TPT Newsletter 2018

August 2018

This newsletter covers field trips and other activities for the second half of the 2017-18 TPT field trip season. As in other years, it has been a wonderful mix of surveys, training, weeding and conservation work. The latter includes the Orchid Conservation Program at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, which TPT is very proud to support. This program is working hard on establishing a living collection of our threatened orchid flora, and Autumn 2018 saw the first Caladenia anthracina plants survive a summer - well done to Magali, Nigel and team!

TPT has been visiting Calverts Hill since 2013, and many of us have shared the heart-breaking experience of seeing this once stronghold of the federal-listed Eucalyptus morrisbyi dwindle to seven adult trees. Thankfully new federal funding has now been received by a NRM South lead project team, who are working hard to protect the remaining adult trees and encourage the juveniles that have popped in recent time. We are very pleased to see this new level of coordination between multiple partners, including Parks & Wildlife Services, UTAS, TPT, pakana Services, The Tasmanian Seed Conservation Centre, Conservation Volunteers Australia and the Understorey Network Nursery. Let’s hope it is not too late.

It would be remiss of me not to mention that this year is also a major milestone for TPT, celebrating our 10-year birthday. TPT was created in 2008 with the aim of helping to conserve Tasmania’s rare plant species. The initiative came from the senior botanists of the Threatened Species Section (TSS) of DPIPWE, who were struggling having time and enough people-power to conduct much needed threatened flora surveying. An initial grant from the Threatened Species Network funded a part-time project officer, who organised the inaugural meetings and field trips, and established TPT as a sub- group of Wildcare. And now, 10 years later and over 260 field trips later, TPT is a well-respected organisation, that conducts important conservation work that has long been appreciated and highly valued by the State Government, the three NRMs, and a large number of private landholders.

December 2017, celebrating 10 Years of TPT at the Botanical Gardens. TPT’s four presidents over this time. From left, Inger Visby (4th), Alison van den Berg (3rd), Viv Muller (2nd) and to the right Phil Collier (1st). And Richard Schahinger, who was the Threatened Species Section’s Senior Botanist who lead the establishment of TPT.