Tasmania’s environment

Tasmania is physically part of the East Australia Highlands but is separated from the mainland by the shallow 240km wide Bass Strait.

image of tree in an open space

open forested spaces

The area of Tasmania, including offshore islands is 68, 331 square kilometres, just slightly smaller than Ireland.

Tasmania is a very mountainous island, with continuous lowland plains limited in occurrence and extent. Mt Ossa is the highest peak at 1 617 metres, but another 27 mountains exceed 1 220 m and a substantial part of the Central Plateau is above 900 m. Tasmania is dissected by a network of rivers, the longest being the South Esk (201 km). There are over 4 000 lakes and tarns in the Central Plateau, the largest of these are either man made or enlarged through damming.Because of its latitude and the fact that there is no point of the island further than 115 km from the sea, Tasmania’s climate is classed as temperate maritime.

Tasmania maintains a significant proportion of its pre-European vegetation. Its rugged topography, rainfall distribution and low fertility of many of its soils have restricted European settlement and its subsequent impact on significant areas of the State

Tasmania has an incredibly diverse ecology controlled by its geographical position on the edge of the “roaring 40’s” winds, its complex geology and highly dissected landscape. Its isolation from the Australian mainland has protected many mammal species which have become extinct inthe rest of Australia. Cool Temperate rainforest species such as Huon Pine, once widespread across Australia, now only survive inthe wettest valleys of western Tasmania. Fire, both natural and human induced has created dramatic vegetation boundaries in many parts of the State