohesive and regionally specific support to build soils capacity for our agriculture and environment.
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    45%
    Complete
  - Farming Forecaster Tasmania – Supporting Farmers for Drought Resilience
    The increasing occurrence of drought in parts of Tasmanian including the midlands, Derwent catchment and Tasmania’s east coast has significantly reduced seasonal ground cover. Without adaptive measures, these declines will lead to increased soil erosion and soil carbon loss, and a decline in viability of dryland grazing systems. This project aims to help address some of these issues by supporting farmers with more responsive planning tools to improve dryland pasture management decision-making.
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    100%
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  - Weeds Action Fund
    The Tasmanian Weeds Action Fund is a Tasmanian Government initiative, funded for five years from 2018-19. The funds are invested by farmers and other community organisations to tackle weeds that are impacting valuable agricultural and environmental assets.
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    100%
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  - Carbon + Biodiversity Pilot – round 2
    The Carbon + Biodiversity Pilot is a key part of the Australian Government’s $66.1 million Agriculture Biodiversity Stewardship Package and will reward farmers for the stewardship of their land, storing carbon and improving Australia’s biodiversity. NRM South is the local NRM partner helping the government to implement the pilot in our region, helping to ensure it works for our landholders.
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    100%
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  - Derwent Pasture Information Network
    The Derwent catchment is one of Tasmania’s driest regions. The low rainfall conditions create unique production challenges, especially when managing dryland pastures during times of drought. Through the Derwent Pasture Information Network (PIN), NRM South is supporting farmers management of dryland pastures – particularly on north-facing slopes – using a range of approaches to provide locally relevant information.
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    100%
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- Water
  - Supporting Significant Wetlands
    Situated at the northern end of Great Oyster Bay on Tasmania’s east coast, Moulting Lagoon and the nearby Apsley Marshes are important wetland areas. For the past 20 years, NRM South has supported a program of effort to improve water quality, protect and restore saltmarsh and wetland communities, and support farmers to manage environmentally significant landscapes.
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    5%
    Complete
  - Blue Carbon
    The Blue Carbon Ecosystem Restoration project will assist in understanding the diverse benefits of restoring a large area of stranded temperate saltmarsh community, including what happens to adjacent areas of habitat such as seagrass, or surrounding land-based vegetation and ecological communities.
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    50%
    Complete
  - Tackling long-spined sea urchins on Tasmania’s east coast
    The Longspined Sea Urchin (Centrostephanus rodgersii) has been steadily encroaching into Tasmanian waters since at least the late 1970s. This species moves on warming currents, and the increasing temperature of our oceans has allowed this urchin to establish in ever-increasing numbers. This ‘range-shifting’ behaviour is putting our rocky reef habitats at risk, as the urchins graze their way across the ocean floor, creating expansive barrens and destroying important habitat. NRM South has been working with industry partners to build community understanding and support for the commercial harvest of Longspined Sea Urchins in Tasmania
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    100%
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  - Tasmanian Smart Seafood Partnership
    Tasmania’s seafood industry uses adaptive management strategies informed by scientific research to make the industry as sustainable as possible. NRM South is working in partnership with the Tasmanian Seafood Industry Council to support industry-based training, school education and habitat restoration through the Tasmanian Smart Seafood Partnership.
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    100%
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  - Environmentally friendly moorings for fish habitat restoration of seagrasses in North West Bay
    North West Bay is a popular recreational fishing area that is home to important seagrass communities. Seagrass is nursery habitat for fish and squid, and can be damaged by traditional chain mooring systems, which scour the seabed. This project is engaging recreational fishers to adopt and advocate for a transition to Environmentally Friendly Moorings
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    100%
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  - Important Wetlands
    Situated at the northern end of Great Oyster Bay on Tasmania’s east coast, Moulting Lagoon and the nearby Apsley Marshes are important wetland areas. They provide critical habitat for waterbirds (including migratory species), are important fish nurseries, and filter water running off the land into the sea. The land surrounding these Ramsar-listed sites is also important for agriculture and tourism, and the waterways themselves are important for aquaculture.
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    100%
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  - Saltmarsh Restoration in Pitt Water-Orielton Lagoon
    A legacy of changing land use, land clearing and livestock grazing in and around saltmarsh at Pitt Water-Orielton Lagoon has changed landscape function. Sections of saltmarsh have become stranded from tidal inundation, altering the connectivity of fish habitat and exposing waterways to increased nutrient inputs. This has knock-on effects for many of the recreationally important fish that depend on this site, including mullet, Australian salmon, and greenback flounder.
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    100%
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  - Reef Builder
    Australia’s shellfish reefs are an endangered marine ecosystem, with only 10% of native rock oyster and 1% of native flat oyster reef remaining today, based on historical reef distribution. The only known remaining native flat oyster reef is in St. Georges Bay, at St. Helens, on Tasmania’s east coast. We are restoring native flat oyster reefs in the Derwent Estuary and D’Entrecasteaux Channel, where this type of habitat was previously extensive.
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- Sustainable Futures
  - Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery Plan
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Sustainable Futures Projects

NRM South Sustainable Futures

The challenges facing Tasmania’s environment are intensifying, with extreme weather events, declining biodiversity, and increased pressures on our natural resources. Across southern Tasmania, we have been working closely with communities, farmers, and traditional owners for over 20 years to protect threatened species, restore critical ecosystems, and support the Tasmanian Aboriginal community’s leadership in restoring Country. Our Sustainable Futures initiatives showcase the actions we are taking to ensure a more resilient and thriving environment and community across southern Tasmania.

Our Sustainable Futures Initiatives

For over 20 years, NRM South has been at the forefront of delivering long-term, collaborative, science-backed and nature-based solutions. Looking ahead, we are facing many challenges. A changing climate, more frequent and extreme and unpredictable weather patterns, increased demand on our natural resources and emerging biosecurity risks demand planning, investment and leadership. With 54 bioregions and a network of existing organisations responsible for strategic planning for nature, the Australian NRM network is ready to lead action.

We recognise the importance of expanding our impact through partnerships, and we plan to build on our strong foundations with new businesses, markets, and through philanthropy. These relationships will help us to scale-up nature-based solutions that protect Tasmania’s environment and contribute to local, national and global sustainability goals. Scalable action is critical to creating lasting impact, and innovative blended finance systems – with public, private, and philanthropic funding – are key to driving this transformation.

Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery Plan
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