Tasmanian tree ferns, Gondwanic heritage worth more standing.
Tasmanian tree ferns (Dicksonia antarctica) are Gondwanic remnants from a time when dinosaurs walked the earth. Growing at just 5cm a year these giants of the rainforest are long lived and critical to the biodiversity of Tasmania's rainforests. These iconic tree ferns are cut out of the forests as part of logging operations, shipped across Australia and the globe to be sold to unwitting gardeners and landscaping businesses as garden decorations, steps, border logs and garden mulch. The largest logger of Tasmanian tree ferns is located in north east Tasmania, supplying Bunnings stores and other garden centres across Australia and internationally.
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Buying into the tree fern trade is like buying into the wildlife pet trade of animals taken from the forests when they are logged, and then sold for profit. It is not rescuing the tree ferns or rehoming them. Many tree ferns do not survive being cut out of the forests, and are cut up as rounds for paving or plant pots, or mulched and sold as compost and potting mix. The Victorian Fern Society estimates half of Tasmanian tree ferns do not survive transplanting into gardens.
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Send a clear message to Bunnings that our Gondwanic rainforest species need to be left in the rainforests. Not cut, sliced, sawn and shipped and sold at Bunnings Garden Centres.
Don't buy into Tasmanian tree ferns and forest destruction.
Tasmanian tree ferns are taken as part of the increasing logging of Tasmania's Gondwanic remnant native forests. This is overseen by the Government Business Enterprise, 'Sustainable Timbers Tasmania (STT), formerly named Forestry Tasmania, who have failed on every attempt to gain Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification due to their native forest logging practices. This enterprise is governed, authorised and regulated by the Tasmanian State Government through the Tasmanian Forest Practices Act.
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Ferns from Tasmania are tracked by a tagging system where sequentially numbered fern tags are purchased from the State run Forest Practices Authority for each tree fern taken from a logging coupe. These are affixed to the fern trunk so that right up until the point of sale the ferns, and their origins in Tasmania's Gondwanic native forests can be traced. You can be sure it is a tree fern taken from Tasmania's ancient forests.
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The logging of Dicksonia antarctica tree ferns affects the biodiversity and health of the wet rainforest systems. Tree ferns play an important role in holding soil together in cool and wet areas of forest. An important part of the Tasmanian rainforest understorey acting as a nurse tree with multiple species growing on their trunks including threatened fern such as the hanging fork fern (Tmesipteris elongata) found on the trunks of tree ferns in north east Tasmania.
