TASMANIAN NATURE CONSERVATION – WILDLIFE
Shortly after establishing our “rural retreat”, Base Camp Tasmania, we were registered as Wildlife Carers with the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service’s Orphaned and Injured Wildlife Program.
Since then we have invested heavily in infrastructure here at Base Camp Tasmania for the care of orphaned wildlife and to facilitate their rehabilitation and return to the bush. These animals include Pademelons (Rufus Wallabies), Bennetts Wallabies, Tasmanian Devils, Brushtail Possums, etc – all orphaned as a result of either road-kill, or shooting, or other accidental causes.
Whilst the orphaned animals in our care are unavailable for public inspection (we are not a zoo and unfamiliar human contact is extremely stressful and may even kill them), after successful rearing and release at Base Camp Tasmania, these animals generally remain close by and provide many opportunities for viewing them in their natural state.
NEW NORFOLK PROTECTED LAND
In 2013 Base Camp Tasmania was listed with the Wildlife Land Trust. The Wildlife Land Trust was launched in 2007 by the Humane Society International in an effort to preserve and protect our vital native habitats and the animals that depend on them. Working under the guiding principle of “humane stewardship”, the Wildlife Land Trust protects not only vast and impressive landscapes but also the smaller, humbler places that provide for the needs of all wildlife, rare and common species alike.
Prior to this, late in 2008 most of Base Camp Tasmania (38 of 41 hectares) had been granted a Restrictive Covenant legally binding on us and any future owners of this land.
The purpose of the Covenant is to protect the Natural Values of the land (the variety of all life-forms that are native to the land, including plants, animals and micro-organisms, the genes they contain and the eco-systems of which they are part, and the processes which maintain them).
We have agreed to refrain from activities on, or in relation to, the Land which will cause damage to, or degradation of, the Natural Values. We have also agreed to implement and be bound by a Nature Conservation Plan for Base Camp Tasmania.
If you wish to read the above documents they may be downloaded as PDF files by clicking the following links:
CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY
We believe that the predicted results of anthropogenic climate change caused by increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere pose a significant threat to our ecosystems and the environment generally – threatening both biodiversity and sustainability.
Our Commitment
We are accordingly committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions generated by our business as much as possible and have adopted a policy of actively reducing these emissions.
Greenhouse Gases
Our greatest contribution to greenhouse gases arises from our transport operations, with food packaging and power contributing to lesser amounts.
Mitigation
To mitigate the effects of our emissions, we have adopted the following practices/initiatives:
- we have installed 20 PV Solar Panels on the cabins (feeding back into the grid)
- we combine passenger groups wherever possible on all journeys to decrease the per passenger emissions arising from our transport activities
- we select the most economical vehicle to use for any transport booking based on the number of passengers
- we coordinate vehicle transfers with our drivers to reduce unnecessary vehicle use
- we have replaced all possible incandescent light globes with low emission CFLs
- we encourage our clients to minimise their use of heating and electricity generally
- we only use cold water in our front-loading washing machines and operate these on the most economical cycle
- we always use the clothes line to dry our bed-linen and hiking gear after washing, and discourage clients from using our clothes dryers
- we are obsessive about turning off all lights and appliances when not in use (including refrigerators and HWS)
- we supply multi-serve ration packs for our tour clients and reduce other packaging where possible
- we recycle all possible items and provide recycle bins for clients’ use at our cabins
- we compost all possible kitchen waste (as well as toilet waste) and provide bins in our cabins for clients’ use
- we have planted over 100 trees and shrubs to help remediate damaged areas at BCT and sequester carbon
- we only harvest a small volume of timber each year from BCT – less than allowed under our Covenanted Management Plan
- we recycle our printer cartridges and print on both sides of our office stationery
- we no longer print brochures – all our brochures are now available for download online on demand
- we buy in bulk where feasible to reduce packing waste
Results
As a result of our efforts, we have already:
- increased the ratio of passengers to journeys in our transport operations by 5%
- reduced non-recyclable rubbish going into landfill by over 80%
- reduced electricity consumption by over 72%
Other Initiatives
Other complementary initiatives we have taken which align with or support our mitigation efforts are:
- we have protected BCT with a legally binding conservation covenant (PAPL – Protected Areas on Private Land) preserving its biodiversity and environmental values forever, and as a result sequestering ever increasing amounts of carbon
- we donate $0.10 per litre of our fuel purchases to Greening Australia in support of their Biodiverse Carbon Restoration Projects in Tasmania to mitigate the effects of carbon emissions arising from our transport services.
- we are members of the following programs/organisations helping to support and conserve Tasmania’s biodiversity:
– Wildcare Tasmania
– Tasmanian Conservation Trust
– Land for Wildlife
– Tasmanian National Parks Association
– Landcare Tasmania
– Conservation Landholders Tasmania
Our Climate Change Policy is also available as a PDF which can be downloaded here
