Comments on this listing assessment closed 7 February 2020. The text and documents below remain available for reference only.
About the nomination and assessment
Each year on behalf of the Threatened Species Scientific Committee, the Department invites public nominations for items that merit listing as threatened under national environment law. The “Tasmanian white gum (Eucalyptus viminalis) wet forest” was nominated for listing as a threatened ecological community and prioritised for assessment in 2016. The Committee’s assessment and advice to the Minister is due by July 2020.
Proposed Conservation Status: Critically Endangered
Distribution: Tasmania.
Invitation to comment
The EPBC Act requires the Threatened Species Scientific Committee to undertake public consultation on nominations accepted for a full scientific assessment. The Committee particularly seeks comments on whether the Tasmanian white gum wet forest is eligible for listing under the proposed conservation status, but also invites other relevant comments and information.
How can I get involved?
Read the consultation documents
The draft scientific assessment, included within a draft Conservation Advice, recommends that the ecological community may be eligible for listing as critically endangered, based on evidence that it has declined in extent by 90-95%; it has a very restricted geographic distribution, coupled with many demonstrable threats throughout its range; the dominant canopy species is undergoing a very severe decline as a consequence of heat stress; and the forest is experiencing a very severe rate of detrimental change.
Draft Conservation Advice (incorporating listing advice) for the Tasmanian white gum (Eucalyptus viminalis) wet forest (PDF - 740.42 KB)
Draft Conservation Advice (incorporating listing advice) for the Tasmanian white gum (Eucalyptus viminalis) wet forest (DOCX - 457.26 KB)
A Consultation Guide for landowners and indicative distribution map are also provided to assist with understanding the assessment of the Tasmanian white gum wet forest and listing of ecological communities under the EPBC Act.
Indicative distribution map of the Tasmanian white gum wet forest (PDF - 1011.17 KB)
Consultation guide for landowners (PDF - 1.81 MB)
Consultation guide for landowners (DOCX - 4.7 MB)
Guidelines for Nominating and Assessing Threatened Ecological Communities
The Guidelines for Nominating and Assessing Ecological Communities are also available to explain the criteria and concepts by which an ecological community can be determined as threatened in a particular conservation category.
Guidelines for Nominating and Assessing Threatened Ecological Communities (PDF - 992.04 KB)
Guidelines for Nominating and Assessing Threatened Ecological Communities (DOCX - 4.2 MB)
Send your comments
The Committee welcomes the views of experts, land managers, Traditional Owners, other stakeholders and the general public on the draft Conservation Advice for the ecological community.
The public consultation period closes on 7 February 2020.
A set of Questions to guide your comments is also provided, below.
You are welcome to forward this request to advise other relevant key people or groups in your networks about this opportunity for comment. We would greatly appreciate your help to get input from other agencies and groups involved with biodiversity conservation, land management, primary industries and planning.
Questions to guide comments
- Does the description in the draft conservation advice clearly and accurately describe the proposed ecological community, including its distribution? If not, how should it be amended to help with on-ground identification and management?
- Are the lists of characteristic species accurate? If not, what should be added or removed?
- The draft conservation advice outlines the TASVEG units that correspond to the ecological community (these are outlined in the draft advice). Do you agree with these corresponding units - should any be added to, or deleted, from the description, or do you have any relevant extra information on these?
- Is the description (particularly the key diagnostic characteristics) sufficient to differentiate the ecological community from other ecological communities in Tasmania? If not, how should it be modified?
- The draft documentation includes condition thresholds that help to determine when the patches of the community may be too degraded to be considered as nationally significant and also thresholds for higher quality condition that can be used as a guide for recovery efforts. Are the condition thresholds suitable for these purposes? If not, how should they be modified?
- Information on the key threats to the ecological community are provided in the draft conservation advice. Are the key threats currently affecting the ecological community, or threats likely to affect the community in the future, adequately identified? If not, please provide further information, along with sources for your information.
- Are you aware of additional data or other clear evidence of these threats and their likely impacts on the ecological community in the immediate, medium or long-term future?
- The draft conservation advice outlines the priority research and conservation actions needed to help protect and recover this ecological community. In your opinion, are these the most appropriate actions? If not, please provide details.
- The draft conservation advice concludes that the ecological community merits listing as Critically Endangered. Do you agree? If not, what do you propose is the appropriate conservation category for the ecological community, and what evidence do you have to support this?
- Do you have any further comments or information about the ecological community that should be considered for the Conservation Advice?
Please support your comments with information and data, preferably supported by published studies or observations. If some of that information is not published, would you be willing to be quoted as an expert or source (“personal communication”)?
Please use the contact details, below, if you want more advice or help about this assessment. If you wish to comment, please send your comments quoting the ecological community name to:
Email: epbc.nominations@environment.gov.au
Mail: The Director
Ecological Communities Section
Department of the Environment and Energy
GPO Box 787
Canberra ACT 2601
Privacy and confidentiality in regard to comments received
Submissions received will be forwarded to the Threatened Species Scientific Committee and, subsequently, to the Minister for the Environment.
Information contained in any comments will be stored and used by the department in compliance with its obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
If you wish your comments to remain confidential, you should clearly mark the relevant part(s) of your comments as ‘confidential’. Notwithstanding any obligations of confidentiality, the department may be required by law or parliamentary process to disclose, or allow disclosure of, any information contained in or relating to any comments (including personal and/or confidential information), including in response to a request by a House or a Committee of the Parliament of the Commonwealth or under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth).