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Objective

Recommendation

Key issues

What has been achieved 1998-2003

Tasmania Together

Related Issue Reports

Objective

To improve the protection of Tasmania's threatened species and ecological communities.

Recommendation

It is recommended that actions proposed in Tasmania's Nature Conservation Strategy 2002-2006 (State Biodiversity Committee 2002) and Threatened Species Strategy (Threatened Species Unit 2000) in relation to threatened species are implemented and reviewed regularly. No further recommendations are proposed for this SoE Report. The Nature Conservation Strategy included the following actions:

• improve the Threatened Species Protection Act 1995 and streamline it with new legislation;
• identify critical habitats and facilitate public authority management agreements and other strategic processes to maximise protection on a broad-scale;
• have a greater focus on threatening processes;
• increase survey and research needed for management of threatened species;
• provide more information through plans, listing statements and expanded use of the internet;
• increase the identification of threatened invertebrates and lower plants, and assist in their protection; and
• encourage greater cooperation in recovery plans (National, State, Local Government and community), especially for migratory species and those with national and international ranges.

Key issues

Threatened species and threatened ecological communities (i.e. assemblages of plants and/or animals) are those that are at risk of extinction in the wild. Since European colonisation in 1803, 33 species are known to have become extinct in Tasmania (24 plants, 8 animals). The number of extinct ecological communities is unknown.

Key broad-scale threatening actions as defined in the Threatened Species Strategy for Tasmania are native vegetation clearance; pests, weeds and diseases; degradation of water systems; inappropriate use of fire; inappropriate and illegal harvesting; and impacts of domestic stock (Threatened Species Unit 2000). Further detail is provided in the Threatened Species and Ecological Communities Issue Report. Some of the key points from the Issue Report include:

• The Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement (1997) recognised 20 of the 50 mapped forest communities as threatened in Tasmania, in the categories of Rare, Endangered and Vulnerable. A further 41 of the 120 non-forest ecological communities, derived from the Tasveg and World Heritage Area mapping programs, have also been recognised as being threatened on a Statewide basis. These forest and non-forest communities do not have any status in a formal statutory sense in Tasmania.
   
• Threatened non-forest vegetation communities occur Statewide, but are particularly concentrated on King Island, in the north-west, in the south-east and in the northern midlands where there has been extensive clearing for agriculture and related biodiversity losses.
   
• Flora: Nearly one-third (29% or 272 of 958) of Tasmania's broadleaf plants are threatened, of which 79 are endemic. Twenty-seven per cent (159 of 585) of grasses, sedges, lilies, and orchids are threatened, of which 46 are endemic. Two of Tasmania's 11 conifer species (18%) are threatened, both of which are endemics. Eighteen of Tasmania's 99 fern species (18%) are threatened, three of which are endemic.
   
• Fauna: Eleven per cent (9) of Tasmanian mammal species are listed as threatened. Of these, one is extinct (i.e. Tasmanian tiger), six are endangered (i.e. they are very close of becoming extinct), one is rare and one is vulnerable. Of the 203 native birds in Tasmania, 28 (14%) are threatened.
   

What has been achieved 1998-2003

The following is a summary of programs and processes supporting improvements in protection of threatened species and ecological communities in Tasmania. Further information is contained in the Threatened Species and Ecological Communities Issue Report and in the Management Responses sections contained in the Biodiversity Chapter. The State Government's formal response to Tasmania's Nature Conservation Strategy provides further information.

• The development of the Threatened Species Strategy by the Nature Conservation Branch of DPIWE (Threatened Species Unit 2000). This strategy aims to ensure that threatened species can survive and flourish in the wild; that threatened species and their habitats retain their genetic diversity and potential for evolutionary development; and to prevent further species becoming threatened.
   
• The development of Tasmania's 'Nature Conservation Strategy', by the State Biodiversity Committee (State Biodiversity Committee 2002). This is an action plan to protect Tasmania's natural diversity and maintain ecological processes and systems. It identified a range of recommended actions. The State Government has responded to the recommendations and given in-principle support to the Nature Conservation Strategy (download strategy; download State Government response).
   
• Additions to the reserve system on both public and private land as a result of the Regional Forest Agreement have improved the level of protection of threatened species and communities. The Private Forest Reserves Program has protected about 30,000ha of forested land, mostly of threatened forest communities and species, while the Protected Areas on Private Land Program has protected a small number of areas of threatened non-forest ecological communities. For example, the Tasmanian Private Forest Reserves Program is helping to protect the habitat of the grey goshawk (Accipiter novaehollandiae), which is a rare species with less than 110 breeding pairs Statewide. A key site for the grey goshawk is at 17 Mile Plain in the far North West. This area of around 2,000 ha was purchased by the Private Forests Reserve Program and the National Reserve System. In April 2003, 404 ha of the State's largest remaining stands of wet Eucalyptus viminalis forest was protected through the Private Forests Reserve Program.
   
• The Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement (1997) established a permanent forest estate policy that sets minimum thresholds of forest communities to be retained. Pending completion of a review of the policy, approvals for clearing of ecological communities (both forest and non-forest) which are Endangered, Vulnerable or Rare, have been suspended by the Forest Practices Board.
   
• Work is underway to identify gaps in the reserve system for non-forest vegetation communities as part of the State Government's Vegetation Management Policy Framework and for forest communities to fill gaps under the Private Forest Reserve Program.
   
• Off-reserve conservation management is increasingly being used as an adjunct to the reserve network in the eastern, central and northern parts of the State where land clearing, in particular, has been greatest. The reserve network does not protect native species and ecological communities at adequate levels in these regions, with many species and ecological communities occurring almost entirely on freehold land.
   
• Following amendments to the Forest Practices Act 1985 in 2001, any substantial clearing of trees is now covered by the Act. In 2002, the Forest Practices Board implemented a moratorium on the further clearing of all threatened forest communities pending a review of the Permanent Forest Estate Policy.
   
• Between 1997-2003, the Threatened Species Unit administered a total of 32 separate threatened species programs (16 fauna, 14 flora and 2 threat abatement) with an average annual budget of $300,000 from the Commonwealth. Of these programs, 19 have involved writing or implementing National or State recovery plans covering 128 threatened species. These comprise 8 flora recovery plans (covering 98 species) and 11 fauna recovery plans (covering 30 species), although multi-species and regional plans have also been produced. On average, around 25 submissions for nominations onto legislation have been processed annually and a complete review of the listed species undertaken.
   
• A database has been created and verified by the Threatened Species Unit, which has enabled the processing of up to eight queries per week for development applications. Newsletters like the RAVES Newsletter, Trumped Up Corella, Swifts Across the Strait, notesheets, reports, posters and public education material have been produced and featured widely in the media.
   

Tasmania Together

Relevant Tasmania Together goals and standards for 'Biodiversity' are listed in the linked file. The Tasmania Together Progress Board reported on progress toward targets for benchmarks set (Tasmania Together Progress Board 2003). Indicators, targets and baseline data are available in the latest Progress Report June 2003. Further information, including progress report updates, is available from Tasmania Together.

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