The Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, shortened to TWWHA, is a World Heritage Site located in Tasmania, Australia. It is one of the largest conservation areas in Australia, covering 15,800 km² (6,100 mi²), or nearly 25% of Tasmania. It is also one of the last large areas of temperate wilderness in the world and includes the South West Wilderness.
Tourism is the main industry in the TWWHA. However, the area has limited development because of the need to balance human activity with the protection of untouched natural environments. There are no permanent homes in the region, except for small areas near the edges. The area is known for outdoor activities such as walking through forests, rafting on rivers, and climbing mountains.
The Tasmanian Wilderness meets 7 out of 10 criteria used to evaluate World Heritage Sites, making it one of the highest-scoring sites globally, along with Mount Tai in China. The TWWHA was first added to the World Heritage List in 1982 through a joint effort by the Australian and Tasmanian governments during the Franklin Dam controversy. It was expanded in 1989 after a decision to protect a eucalypt forest from logging, following the Helsham Inquiry. Poor planning and management in the 1990s led to the creation of a management plan in 1992, which was later replaced by a new plan in 1999. In 2014, the Abbott government proposed removing the TWWHA from the World Heritage List to allow logging in the area, but this was rejected by the World Heritage Committee. In 2016, the Tasmanian government canceled its request to permit logging after a UNESCO report opposed the idea.
Background
Tasmania is one of the states of Australia. It is an island in the Southern Ocean, located directly south of mainland Australia, with the Bass Strait between them. Tasmania has a climate with mild temperatures and lots of rain, which is very different from most of mainland Australia. Australia has 21 World Heritage Sites, with the first listed in 1981. The most well-known sites include Kakadu, Uluru (formerly Ayers Rock), and the Great Barrier Reef. The Tasmanian Wilderness is likely the most famous of the remaining sites.
Tasmania is about 296 km (184 mi) from north to south and 315 km (196 mi) from east to west, and it lies approximately 300 km (190 mi) south of mainland Australia. About 30% of Tasmania’s land is protected as conservation areas. The Tasmanian Wilderness covers roughly 20% of the state and includes Tasmania’s four largest national parks and other smaller protected areas. Of Tasmania’s total land area of 6.8 million hectares, 3.4 million hectares are covered by forests. Of these, 70% are on public land, with 40% used for commercial forests and 30% on protected public land. Tasmania has a population of just under 500,000 people. It has the weakest economy among all Australian states, and tourism is considered one of the few areas for economic growth. Tasmania’s tourism efforts focus on ecotourism, highlighting the state’s natural features, especially those in the Tasmanian Wilderness. This type of tourism creates environmental pressure on the area, even though most tourist accommodations are outside the wilderness and most visits occur at a few well-developed sites near its edges.
Geography
The Tasmanian Wilderness is a large, wet, temperate wilderness area covering much of southern and western Tasmania. It is about 200 km (120 mi) from north to south and averages 70 km (43 mi) from east to west, covering 1.38 million hectares (3.4 million acres) before expansions in 2013. After additions in 1989 and 2013, the area became 15,800 square kilometers, or nearly 25% of Tasmania. Although the highest point is 1,600 meters (5,000 feet) above sea level and there is no snow all year, much of the area is very rugged and contains the only large, recently glaciated regions in Australia. The last glaciers disappeared 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. This area is one of the last large temperate wilderness regions in the world and includes the South West Wilderness.
The conservation area has an oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb) with cool, dry summers and cold, rainy winters. The wettest day recorded was August 10, 2007, with 87.6 mm (3.45 in) of rain. Because of its high elevation, the area’s extreme temperatures range from 37.4°C (99.3°F) on January 31, 2020, to −4.3°C (24.3°F) on September 13, 2013.
A weather station opened in 2004 in Warra. It measures temperature and rainfall data.
Development and tourism
The Tasmanian Wilderness has no permanent homes, except for a few buildings near the edges. Few roads go through the area. There is a trout fishery (trout are fish from the northern hemisphere that were brought there) in the lakes of the Central Plateau. Unlike other parts of the Tasmanian Wilderness, the Central Plateau has been used for a long time by local people. Activities such as fishing, hunting, horse riding, off-road vehicle use, and the use of small shelters still happen there. Some groups believe these activities conflict with protecting the environment. This has caused the removal of roads, shelters, and other signs of human presence to create a wilderness that is untouched.
Tourism and recreation are the main industries in the area. About half a million people visit the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area each year. Activities include boat tours, commercial flights and landings, hiking (it is known as the best place for hiking in Australia), whitewater rafting, and climbing. In more remote parts of the area, there are no ports, so expedition ships are used for land-based activities. However, because of rules in place to protect the area, these ships rarely visit. Smaller commercial ships are also present in the region.
Biology
The TWWHA is located in the Australasian realm. One reason it is a World Heritage Site is its rich biodiversity and natural features. The TWWHA has six types of ecosystems: rainforest, sclerophyll communities, alpine treeless vegetation, subalpine treeless vegetation, and wetland communities. This area is home to many species with ancient origins, early forms of life, and a wide variety of plants. Some plants have unique traits, such as scleromorphic shrubs that have adapted to a maritime climate in alpine and subalpine treeless ecosystems. The TWWHA also includes the longest continuous pollen record in Australia, found at the Darwin Crater.
The TWWHA includes 1,397 species from 293 families. It has 30 species of land mammals, 120 species of land birds, 14 species of land reptiles, seven species of frogs, 16 species of freshwater fish, and 68 species of marine fish. Many of the animals living in the TWWHA are found only in this area, such as the Moss Froglet and the Pedra Branca Skink. In terms of invertebrates, the TWWHA includes 904 species of Uniramia, 179 species of Chelicerata, 90 species of Aschelminthes, 88 species of Crustacea, 69 species of Mollusca, 57 species of Annelida, eight species of Platyhelminthes, and one species each for Onychophora and Nemertea.
History
The Tasmanian Wilderness includes a group of parks and reserves with steep valleys. This area was once covered in ice. Human remains older than 20,000 years have been found in limestone caves there. For thousands of years, Aboriginal Tasmanians lived in the region. They influenced the area’s environment through controlled burning and left behind remains such as shell heaps and artwork. Evidence shows Aboriginal people lived in the area as far back as 35,000 years ago. Shell heaps from a later time, called the Holocene, have also been found. In the 1830s, George Augustus Robinson, acting on orders from the British government, removed Aboriginal people from the region. Today, some places in the area are important to Aboriginal Tasmanians, which helped the region be named a World Heritage Site.
In the 19th century, the area was explored by people looking for resources, including convicts. The only major economic activities were small-scale mining, logging, trapping for furs, and limited farming. These activities stopped recently. The area also has large and small hydroelectric power plants. Most of these activities did not leave lasting marks on the land.
The area was added to the World Heritage List in two parts: 1982 and 1989. In 1982, the listing happened during a debate about building a large dam. The dam was not built because the federal government used its authority from the World Heritage status to stop the project. Reasons for the listing include the area’s Aboriginal history, its natural landforms, and its variety of plant and animal life.
In 1989, the area was expanded after a decision to protect a large forest from logging. This led to disagreements about which areas should be included. Some people believed only five areas should be listed, while others argued for more, leading to the addition of 600,000 hectares. The larger view won, and the area was expanded. A management plan was created in 1989. The World Heritage status allowed the federal government to take part in managing the area, which caused some people in Tasmania to think the listing was a way to control land use.
Funding for managing the area increased during the 1980s and 1990s. In the early 1980s, about 1 million Australian dollars was spent on management, but by 2008, this had grown to 11 million dollars. This money helped hire more staff.
Some people did not trust the Parks and Wildlife Service, especially after the Central Plateau was added to the Tasmanian Wilderness in 1989. They had expected activities allowed before the listing to continue, but some were later banned, such as certain vehicle paths. This caused strong disagreements in the community and led to anger toward the Parks and Wildlife Service.
In 1990, planning for the area was not well organized. Only one of the four major national parks had a complete management plan. A single plan for the entire area was created after public input. The final plan was strongly focused on protecting the wilderness, which upset some groups but reduced opposition from others. However, some local communities felt their opinions were not heard and remained unhappy with the plan.
The 1992 plan helped create a way to measure how well management was working. It was criticized for focusing too much on wilderness and ignoring other values. To address issues from the 1992 plan, a new plan was reviewed and created, but delays due to elections pushed its completion to 1999. Key topics in the new plan included tourism, fire management, and protecting Aboriginal heritage.
In 2004, the first report on the state of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area was published, focusing on protecting the environment.
In 2013, the federal government proposed a small change to the area’s boundaries, which was accepted by the World Heritage Committee.
In 2014, the Abbott government suggested removing the area from the World Heritage list to allow logging. This would have been the first time a developed country removed a site for economic reasons. The proposal was rejected by the World Heritage Committee. The government said it would respect the decision.
In 2016, the Tasmanian government stopped its plan to allow logging after a UNESCO report opposed it, even though procedures allowed such activity.
Management
In Australia, managing land is the job of the states. However, the World Heritage Convention is a global agreement signed by the federal government. This agreement gives the federal government a role in managing Australia's World Heritage Areas. Because of the area's World Heritage status, Tasmania receives a lot of money from the federal government to help manage the area.
The TWWHA is managed together by the federal government and the state of Tasmania through the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service. Agreements between Tasmania and the federal government include groups like the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area Ministerial Council, a Standing Committee, and the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area Consultative Committee. Half of the members in the Consultative Committee are chosen by the Tasmanian state government, and the other half are chosen by the federal government.
National parks
The following national parks and reserves are part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area:
- Central Plateau Conservation and Protected Areas
- Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park
- Devils Gullet State Reserve
- Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park
- Hartz Mountains National Park
- Mole Creek Karst National Park
- South East Mutton Bird Islet
- Southwest National Park
- Walls of Jerusalem National Park
- Mt Field National Park
Views of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area include:
• Lake Pedder as seen from Mount Eliza in Southwest National Park
• A view from Solomon's Throne in Walls of Jerusalem
• The Bathurst Range near Melaleuca in Southwest
• The Pelion Range as seen from Mount Oakleigh in Lake St Clair National Park
• The Tarn Shelf in Mount Field National Park
• Bathurst Harbour in Southwest Wilderness
• Dove Lake and Cradle Mountain in Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park
• The Acropolis in Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair
• Part of Bathurst Harbour in Southwest National Park
• The Sentinels in Southwest
• A view from Hartz Mountain in Hartz National Park
• Cradle Mountain in Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park
• A view from Mount Jerusalem in Walls of Jerusalem
• A view from Mount Ossa in Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park