Blog

The TLC has started an asset inventory on all of  the New Leaf properties. Over the next few months volunteers will be combing every inch ( well almost ) of the New Leaf properties to see what is actually out there.  This work is vital for the TLC to develop management plans for all of the new properties.

We will keep you posted with what they find !

Recently, a couple of photographers were out shooting images for articles coming up in a number of national magazines. Before heading home after spending a night at Kenneth Lagoon on Skullbone Plains, they took a short walk after spotting a lone scoparia in flower. Within minutes they walked over a rise to discover an entire valley in flower.

Who knows what else is out there....

[Caption:"Photographer Paul Roberts photographing the latest discovery at Skullbone Plains."]

On Friday afternoon the Vale of Belvior exhibition was launched at the Wilderness Gallery Cradle Mountain.

Launching the exhibition, founding curator of the gallery, Pat Sabine, congratulated Tracy Thomas, the gallery's current curator, on her continued high standards and the work of the Nature Photographers of Tasmania.

Pat also noted that a number of the photographers represented in the Vale show where among some of the first to exhibit with the gallery when it opened and how great it was to see the evolution of their work.

The Vale show occupies two of the ten rooms in the gallery, with one room showcasing traditional landscape images and the second more artistic approaches.

The show will hang throughout summer. The other eight rooms in the gallery also have some amazing images in them, so if you are near cradle make sure you drop in for a look.

For further information visit The Wilderness Gallery website.

[Caption:"Pat Sabine launches the exhibition"]

Grant Dixon's image of the Vale of Belvior has been included in Australia Geographic's 25 years of photography !

Grant's image, that he took during the Nature Photographers Tasmania trip to the Vale of Belvoir last year, was the opening image in the article about the project and has been chosen as one of AG's most acclaimed images.

Fantastic work Grant !

“For 25 years, Australian Geographic photographers have revealed the rich diversity of a nation.  This anthology brings together over 160 of the journals most acclaimed images”

You can buy a copy here.

Last night a huge crowd of TLC supporters turned out to celebrate the New Leaf Project and the successful completion of the Vale of Belvoir Campaign.

An added bonus was a preview of the Vale of Belvoir photography exhibition to be held over summer at The Wilderness Gallery Cradle Mountain.

The night was a fantastic success with almost half the images on the wall being sold and a great atmosphere in the room with the excitement of the beginning of another great TLC adventure with the New Leaf Project.

With incredible support and generosity of the crew at the Goulburn Street Gallery, food and wine from Pigeon Hole Cafe and Coolwines, the fabulous girls in the TLC fundraising team put on yet another great event.

Below is an image from the press conference announcing the New Leaf Project.

The New Leaf Project is the largest single philanthropic investment for private land conservation in Australia's history.

The purchase and conservation of almost 28,000 hectares of Tasmanian native forest, on 98 titles, costing over A$23 million is 1% of Tasmania's private freehold land.

The project has received a great deal of media coverage with articles in The Australian, The Mercury, Tasmanian Times and on the television news in Tasmania, Victoria and Sydney.

If you have seen any other articles we would love to here about them.

Mt Charles reserve has been purchased by Chris Rathbone, a former Parks Ranger and conservation management professional who is now semi-retired.

Chris is passionate about protecting and rehabilitating bushland areas and sees his purchase of Mt Charles as a great lifestyle opportunity that allows him to continue the work he is passionate about into his retirement.

“It’s the ideal outcome for me and I’m looking forward to a long and productive working relationship with the TLC.”

The TLC has many other fantastic properties for sale here.

The TLC has two great new bush properties for sale only minutes from Launceston !

‘Mt Arthur’ Whites Mill Road Underwood

220 ha of mountain forests on the slopes of Mt Arthur within commuting distance of Launceston.  Creeks that flow year round.  A choice of homesites with good views or tranquil surrounding forest.An extensive area of endangered Tall White Gum forest with habitat for endangered crayfish.  On edge of north-east wine region.

‘Prossers Forest’ Prossers Road Nunamara

A diverse eucalypt forest covering 263 ha with several creeks.  An endangered  Black Gum forest and potential habitat for a range of threatened plants. Twenty kilometres east of Launceston and within commuting distance.  Good internal access roads and secluded potential house sites.

For more information call or email  Rod Pearse 0429179100 [email protected].

The TLC has two great new bush properties for sale only minutes from Launceston !

‘Mt Arthur’ Whites Mill Road Underwood

220 ha of mountain forests on the slopes of Mt Arthur within commuting distance of Launceston.  Creeks that flow year round.  A choice of homesites with good views or tranquil surrounding forest.

An extensive area of endangered Tall White Gum forest with habitat for endangered crayfish.  On edge of north-east wine region.

‘Prossers Forest’ Prossers Road Nunamara

A diverse eucalypt forest covering 263 ha with several creeks.  An endangered  Black Gum forest and potential habitat for a range of threatened plants. Twenty kilometres east of Launceston and within commuting distance.  Good internal access roads and secluded potential house sites.

For more information call or email

Rod Pearse 0429179100 [email protected].

Last friday saw the launch of the new audio tour of Chauncy Vale Wildlife Sanctuary.The Chauncy Vale Wildlife Sanctuary was set up by Nan and Anton Chauncy in 1946 and adjoins the TLC's Flat Rock Reserve.

"Tracks and History of Chauncy Vale Wildlife Sanctuary"

This self guided audio-tour has been developed as a free download for ipods or mp3 players and is available from the TLC web site. Here

The great thing about the audio tour is that it is narrated by Heather Chauncy herself ! So it is just like having Heather along with you for your walk.

The project was funded by a Southern Midlands Council small community grant and is a wonderful way to explore the trails and history of the area.

[Caption:"Heather Chauncy guides a walk to some of the caves at Chauncy Vale during the launch of the new Chauncy Vale podcasts."]

The Tasmanian Land Conservancy has acquired a significant amount of high conservation value bush land in the recent Gunns land sale.

The newly purchased land totaling almost 500 hectares is situated between 12 and 25 km north east of Launceston and has already be divided into numerous small titles.

The Tasmanian Land Conservancy will place conservation covenants upon the blocks and offer them for sale through its revolving fund.

Nathan Males CEO the Tasmanian Land Conservancy says;

“By choosing to purchase property through the Tasmanian Land Conservancy’s Revolving Fund, you make an exciting positive contribution towards conserving Tasmania’s unique biodiversity. The TLC has selected every property primarily for its high ecological value, and each property offers an existing home or an attractive home site. The TLC uses the proceeds of sales to purchase and protect further important properties.”

If you are interested in one of these properties contact:

Rod Pearse

Tel: (03) 6331 9295

Mobile: 0429 179 100

Email: [email protected]

Last week the TLC was lucky enough to have American photographer Bill Hatcher who has shot many articles for National Geographic Magazine come down to Tasmania to document the cattle being removed from the Vale of Belvior for the winter.

Bill’s home town is at a little over 2000 meters in the mountains of south west Colorado. He has photographed for various land conservancies across America and has spent plenty of time documenting ranch life in his part of the world, hence his particular interest in the cattle at the Vale of Belvior.

Bill gave up his time and considerable skill free of charge to support the TLC and be part of the Vale of Belvior photography project. The project will mount two parallel exhibitions over summer in adjoining galleries at the Tasmanian Wilderness Gallery, Cradle Mountain. The intention is to explore the landscape of the Vale of Belvoir through a diverse range of photographic expression.

You will be hearing more about the exhibition as it comes together over the coming months.

[Caption:"Photographer Bill  Hatcher shows Kevin Charleston portraits he has taken of him and his cattle."]

[Caption:"Bill Hatcher following the farmers as they muster the cattle off the Vale of Belvior."]

The Tasmanian Land Conservancy have a current contract with Roaring 40s to negotiate and facilitate conservation agreements with third party landowners for the long-term protection of Wedge-tailed Eagle(WTE) and White-bellied Sea Eagle(WBSE) nests and nesting habitat. 

This has led to TLC being asked to undertake a new and exciting project searching for new Eagle nests.

Bill Brown, an expert in Tasmanian raptors has been conducting arial surveying and to date has found four new nests a truly significant result ! .

Last week the TLC had some visitors from The Nature Conservancy in the U.S.  - one of the world's largest conservation organisations. They have protected more than 119 million acres of land and 5,000 miles of rivers worldwide !

It was a fantastic opportunity to do some capacity building within our organisation and also to show what the TLC had achieved in our neck of the woods, so to speak.

Late one afternoon we rowed over to Egg Island to see one of TLC’s reserves which, among other things, is important habitat for the globally endangered Australasian bittern.

It was one of those a magic Autumn evenings that made it very easy to see why Egg Island is such a special place.

If you would like the opportunity to visit Egg Island to help with weed control please contact us to secure your seat in a boat!

[Caption:"Jane Hutchinson from the TLC rows out to Egg Island with Rod Vogel from The Nature Conservancy."]

A couple of weeks ago I dropped in to the Vale of Belvoir to see what some of our amazing volunteers were up to. Reserve managed Denna Kingdon was holding a fence building weekend. Denna had arranged a fencing contractor to teach and organise the volunteers into a crack team. The results were fantastic with many new fences and gates now in that will help keep the cattle on the property away from the soft river edges and the herb fields that live there.

If you would like the chance to visit one of our reserves and help a little along the way

contact us and we will let you know what is coming up next.

[Caption:"Reserve Manager, Denna Kingdom fence building at the Vale of Belvoir"]

[Caption:"New fencing stretching into the distance"]

The latest issue of Australian Geographic is out with a fantastic article on the Vale of Belvoir. The article is the result of a collaboration between Nature Photographers Tasmania and the TLC and features ten pages of stunning images from some of Tasmania’s finest photographers.

Another great read that has just hit the shelves is a book by one of the TLC’s brilliant staff members, Dr. Sally Bryant. Sally is a wildlife ecologist and the coordinator of the Threatened Woodland Bird Project in conjunction with Birds Australia, Trust for Nature (Vic) and NSW Nature Conservation Trust.

Animals of Tasmania - Wildlife of an incredible Island is a beautifully written book with superb images by illustrator Tim Squires. The book describes a host of Tasmanian species, including the iconic Tasmanian Devil, the mysterious Thylacine, the magnificent Wedge-tailed Eagle and the endangered Orange-bellied Parrot.These animals and many more have their own stories of survival, tragedy and hope in one of the world's last remaining wild islands. This appealing and accessible book is sure to be welcomed by all who love art, natural history and the very beautiful animals of Tasmania.

Over the past year the TLC has been working in partnership with renewable energy developer Roaring 40’s on an eagle habitat protection programme. The idea of the programme is to protect the primary nesting sites of wedge-tailed (Aquila audax fleaye) and white bellied sea eagles (Haliaeetus leucogaster).

It's a simple idea that so far has established ten new reserves totaling 320 hectares. It has also kept one of our great staff members, Leigh Walters, busy running around the State finding, and checking as many already known active nest sites as he can.

[Caption:"Wedge-tailed Eagle nest in the Tasmanian midlands."]

[Caption:"TLC staff member Leigh Walters finds a wallaby claw in a wedge-tailed eagle pellet below a nest site in the Tasmanian midlands. "]

The TLC’s permanent reserve at the Vale of Belvoir will be featured in the next issue of Australian Geographic magazine. In an innovative project, a team of photographers from Nature Photographers Tasmania spent a week at the Vale late last year getting to know the area and producing some truly stunning images.

Nature Photographers Tasmania (NPT) is a professional organization whose aim is to facilitate and promote the use of photography for the protection of nature in Tasmania, and elsewhere. The TLC values enormously the pro bono contribution by the photographers and we cant wait to see the spread when it comes out early next month.

[Caption:"NPT photographer Grant Dixon sizes up an old Myrtle at the Vale of Belvoir."]

[Caption:"NPT photographer Paul Hoelen looking for his next image amongst the myrtles at the Vale of Belvoir."]

The Tasmanian Land Conservancy (TLC) is a non profit, non government, non political organisation that conserves, enhances and protects Tasmania's natural environment by purchasing and protecting private land in Tasmania. TLC seeks to acquire and protect the most important natural areas in Tasmania on private land. For more information visit our website

Welcome to the new Tasmanian Land Conservancy (TLC) Blog. There is so much happening at the TLC that we have decided to create this blog to keep all of our supporters, and anyone else who is interested,  up to date with all that is going on at TLC HQ and on our many reserves around the state.

My name is Matt Newton. I am a photographer who has been documenting the TLC's works for a number of years now and have recently come on board to drive this blog and take you on a tour of the TLC. I'm planning to stop along the way to give you a look at what has been going on at our new reserves, meet some of our amazing staff and volunteers, generally let you know what everyone has been up to and what we are planing for the future - just in case you might like to jump onboard for some of the ride.