SUMMARY
NRM South is overseeing a suite of projects to protect two endangered plant species and one endangered vegetation community;
- Morrisby’s gum, one of Australia’s most threatened eucalypts,
- Stuart’s heath (critically endangered and found only in one location)
- Black gum/Brookers gum forest and woodlands (a critically endangered vegetation community)
BACKGROUND
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.
PARTNERS:
Enviro-dynamics, Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania, Tasmania’s Parks and Wildlife Service, UTAS, Greening Australia, Tasmanian Seed Conservation Centre, Threatened Plants Tasmania, pakana Services
FUNDING
Australian Government’s National Landcare Program
PROJECT DURATION
2019-2023
PROJECT UPDATES
Weed control workshop to protect a threatened community
Earlier this winter, our Senior Project Officer Sophie Golding organied a weed control workshop, facilitated by Axel Meiss, with landholders at a private property in the Huon Valley. The property is also home to a stand of what is formally known as ‘Tasmanian forest and woodlands dominated by Black Gum
MEDIA RELEASE: If trees could walk – moving a threatened eucalypt into a new neighbourhood
From reports of new fish species turning up in Tasmania’s waters to changing bird distributions across northern and eastern Australia, plants and animals are on the move as the places they once called home become inhospitable due to a changing climate. But what happens when species can’t walk, fly or
Caging plants for conservation
As part of our Threatened Plants project, NRM South is working with partners to protect critically endangered Southport heath in Tasmania's far south. With only one known wild population, Southport heath is at risk of extinction. Now in the second year of the project, we have been able to coordinate
Caging work for Southport heath
In mid-September, staff from NRM South joined DPIPWE and pakana service team members on a 2-day field trip to remote Southport Bluff, an exposed and windswept site that is home to the only known wild population of critically endangered Southport heath (Epacris stuartii). Southport heath is a small, coastal shrub
Supporting forests on farms
Expressions of Interest are now open for our Black or Brooker’s gum Forests on Farms Program. This program is providing capacity building and on-ground works support to help production-focussed landholders improve and protect remnant stands of the critically endangered ‘Tasmanian Black Gum and Brookers Gum Forests and Woodlands’ ecological community
Community efforts to revive an endangered gum
Tasmania is home to 30 species of eucalypt, 16 of which are found no-where else on Earth. One of these Tasmanian endemic species is Morrisby’s gum (Eucalyptus morrisbyi), an endangered tree and amongst the 30 priority plant species listed in Australia’s Threatened Species Strategy. Work on this rare gum, undertaken
MEDIA RELEASE: Getting the facts about forests on farms
A new fact sheet designed to inform farmers about the benefits of managing a rare type of forest community on their properties has just been released by NRM South. The critically endangered ecological community known as ‘Tasmanian forests and woodlands dominated by black gum or Brookers gum’ is unique to
New landholder fact sheet for Black or Brookers Gum forests on farms
We’ve just released a new fact sheet for farmers all about the benefits of preserving stands of forests on their properties. It’s specifically targeted for ‘Tasmanian forests and woodlands dominated by black gum or Brookers gum’, which is both rare and unique to our state, and highlights how farmers can
New factsheet for a threatened vegetation community
Tasmanian forests and woodlands dominated by black gum or Brooker’s gum ((Eucalyptus ovata / E. brookeriana) is a threatened ecological community unique to Tasmania. Under threat from land clearing, invasive species, grazing pressure and poor land management practices, much of the landscape where this ecological community occurred has been cleared
Hunting for rare heath in the far south
In early November, NRM South’s Maudie Brown teamed up with staff from DPIPWE, Tasmania’s Parks and Wildlife Service and volunteers from Threatened Plants Tasmania on a population survey expedition to Southport Bluff and Southport Island in Tasmania’s far south. The team were on the hunt for Southport Heath (Epacris stuartii),
ACHIEVEMENTS TO DATE
- Developed a black gum/ Brooker’s gum landholder fact sheet
- Two conservation covenants approved
- Southport heath survey
- Supported 174 plant giveaways which has contributed to 21 new plantings
- Mapping work on black gum/Brooker’s gum communities
- Four landholder agreements covering 12.5 ha formalised to protect conservation plantings of Morrisby’s Gum and three Morrisby’s Gum plantings
established on private property (covering 7.5 ha). Plantings were completed at three of the landholder sites over the 2022 winter, with 2,430 Morrisby’s Gum seedlings planted.
- Eighteen Southport Heath plants caged at Southport Bluff to allow for future seed collection, and seeds collected from Morrisby’s Gum.
- Stall at Dover community market distributed 60 Southport Heath plants to the local community.
- Five Forest on Farms management agreements established and property action plans with private landholders developed.
- One conservation covenant covering 113.78 ha has been approved and registered on the landowners’ title which will protect 10.96 ha of Black or Brookers gum forest. Three additional covenants comprising a further 34.65 ha of black or Brookers gum forest are being processed.
LINKS AND MEDIA
Checking in on a critically endangered ecological community (TLC blog post)
RESOURCES
Black or Brookers Gum Information Sheet
Growing Morrisby’s Gum Note Sheet (Enviro-dynamics)
Tasmanian Black Gum and Brookers Gum Forests and Woodlands: A Nationally Significant Ecological Community: A guide for farmers and other land managers (Australian Government)
Black or Brookers Gum Ground-truthing Survey Report (TLC)
Community efforts to revive an endangered gum case study (2021)