THE TARKINE: TASMANIA´S PRISTINE FOREST UNDER THREAT

Source: Tarkine National Coalition

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The Tarkine is an expansive wild area in North-West Tasmania, Australia’s island state.

The more than 447,000 hectare region roughly covers the expanse between the Arthur and Pieman rivers – and encompasses a broad array of diverse landscape features and outstanding natural and cultural values. Scientists, environment groups, and Australian politicians have identified and recognised the Tarkine’s unique world heritage values and their need for protection. We need YOUR HELP to ensure that the Tarkine is looked after into the future. To find out about conservation issues in the Tarkine, click here.

To find out more about the Tarkine’s values, please click on the relevant section for more information about what makes the Tarkine such an extraordinary wild place.

 

THREATS

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Whilst there are a number of reserves in the Tarkine that provide the Tarkine with some level of conservation protection – there are still many serious threats to the Tarkine’s natural values and future. Even though the Tarkine has well recognised international significance, less than 5% of the Tarkine is properly protected as a National Park.

Magnificient parts of the Tarkine’s forests are threatened by destructive logging practices, illegal 4wd use is damaging Aboriginal middens and dune systems, and proposals to establish new mines threaten the Tarkine’s long-term future. Read on for more information.

THE TARKINE: A TREASURE

The Tarkine is a priceless treasure. It is home for numerous unique species, amonst which it is the last population of the Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus harrisii). This marsupial is at the verge of extinction because of a fatal disease (Devil Facial Tumour Disease, DFTD).

The DFTD has decimated up to 80% of the Tasmanian Devil in the last decade. Thus, it is urgent to save the Tarkine so that this marvelous mammal and other species can have a home and survive to keep enriching Earth´s Biodiversity. 

Here is a sample of the mammal treasures found in the Tarkine:
 

MAMMALS

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There are 24 species of native land mammals found in the Tarkine, more than two thirds of Tasmania’s entire native mammal species – and more than found in other protected areas in Tasmania such as the Upper Henty and the Gordon River. The Tarkine’s native mammal species include the platypus, echidna, six marsupial carnivores, the common wombat, two species of bandicoot, five possums and gliders, three macropods, four species of rat and mice and one bat species.

Tasmania’s three largest predators in order of decreasing size, are the Tasmanian Devil, the Spotted-tailed Quoll, and the Eastern Quoll – and the presence of all of these top predators in the Tarkine is a sign of a healthy ecosystem.

Currently there is an epidemic of viral cancer in populations of Tasmanian Devil, which have decimated populations of Devil across other parts of the state, particularly in Eastern Tasmania. This Devil Facial Tumour Disease has been so devastating that it threatens the entire species’ existence. However, populations of the Tasmanian Devil in the Tarkine continue to be healthy and unaffected by the disease, and the Tarkine is becoming an increasingly vital refuge. Listed as vulnerable nationally, the Spotted-tailed Quoll requires extensive areas of relatively undisturbed wet forest and suitable prey for its survival, and Tasmania is the global stronghold of the Spotted-tailed Quoll, with the wet forests of the Arthur River catchment core habitat. The smaller Eastern Quoll is relatively scarce in the Tarkine. The Tarkine also provides important habitat and is home for a number of other mammals, such as the Swamp Antechinus, Dusky Antechinus, White-footed Dunnart, long-tailed mouse, Ringtail possum, Pigmy Possum, Long-nosed potoroo, and two species of bandicoot.

The Tarkine’s size, naturalness and habitat diversity make it an outstanding refuge with the ability to maintain evolutionary and ecological processes and species diversity. It is an outstanding and fragile storehouse for many of Tasmania’s unique and threatened plants and animals

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO SAVE IT?

Please visit the Tarkine National Coalition. Click HERE 

To defend the Tarkine, please click HERE