Atlas Of Coastal Saltmarsh Wetlands In The Cradle Coast Region Of Tasmania

Coastal saltmarshes in subtropical and temperate Australia (including Tasmania) have been listed in 2013 as a vulnerable ecological community under Federal environment legislation (EPBC Act 1999). This listing acknowledges that these wetlands have suffered habitat fragmentation and loss of community integrity coupled with threats arising from human activities, invasive species, climate change and sea level rise. In Tasmania, studies show that close to a half of these important coastal ecosystems have already been lost due to the above threats. The apparent vulnerability of Tasmanian saltmarshes is further underscored by a lack of broad awareness of the important values provided by these habitats.

Saltmarsh wetlands perform important ecological functions that support a range of ecosystem services and biodiversity values in our coastal landscape, though they remain underappreciated and in many cases lack baseline mapping information. In the case of the Cradle Coast Region of Tasmania, several areas of saltmarsh wetlands had remained unmapped including in the Rubicon, Mersey, Don, Forth and Leven Rivers. Mapping these wetlands is hence an important activity and also needs to be accompanied by products aimed at both communicating the mapping results and providing tools for better understanding and engagement in conserving these habitats and their ecological functions.

This booklet provides a visual summary of the mapping undertaken as part of the Coastal Saltmarsh Wetland Asset Mapping in the Cradle Coast Region project (completed in May 2016). The information presented in this booklet is drawn from the GIS mapping layer that records the location and extent of saltmarshes and the accompanying database that contains information on a range of attributes pertaining to these mapped natural assets. Detailed information on the mapping methodology used and the data collected in available in the mapping report produced as part of this project. Both the report and GIS dataset are available through Cradle Coast NRM.