City of Launceston's bushland reserves update

We have just held the last working bees for 2025 in two of Launceston's bushland reserves, Cambridge Street Reserve and Carr Villa Floral Reserve. This program is the result of an ongoing partnership between the City of Launceston, Australian Plant Society Tasmania and Tamar NRM to conserve and enhance native bush reserves in urban areas.

Management of these reserves can be finnicky, due to the specific and often fine-scale interventions needed to maintain the health of ecosystems found within urban landscapes. They are subject to a range of stressors, one of which is the invasion by non-native plant species, which are extremely detrimental to Tasmanian biodiversity. We are extremely fortunate to have a passionate group of locals who regularly give their time to assist in the removal of invasive flora species, and with the help of the APST we are guided by expert knowledge and able revegetate where necessary with plant species of local provenance.

The blue pincushion (Brunonia australis) is listed as rare in Tasmania, though can be found within the Carr Villa Floral Reserve and adjacent bushland.

The achievements of these two groups over the past few are impossible of quantify, though can be characterised by endless bags of weeds removed for deep burial, native plantings carefully tended, and stronger friendships.

These are just two 'friends of' groups within an informal network across the Tamar Valley- local people who are passionate about the environment acting as stewards of remnant vegetation patches. Over the coming year we hope to formalise this network, offering both support to the existing groups and providing a single port of call for information and events.

One of the pleasures of working within the reserves are chance encounters with the true locals such as this blotched blue-tongue skink.

This is an exciting development for Tamar NRM. We hope to begin touching base with the various groups around the Tamar Valley in early 2026 to understand how best we can collaborate and offer support, while continuing to enhance and maintain our local bushland reserves.

We wish everyone a restful holiday period, so that we can attack weeds with renewed vigour in 2026!

If you are interested in volunteering or learning more, please contact Jonty Dehnert on 0462 054 458 or jonty.dehnert@tamarnrm.com.au or Alison Hugo on 0409 343 669 or alison.hugo@tamarnrm.com.au.