WHAT'S AT RISK FROM TASNETWORKS NEW OVERHEAD TRANSMISSION LINE?

In brief - our wild forests and every critter who lives in them.  Loongana Valley is full of diverse forest habitats, interconnected refuges for Tasmania's most threatened species, all of which are in rapid decline. 
Bulldozing a giant transmission line through Loongana is the cheapest option for TasNetworks, but the most destructive and costly to our environment and community.

OVER 20 THREATENED SPECIES DIRECTLY IMPACTED!


Wedge-tail Eagle
Grey Goshawk
Masked owl
Sea Eagle
Swift Parrot

Tasmanian Devil
Spotted Tailed Quoll
Eastern Quoll
Eastern Barred Bandicoot
Long-nosed Potoroo

Giant Freshwater Crayfish
Ptunarra Butterfly
Loongana Karst & Caves
Endemic Cave Fauna
Platypus
Bats

E. viminalis Wet Forest
Lowland Native Grassland
Forth River Peppermint
Hoary Sunray
Crowded Leek Orchid
Native Wintercress

EASEMENTS
60km of 60-90m wide easements : 124 towers : 50x50m cleared for each tower platform : 25km of new access tracks

TasNetworks propose bulldozing 60-90m wide strips through forests, plus new access tracks to get to them.  These will cut forested wildlife corridors, damage and destroy existing waterways, flood caves with sediment and road run-off, and pollute community water supplies.
Building new transmission for renewables is not action on climate if it destroys biodiversity.

Edge effect:

The edges of the easements will expose previously sheltered forest, and the impacts of drying, and wind destruction, will see impacts caused deep into the forests on either side.  This will change habitats, and soil biota, damage crucial hollow-bearing trees and reduce nesting habitat. 


TOWERS

The towers will be enormous - 50-60m high, possibly higher, and on a scale never used in Tasmania before.  The towers and lines together will be a dangerous physical barrier which will deter, harm and kill endangered wedge-tailed eagles, goshawks, masked owls, bats and pollinator insects.

Loongana holds prime habitat for 3 eagle pairs with 4 active eagle nests beside TasNetworks so-called 'unavoidable pinch-point' over the Leven River.
One nest is only 150m from the line!


FIRE

Loongana has a single narrow winding access road through forest.  The increased fire risks from overhead lines will not only impact wildlife, it will risk the lives of community and fire fighters. 


CONSTRUCTION

Construction noise and heavy vehicle traffic will drive out threatened species.  Road-kill will increase.  Species sensitive to noise and movement will be forced to leave their territories and try to find alternative denning habitats.  Disrupting short breeding windows will significantly impact already declining numbers.  Once the construction is done, the impacts don't stop - they're ongoing, and effect water, land, air and the forests in multiple ways.

Each impact will amplify the others, and accumulate to push species and habitats past their tipping points.


THE LOONGANA KARST

70+ CAVES  : 12 FEATURES   : 8 LANDMARKS   :  4 MOUND SPRINGS  : 1 SPRING  : 1 WARM SPRING
The Loongana Karst and cave systems are special - and incredibly vulnerable to polluted run-off from roads and industrial sites and to vegetation clearance and any change to hydrology upstream.  The Loongana Karst is a labyrinth of over 70 known caves, the extent of the karst is still unknown with new features still being discovered.
TasNetworks damage to the Loongana Karst will cause sudden cumulative impacts which will affect the entire Leven River catchment.

Cave Fauna:
RARE AND THREATENED SPECIES  :  SPECIES ONLY FOUND IN LOONGANA  :  UNDESCRIBED SPECIES  :   NEW SPECIES
Loongana is an area of high rainfall which filters through the karst and cave system supporting myriads of creatures.  TasNetworks access roads, cleared tower sites and easements will divert water, and pollute it with sediment run-off, causing sudden and devastating impacts both to the Karst and downstream.  Karst is a fragile system  which plays an important role in water movement and is highly sensitive to land management changes even kilometres from the karst area. Karst ecological communities can only be maintained through stable environments and unpolluted streams with natural nutrient input.  
Mostyn Hardy Cave is a protected tourist cave and a site of ongoing scientific significance, with new species recently discovered.

THE BIODIVERSITY OF THE ENTIRE LOONGANA VALLEY

Many forest types and dozens of threatened species are at stake.  And it's not just one impact, but many, all ongoing, and each amplifying the effects of the others.  TasNetworks committed to the route based on 'desktop surveys'.  Environment was said to be a constraint on other routes, but not Loongana Valley, on that basis. 
Biodiversity and climate are two sides of the same coin. 
You cannot destroy one in the name of the other.

COMMUNITY AND THE LOCAL ECONOMY

Loongana is already suffering badly from the threats we face, and the uncertainty and lack of information from TasNetworks.  They've chosen to try to claim only those with towers or lines on their property are 'directly affected' and refuse to acknowledge the impacts on the rest.  This divisive tactic hasn't worked, and their one-way 'information sessions', refusal to provide requested information, and choreographed 'community engagement' have only made us cynical, frustrated and deeply upset at what is to come.  Our small tourism businesses in this region have for over 30 years welcomed visitors from all around the world seeking an authentic 'Brand Tasmania' wilderness experience up close and personal.  When the wildlife goes and the valley is an industrialised wasteland, so will the tourists go. 
Meanwhile community remain distressed by the threats and impacts we face, during construction and after. 
TasNetworks continue to refuse to acknowledge our issues.

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THE LOONGANA VALLEY
ENVIRONMENT

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