Friendly Beaches

Bordering the Freycinet National Park, along the north east side of the Freycinet Peninsula, stretches the stunning Friendly Beaches Reserve. The 140 hectare Bush Heritage reserve fronts the expansive Friendly Beaches and the adjoining saltwater lagoon, and incorporates coastal heath and woodland. Coastal heathland has high conservation status in Tasmania, having been extensively cleared for development and pasture.

Saltwater Lagoon forms part of a beach complex, a pattern which is repeated up the Tasmanian coastline. Unfortunately, this lagoon and another to the south of the Reserve are the only examples of this coastal type which remain undisturbed by catchment clearance and pollution. They provide a haven for water birds and aquatic life.
The foreshore immediately adjoining the Bush Heritage block is a narrow coastal reserve containing native sand binding vegetation. In other areas, marram grass, an introduced exotic sand binder, has replaced the more complex native communities, which are now among the most threatened in Tasmania. Without the creation of the Friendly Beaches Reserve these sand binding communities would have been subjected to the activities of 4WD vehicles, resulting in inevitable degradation.

Immediately behind the dunes, in the low-lying area at the front of the Reserve, is an extensive community of coastal heath. This plant community is one of the most diverse in Tasmania. It consists of numerous small spiky shrubs and grass-trees, and exists only in areas with low levels of soil nutrients and high fire frequencies. In recent years it has been reduced to small patches along the coast, of which the area on the Friendly Beaches Reserve is among the largest. This community is threatened statewide by clearance for farming, housing development and by disease.