Blue Tier bioblitz a big blast

Louise Morris spent two days in a forest counting every living thing she could find

SOMETHING very Tasmanian happened over the Australia Day long weekend — for 48 hours more than 70 people with and without scientific training descended on the Gondwanic remnant forests of the Blue Tier in the North East to do a bioblitz.

A bioblitz is an intense period of biological surveying in an attempt to record all living species in a designated area. Scientists, naturalists and volunteers do an intensive field study over a period of time. Each person volunteered their time, skills, equipment and resources to help build a better understanding of this often overlooked gem of Tasmania’s native forests.

The Blue Tier contains glacial refugia forests. An area that remained ice free in the last Ice Age acting as the cradle that repopulated the forests once the glaciers retreated. These unique Gondwanic remnant forests are also part of the 345,000ha of native forests across Tasmania listed as Future Potential Production Forests (FPPF) that as of April 2020, will once again be made available for logging.

Over the 48 hours of the Blue Tier bioblitz we recorded many species that rely on intact native forest — spotted tailed quoll, many bat species, the endemic Simson’s stag beetle, eastern spiny crayfish and the mighty Tasmanian wedge tailed eagle.

Night surveys brought with them the ripple of excitement on recording a Tasmanian masked owl screeching from the canopy of a tall tree. Daytime excursions saw us joyfully traipse through misty green cool rainforests.

This glacial refugia that survived the last Ice Age is again protecting our island. In the age of climate chaos, the intact forests of the North East act as critical carbon stores and biodiversity safeguards.

These forests have been spared the worst of the fires experienced in the South and the North-West Coast in recent years. When fire does come to the North East, science shows us these intact wet Eucalyptus regnan (mountain ash or swamp gum) native forests slow fire down.

In mature native forests fuel loads remain high, but the risk of crown fire drops because the crown is higher above the ground and density of fuel is dispersed. The trees become dispersed and a more moist understorey, including rainforest plants, becomes prominent.

These conditions make it more difficult for fire to burn severely. These forests provide habitat for unique creatures, store carbon, restore our spirit and help protect us from fire. Who on earth would want to harm them? The fact that it is even a consideration was mind boggling to every citizen scientist and, as poll after poll show, most Tasmanians.

The role of everyday Tasmanians in protecting our wild places and the life in them has not been more important. Whether they be scientists specialising in their field, or people who know the bush like the back of their hand. People who can tell you about decades worth of sightings of eagles, devils and native cats on their farm. We all have a role to play and that role blends science, on-ground knowledge and connecting people back to our wild places.

The Blue Tier will see more citizen science events open to all passionate about Tasmania’s wild places. Maybe our new Premier for climate action will join us, what could be more Tasmanian than that?

Louise Morris co-ordinated the Blue Derby Wild, Blue Tier Bioblitz, a partnership between Blue Derby Wild and The Australia Institute.