Tasmania’s wilderness was isolated from the perils of the Australian mainland for 10,000 years but human impacts have now begun to threaten its native animals and plants.
The forest’s top predators, the Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle and the Tasmanian devil are among those under threat. A mysterious facial tumour disease now threatens the devils future and 56% of the state is already affected. Fewer than 1500 Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagles remain and despite being listed as endangered under federal and state law, the population continues to decline.
One of the most predominant threats to the eagle’s long-term survival in Tasmania is the loss of habitat due to forestry operations, agriculture and mining
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About a third of Tasmania’s original forest habitat has now been cleared
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40% of Tasmania’s 1.5 million hectares of State Forest is available for wood production
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If current logging practices are maintained at the current rate, the eagle has a 97% chance of extinction in the next 200 years according to a 2004 study in North Eastern Tasmania
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Worldwide, deforestation is the single biggest cause of extinction
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In Tasmania, an area greater than 50 football fields of forest are cleared daily
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Less than 30% of clearfelled forests are allowed to regenerate, as for the rest, most is converted to plantations
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Plantations are poor hunting areas for the eagle and around 99,000 hectares of new plantations were planted in 2005/2006
