Tasmanian Conservation Trust in Hobart, Tasmania | Non-governmental organisation (NGO)

Tasmanian Conservation Trust

Locality: Hobart, Tasmania

Phone: +61 3 6234 3552

Address: Floor 2, 191 Liverpool Street 7000 Hobart, TAS, Australia

Website: http://www.tasconservation.org.au

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• Environmental conservation organisation
• Non-governmental organisation (NGO)

25.01.2022 SAVE ARM END RESERVE FROM BOXTHORN Please read this shocking article about the Arm End Reserve at O'Possum Bay being taken over by boxthorn while the leaseholder does nothing about the weed problem and can't get his long delayed golf course started: http://www.tasconservation.org.au/tas-conservationist... And sign RITE's boxthorn petition at: https://www.rite.org.au/act-now-petition While this article focuses on the boxthorn degrading the parts of the reserve that were formally farm land it is important to remember that much of the coastline is regenerating native vegetation (see rainbow photograph). Even these areas are slowly being invaded by boxthorn.

24.01.2022 MAJOR PROJECTS BILL AND TPC REVIEW CONSULTATIONS EXTENDED TO 15 MAY. The Minister for Planning Roger Jaensch announced yesterday that the consultation on the draft Major Projects Bill and review of the Tasmanian Planning Commission, which were both due to close on 9 April 2020, will now be extended to 15 May. This is not ideal but we will proceed now to generate submissions I have drafted a TCT submission guide and will have that online, hopefully, on Monday 6 April. I will also be releasing soon a response to the State Government's Planning Policy Unit's supposed "Fact Check" document. This is nothing more than a piece of political spin designed to mislead and distract people. Rest assure, our reasons for opposing the Major Projects Bill are correct and strong and justify abandoning it. Peter McGlone

23.01.2022 The TCT has joined fifteen other community and conservation organisations from around Tasmania to call for the Proposed Major Projects Legislation consultation to be extended in response to the current crisis. Director of the TCT Peter McGlone, said This legislation is a massive power grab by Peter Gutwein, giving the Minister unlimited power to take virtually any development away from Councils and out of the normal planning process. He can't be allowed to sneak these changes through unchallenged because of the current emergency," Full media release here: http://www.tasconservation.org.au/media-releases-tas

23.01.2022 It is time to put pressure on the Labor Party to step up to their responsibility to be the opposition.... Read the TCT's Talking Point in today's Mercury and then write a letter to the editor. Send letters to the editor The Mercury to: [email protected] ... https://www.themercury.com.au//1a241c0022961af1150407207b3

22.01.2022 Record ocean temperatures and Australian bushfires While warming oceans have a complex influence on global weather patterns, there's a simple general rule according to John Abraham of the University of Minnesota. "Areas that are currently wet, will likely become more wet. Areas that are currently dry will become more dry," Professor Abraham said.... In Australia, that means the current hot, dry period we are experiencing has been made even hotter and drier, according to co-author Kevin Trenberth from the National Centre for Atmospheric Research. "In 2019 the Indian Ocean Dipole became prominent and created a favourable weather pattern across east Australia for drought, heat waves and wild fires," Professor Trenberth said. Around 90 per cent of climate change energy is stored in our oceans, according to Professor Abraham. "You cannot really measure global warming unless you measure ocean warming," he said. "I like to say 'global warming is ocean warming', since the oceans absorb so much heat and are huge, it makes ocean measurements less noisy than air temperatures." In other words, because ocean temperatures take much more energy to move than air, they don't fluctuate as wildly year on year as surface temperatures do. They therefore provide a much more stable indication of warming trends. The past 10 years have been the hottest 10 years on record, according to the researchers. They also estimate the rate of warming during the period between 1987-2019 was 450 per cent greater than the prior 30-year period from 1955 to 1986. The warming has been particularly pronounced in the upper 2,000 metres of the ocean, with the top 300 metres accounting for about 41 per cent of the increase. Although warming was distributed across the world's oceans, it was more pronounced in the Atlantic and Southern Ocean, where several severe marine heatwaves have also been recorded in recent years. https://www.abc.net.au//climate-change-ocean-warm/11863056

18.01.2022 Kookaburras - once rare, taking over Tasmania with 'aggressive' tactics - highly adaptable, particularly in disturbed or changed landscapes It used to be rare to see the birds in the state's south, but Birdlife Tasmania's Eric Woehler said the species' were now found elsewhere in the state. "The kookaburra was introduced in the north and it's now spread in the drier eastern half of Tasmania," Dr Woehler said.... "It's likely that as we're seeing drier conditions, longer drought periods and reduced rainfall that these areas were formerly too wet for these birds or the vegetation was too dense." For conservationists such as Sally Bryant, a research fellow at the Tasmania Land Conservancy, the kookaburras' proliferation has prompted questions about the potential impact on Tasmania's other native species. "They are very aggressive. Being a 'perch and pounce' predator, they're able to capitalise on any small mammals, nesting birds, reptiles and amphibians," she said. "They miss nothing, they know when birds are nesting, they keep their eyes on chicks that are growing in the nest, they know where reptiles are basking in the sun, so they are a formidable ground predator. "They occupy nest hollows for breeding, they form very tight social colonies and that means there's less hollows for other species. So they're actually taking over a resource that's needed for other species." Dr Bryant said kookaburras were highly adaptable, particularly in disturbed or changed landscapes, such as Hobart's urban-rural fringe, which could be contributing to the increase in population. "When there's been bushfires and massive disturbance to landscapes and nature they're one of the first species to move back into that area because they're advantaged by disturbance and a lack of cover," she said. "They like to frequent dry forests, farm land, but they also love the urban-rural areas. "One of the issues we have is that people like to feed the birds, they put out seed and meat and kookaburras are very advantaged by this." Dr Bryant urged people to not to feed birds but to "put out water". https://www.abc.net.au//kookaburras-spread-a-conc/11844982

18.01.2022 Bushfires - How are we going to live like this? The answers must lie in the intersection of the resilience of human communities, our experience and love of place, with the natural environment. Yet understanding this intersection demands resolving the various contribution of climate change, land management and community preparation and resilience.... How many lives, properties, threatened species, ecosystems and their services, did our current management and response capacity actually save? What was the return on human and financial investment in fire preparation and emergency? Are existing administrative arrangements in firefighting and emergency management appropriate? What is the right balance between community/individual responsibility vs. centralised command and control? What is the role and sustainable capacity of volunteer fire management? What can Indigenous fire knowledge bring to bear in stem these blazes? How can biodiversity and ecosystem services, like water and carbon storage, be protected? Comprehensive answers to these questions are not simple to acquire, because of the interlocking nature of the process involved. But to effectively adapt to the challenges the future compels us to deal with them on a scale never attempted before. There needs to be robust and evidence-based debate, encouragement for trying new approaches, and fostering diversity of opinion, outlook and experience. There is an urgent need to develop a nationally co-ordinated, but not centrally controlled, approach to resolving the key questions posed above. This initiative should fully harness the intellectual capacity of our management, research and training institutions, focusing their immense technological capacity for analysis of the fire, human, climate and environment nexus. Without such an approach unprecedented amounts of information yielded by the events of 2019/20 will evaporate, the hard lessons will be skipped, and the vulnerability to another fire crisis will remain. Simply stated, as a nation we are being transformed by drought, heat and fire, to adapt Australians must transform our understanding of these fundamentals, in order to plan, cope and live in a more flammable world. https://firecentre.org.au/the-bushfires-are-a-national-cat/

17.01.2022 A different take on the 'recycling crisis', by US made podcast 99PI

17.01.2022 TCT helps Koonya residents win concessions in Planning Appeals Tribunal - and why this is important for you Read the full article ... and a statement from the appellant: http://www.tasconservation.org.au//tct-helps-koonya-reside... Last week the Planning Appeals Tribunal issued an amended planning permit for a Recreational Vehicle (RV) park at Koonya on the Tasman Peninsula. The permit included a number of very important conditions that the appellant and joined parties won through a lengthy mediation with the proponent. I am proud to have been the advocate for the appellant and joined parties in the mediation and to have helped negotiate outcomes that have very real benefits for people’s lives and the local environment. If you and your community are facing undesirable developments, the planning appeals tribunal exists for you, and the TCT are here to assist.

17.01.2022 The state government has brought back its MAJOR PROJECTS LEGISLATION AND THIS TIME IT IS WORSE. All the most controversial projects around Tasmania could be fast tracked through this legislation: Cambria, skyscrapers in Hobart and Launceston, the Westbury prison, developments in national parks and cable cars. The legislation allows the building and property representatives (including people who don't even live in Tasmania) to have influence over assessing and approving these developments. Full article http://www.tasconservation.org.au/tas-conservationist

17.01.2022 DONATE NOW TO SAVE ROSNY HILL AND YOUR DONATION WILL BE DOUBLED. Please donate to help us over turn the Clarence City Council approval of the over-sized, unwanted and destructive tourism development proposed for Rosny Hill Reserve. Further information and to donate: http://www.tasconservation.org.au/rosny-hill ... Peter McGlone Director Tasmanian Conservation Trust

15.01.2022 The Tasmanian Conservation Trust is looking for a part-time ‘Fundraising and Community Engagement Coordinator’ to work in its Hobart office. Click through for details and selection criteria, please share around. Thanks! www.tasconservation.org.au//position-vacant-tct-fundraisin

13.01.2022 The TCT strongly encourages our supporters to consider donating to help with the production of the Franklin River Movie. When Oliver first came to work with us over 4 years ago, he had already started researching the Franklin River campaign and of course the TCT was one of many groups who helped save the river from being dammed, so we strongly endorse the aims of the movie. Oliver will not only be following his father's oar strokes down the river, but will be the examining wh...at makes a campaign successful and what lessons can we take from that win to apply to all the issues we are tackling today. A campaign 101. The TCT spends most of its time and resources helping the community organise to save places and species that are special to them. So this film will become a valuable resource. The crowd funding campaign launched earlier this week. And there are only 21 days to raise the remaining portion of the budget, so please check it out. Be rewarded for your pledge via Pozible or make a tax deductible donation via Documentary Australia Foundation https://documentaryaustralia.com.au//dark-water-battle-on/ Thank you to all those whose actions mean the Franklin still flows freely and remains the most pristine water catchment in southern Australia. Keep up the good fight. Peter McGlone Director TCT

13.01.2022 Save our Rosny Hill Reserve - donate now and have your donation doubled - https://mailchi.mp/46810a0e4043/save-rosny-hill-2584745

13.01.2022 The Major Projects law is a lifeline for Cambria Green. The project is in a legal battle over the accuracy of signatures on their landowner consent forms. The Major Projects law allows projects to be fast tracked without landowner consent. It's a gift to the owners and a way out of their current legal debacle. http://www.tasconservation.org.au/major-projects Make a submission against the Major Projects Fast Track then share this post:

13.01.2022 Supercell bushfire thunderstorms. A volunteer firefighter died on Monday when an event "which could only be described as a tornado" picked up and rolled the truck carrying he and two other crew members. With so few examples, the science behind these rotating fire systems is still being worked out, but there is no denying they are incredibly dangerous.... "We know fire-whirls exist, they can be up to a few hundred metres high," said Nick McCarthy, who studies the interaction of bushfires and thunderstorms at the University of Queensland. "But they don't cause quite the same amount of concern as when the whole fire plume, and potentially thunderstorm, start to rotate." Many Australians will be familiar with supercell thunderstorms; the technical term is mesocyclonic (medium-scale rotating storms). Basically, they are the really big thunderstorms that do huge amounts of damage. "The worst thunderstorms that happen are the ones that spin," Mr McCarthy said. "What happens with a spinning thunderstorm is that the updraft and downdraft can get set up in just the right way where they can survive for really long periods of time. "In terms of a system, if you think about it like an engine, a thunderstorm is much more efficient when it spins." It's the same reason that spinning a bottle will allow liquid to leave it more quickly rotation is the most efficient way of transferring heat and energy. So when a bushfire thunderstorm or pyro-cumulonimbus cloud starts to spin above a fire, the effects are predictably horrific. "That causes a really, really rapid feedback mechanism for the combustion reaction and there's suddenly a whole bunch more fuel that the fire can access because of that spinning motion and can lead to some really destructive impacts," Mr McCarthy said. https://www.abc.net.au//why-bushfires-that-spin-a/11834006

11.01.2022 The TCT are hiring. We are looking for an administrative assistant. Please take a look at the ad on EthicalJobs.com.au below https://www.ethicaljobs.com.au//tasconservation/administ/

08.01.2022 We reached our target - thank you for helping to save Rosny Hill The TCT is proud to announce that we have exceeded our fundraising target for the Rosny Hill planning appeal - we have raised nearly $6000 from our supporters plus $10,000 from a very generous donor. A massive thank you to all those who have donated to help save Rosny Hill from a monstrous and over-sized tourism development. These funds have now been deposited with Fitzgerald and Browne lawyers who are represent...ing the appellant Rosny Hill Friends Network. The TCT has every confidence that Fitzgerald and Browne will put the strongest possible case to the planning appeals tribunal. While the RHFN has sufficient funds to commence the appeal we encourage people to keep donating directly to them to ensure they can make the strongest possible case. To make further donations to Rosny Hill Friends Network Make a direct payment to: Account Name: Rosny Hill Friends Inc. BSB: 632 001A/c Number: 100 197 241 Or send a cheque to Rosny Hill Friends Inc., P.O. Box 535, Rosny Park 7018

08.01.2022 Rainbow lorikeet - number one bird recorded in Australian backyards - but not popular in Tasmania. Through the BirdLife Australia's Aussie Backyard Bird Count each year, [which] we've done for six years now, the rainbow lorikeet has been the number one bird recorded right across the country," Mr Dooley said. "A lot of people find that fantastic because they're native birds and they're incredibly beautiful.... "However, they're not such a popular bird in Perth or Hobart where they've actually been introduced." f you have ever taken the time to watch rainbow lorikeets you will know they are the overbearing, extroverted, somewhat manic and hard-to-bear life of the party. It is no surprise that they primarily eat sugar in the form of nectar from flowers when you see them rocketing through your garden at 60 kilometres per hour, shrieking raucously. And it is not just a perception rainbow lorikeets literally overwhelm other birds. "The rainbow lorikeet in south-west Western Australia shouldn't be there," Mr Dooley said. "There is a great concern that the numbers are growing ... and they're actually pushing out some of the local indigenous parrots." Such is their vigour, rainbow lorikeets will even go head-to-head with some of Australia's worst pest birds. "In a lot of areas where the common myna (also known as the Indian myna) used to predominate in traditional suburbs in Melbourne and Sydney, when rainbow lorikeets move in they often end up out-bullying those bullies," he said. https://www.abc.net.au//rainbow-lorikeet-species-/11806318

08.01.2022 Please read the TCT’s article in yesterday’s Mercury regarding Peter Gutwein’s major projects legislation..... https://www.themercury.com.au//710195dbe15f7eaf317c36058ec If you don't subscribe to the Mercury read it here:... http://www.tasconservation.org.au/tas-conservationist If this makes you angry then please make a submission by 15 may using the TCT’s easy to use online submission guide: http://www.tasconservation.org.au/major-projects

07.01.2022 Tasmania's 'relics of ancient time', montane conifers fruit for the first time in five years. Tasmania's montane conifers several species of which are endemic to the state last propagated, or 'masted', in 2015, sending researchers scrambling to collect their seeds. Now the trees are at it again, but the seeding is not just confined to the Apple Isle, or even Australia.... "Masting events like this appear to be global, with conifers seeding in New Zealand and other parts of the world," said the Tasmanian Seed Conservation Centre's (TSCC) James Wood. "The most recent modelling on masting suggests that the last two warm summers may have contributed to this event. "As future events are unpredictable, we'll have to capitalise on that because we don't know when it's going to happen again." The TSCC is a seed bank facility based at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens that aims to secure and conserve Tasmania's native plant species. The organisation has partnered with the Tasmanian Walking Company, a tour operator, to explore the state's alpine region and collect the seeds. "We're doing walks on the Overland Track this autumn," Mr Wood said. "Back in November last year, we inspected a rather remote population of (montane conifer varieties) King Billy and pencil pine and were very surprised to see the cones were being formed." With the imminent threat of fire and warmer temperatures in the state, Mr Wood is eager to get moving and preserve what still remains. https://www.abc.net.au//tasmanian-conifers-fruit-/11858284

05.01.2022 Today, democracy in action and a 7 year campaign has led to Fossil Free UTAS and UTAS itself coming together on a plan. Over the coming 6 months UTAS will pull out from indirect investments in fossil fuels (having previously moved away from direct investments) and become active investors supporting companies on the sustainability side of history @fossilfreeutas @universityoftasmania #democracyinaction

05.01.2022 Please stand up for community's right to appeal.

04.01.2022 TCT calls on Planning Minister Jaensch to rule out fast tracking any of the Fragrance Towers as Major Projects. Share this post and use the link to make a submission! http://www.tasconservation.org.au/major-projects