Florentine facts
Tourists making the short drive from Hobart into the magnificent Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area can’t fail to miss “Camp Flozza”, a focal point for those trying to protect old growth forest in the Upper Florentine Valley from logging.
From Camp Flozza, which is surrounded by Mount Field National Park, Mt Mueller, the Needles and the Florentine River, it’s a short walk along Timbs Track into the old growth forests of the Upper Florentine Valley.
Virtually surrounded by World Heritage areas and until now untouched by industrial logging, the Upper Florentine Valley is one of the few remaining areas where you can find intact forest extending all the way from a lowland river valley to high mountain tops.
Outstanding ecological values
The Upper Florentine Valley forests contain a mix of Tasmania’s rainforest trees – myrtle, celery-top pine, sassafras and leatherwood – as well as giant eucalypts up to 400 years old.
The forests are interspersed with patches of scrub and buttongrass moorland. This mix of vegetation types provides excellent habitat for a diverse range of birds and mammals, including the endangered Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle, grey goshawk and spotted-tailed quoll.
Riddled with caves, underground streams and sinkholes, the Florentine Valley is the last known habitat of the Tasmanian Tiger before it was hunted to extinction, and holds Aboriginal heritage sites dating back 30,000 years.
Including the Upper Florentine Valley within Tasmania’s Wilderness World Heritage Area would protect an outstanding example of the transition in vegetation types from lowland tall forests to alpine heaths.
Old growth forests, vital carbon sinks
The potentially catastrophic impacts of climate change mean that we should use every possible means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Research carried out by the Australian National University shows that old growth forests like those occurring in
the Upper Florentine Valley play a major role in absorbing and storing carbon from the atmosphere.
This research also shows that undisturbed forests store much more carbon than forests regenerating after logging.
Under threat
Research by forest campaigners shows that the majority of tall wet eucalypt forest in the Upper Florentine is available for logging.
It also shows that:
- 37% of the area protected from logging is of no commercial interest (including buttongrass and rocky slopes).
- The area available for logging within the Upper Florentine catchment contains a high proportion of the tall wet eucalypt forest of most commercial interest.
- • 80% of Eucalyptus regnans old growth forest in the Upper Florentine is available for logging. This species is the tallest flowering plant on Earth.
Protecting the Florentine
The best way of protecting the old growth forests of the Upper Florentine, Styx and lower Weld valleys is to include them as part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.
This conservation zone has already been recognised as containing one of the world’s best examples of “eucalypt-dominated landscapes”, and the addition of the magnificent Upper Florentine, Styx and Weld forests would enhance the significant values of this area.
The biodiversity, cultural and aesthetic values of these areas are indisputable, and inclusion in the World Heritage Area would ensure Tasmania’s tall wet eucalypt forests are preserved for future generations to enjoy.
What you can do
Tasmanians from all walks of life are standing up to defend the Florentine forests. Please join them sending a clear message to Premier David Bartlett that you want to see and end to all logging in the Upper Florentine Valley.
