University of Tasmania, Australia

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Natural Environment

UTAS Home ›  › Commercial Services & Development › Sustainability  › Natural Environment

UTAS strives to continually improve existing biodiversity and enhance the conservation of the natural landscapes on its managed properties as well as to develop and establish environmental linkages with neighbouring environments.

In its unique location, UTAS has properties that border protected areas. These protected areas include the Tamar Conservation Area, the Pitt Water Nature Reserve, Hobart’s Bicentennial Park and an informal reserve on State Forestry land.

UTAS recognises the opportunity that properties bordering reserves have to extend wildlife corridors and increase the habitat available to a variety of native plant and animal species.

Threatened species

To date, threatened species have been identified on 9 UTAS properties, with an additional 10 properties having threatened species within 200 m of property boundaries. There is a total of 4 threatened fauna species, 1 flora species and 1 threatened ecological community found on the properties. There are an additional 2 species found on UTAS properties that have conservation significance; however these are not presently threatened.

View table of threatened species and communities on UTAS properties and within 200 m surrounding the properties (PDF 148.3KB).

Invasive species

Controlling invasive species threats and eradicating them where possible is always on the agenda for UTAS in the management of the natural environment. View a list of invasive weed species found on UTAS properties (PDF 112.4KB). This list includes only those weeds of state significance and weeds of national significance (WoNS). However, it should be noted that all weeds can pose a direct threat to native species through competition and UTAS actively manage common weed species as a part of grounds management.

Get involved

There are a number of things that you can do at work and at home to assist in conserving and restoring the natural environment.

  • Become involved with the on campus Environment Collective group.
  • Get in touch with Riawunna and help out with the indigenous cultural garden located on campus (Launceston).
  • Get involved with your local Landcare or environmental group such as conservation volunteers or start your own group! Your local council may also have a Bushcare or environmental group you can join.
  • Try planting native species in your garden at home to create habitats for local wildlife; native birds, mammals, reptiles and insects all need native habitat to survive.
  • The Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities regularly update a calendar of environmentally related events. Find an event that you are interested in and get some local participation happening in your area!