Tasmanian farmer Julian von Bibra wasAs you walk through the rich farming region of the Tasmanian Midlands, you’ll find a patchwork of woodlands, grasslands and wetlands, dotted with convict-era farmhouses and Georgian style mansions that date back to the 1800s.
Here, amongst the critically endangered lowland temperate grasslands, is a biodiversity hotspot, a refuge for dozens of nationally threatened species and nearly 200 plants and animals threatened in Tasmania.
The intensification of agriculture has destroyed all but 5% of the original native grasslands and 30% of all native vegetation. Sadly, what’s left of the grasslands and other native vegetation is largely fragmented, making it even more pressing to protect these precious remnants.
“This is such an important region,” says Bush Heritage Ecologist Matt Appleby. “The Tasmanian Midlands are a biodiversity hotspot because there’s a large array of species, including plants and invertebrates, that are not found anywhere else in the world.”
“A significant number of these endemic species are also threatened species. Ninety‑five percent of the region is privately owned and it isn’t feasible for us to purchase our own land for conservation with just the right habitats we want to protect. So we had to come up with something else.”
That ‘something else’ was the Tasmanian Midlandscapes Project, which empowers landowners to protect the region’s plants, animals and natural features. It’s an Australian-first and modelled on similar concepts overseas. Using the Midlands Conservation Fund, developed by Bush Heritage and the Tasmanian Land Conservancy (TLC), farmers are given stewardship payments in return for conserving biodiversity on their land and meeting annual conservation targets.
“There’s a large array of species, including plants and invertebrates, that aren't found anywhere else in the world”
It took four years of planning, but with 10 landowners on board and 2,600 hectares protected so far, Matt says it’s heading in the right direction.
“The stewardship agreement model is much more viable for farmers in the long-term than traditional conservation agreements because the fund will provide money for conservation actions in perpetuity. We make sure landowners are involved as much as possible; they’re key to this program being successful.”
Bush Heritage and TLC ecologists help landowners to spot and understand the range of threatened native plants and animals that need protecting, and work together to develop plans such as fencing, grazing management and restoration of native vegetation.
Biannual surveys conducted with the landowners help to identify whether their strategies are working, and Matt visits the Midlands properties every three years for a more in-depth assessment.
“We’re looking to get 8,000 to 10,000 hectares of grasslands, wetlands and grassy woodlands protected over the next few years,” Matt says. “We need to raise more money to extend this project from 10 to about 20 landowners, and to increase the areas of protection on existing sites.
Hopefully in five years’ time we will have raised enough to protect the largest and best‑condition grasslands in the Midlands. It’s an ambitious goal, but with some help, we can do it. These grasslands need our help.”
BUSHTRACKS 21/12/2015
At first glance, the striped legless lizard looks like a tiny colourful snake, with pink sides and a yellow throat. But its thick, fleshy tongue is unforked, it has visible ears, and two scaly flaps as hind legs. It munches on moths, crickets and spiders, and can spring more than 10cm into the air.
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We are hosting a new research project into how far south in Queensland’s Daintree River lowland forests the near threatened Bennett’s Tree Kangaroo may exist. After a sighting of a juvenile close to Palm Road in the Daintree, tree roo expert and author Roger Martin visited our Fan Palm Reserve in northern Queensland to investigate the southern range of this iconic Australian marsupial.
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Out on Bon Bon Station Reserve, the heat can sear your skin and leave you breathless. And yet this massive piece of land, which rivals the size of Sydney, is home to some of Australia’s most extraordinary creatures like the southern hairy-nosed wombat and the rare chestnut breasted whiteface. Here's how we manage wildfire risk for Bon Bon’s diverse plants and animals.
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'We’re operating in a really important part of the continent,' says Bush Heritage’s Gondwana Link Landscape Manager Simon Smale. 'The area we’re working in now has been quite badly fragmented by a burst of clearing from agricultural development. We’re progressively buying and conserving properties to protect the bush that is left.'
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The Northern quoll, a nationally endangered species, had never before been recorded in the rainforests, or wulo, of Wunambal Gaambera Country. To see a healthy population is exciting, and demonstrates the good results coming from our partnership with the Wunambal Gaambera Aboriginal Corporation.
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In West Arnhem Land, we are working with the Nawarddeken people whose Indigenous Protected Area covers 1.4 million hectares of natural and cultural treasures. A biodiversity survey was conducted over 10 days in Baby Dreaming Country, a significant cultural site in the northern region of the Warddeken Indigenous Protected Area (IPA), a full day’s drive from Darwin.
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There’s no doubt that Bush Heritage volunteers are some of the best in the business. They roll up their sleeves to pull weeds. They battle aching muscles and clammy heat to plant seedlings. And they spend hours pouring over documents to help with our research. So it made perfect sense to tap into their knowledge and expertise with the establishment of our very first Volunteer Advisory Committee.
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