Remote NRM

Two wild projects happen every year on lutruwita/Tasmania’s remote south-west coast. Both projects are remarkable for the complicated logistics and commitment required, and noteworthy because of the difference they are making to the environment in one of the most inaccessible parts of our region.

SPRATS (Sea sPurge Remote Area TeamS) is a group of Wildcare volunteers that have been working with PWS for the last 15 years. Their aim has been to remove Sea Spurge, Marram Grass and Blackberry from the coastline of the Tasmanian Wilderness Word Heritage Area (TWWHA) and adjacent areas of the west coast.

Since 2007, with an input of $325 000 of state and federal funds, SPRATS have contributed $2.19 m worth of volunteer labour, walking and kayaking along around 425 km of remote coastline and mapping strategic sections between Macquarie Harbour and Cockle Creek.

In the last year, volunteers removed an incredible 53 772 Sea Spurge plants, which highlights both the scale of the problem, and the impressive power of volunteer action. To find out more about SPRATS and get involved visit: www.wildcaretas.org.au/branches/wildcaresprats/

Broken plastic pieces collected from remote coastline of south-west Tasmania. (Image: Ula Majewski)

In other news involving HUGE numbers, Team Clean is another volunteer group focused on the remote south-west World Heritage Area coastline of Tasmania, partly within the Cradle Coast NRM region, and partly in NRM South’s domain. During their recent South West Marine Debris Cleanup, they collected, counted and classified 95,006 pieces of marine debris.

This is the second-highest number of plastic pieces collected in the project's 21 year history.

To find out more visit: www.whamarinedebris.blogspot.com/ and Team Clean on Facebook, www.facebook.com/teamcleantas