Saving Shy Susan Project

The Saving Shy Susan project will implement, monitor and adapt on-ground strategic actions to conserve Shy Susan (Tetratheca gunnii).

Building on the outcomes achieved through previous Australian Government investment, the project will work with specialist botanists, public land managers, and the local Beaconsfield community to strengthen protection measures for known wild sub-populations of the species, promote the health of vegetation communities at known wild sub-population sites, and trial and monitor interventions considered most likely to improve the species conservation trajectory. The existing insurance population of the species held at the Royal Tasmanian Botanic Gardens will also be supplemented.

Shy Susan is a native focal species of the serpentine soils in the Dazzler Range near Beaconsfield and often co-occurs with other threatened endemic understorey species such as pretty heath (Epacris virgata) and creeping dustymiller (Spyridium obcordatum). Shy Susan was listed as extinct until its rediscovery in 1986 and is now listed as critically endangered under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. While serpentine outcrops occupy 530 ha in the Beaconsfield area, the known sub-populations of Shy Susan only occupy approximately 0.6 ha in total.

Shy Susan is threatened by seed-bank removal, inappropriate fire regimes (both too frequent and too infrequent), browsing by native wildlife (particularly after fire), habitat disturbance and the introduction of weeds and disease (e.g. root rot fungus Phytophthora cinnamoni) from illegal firewood harvesting, off-road vehicle use and mineral exploration.

NRM North coordinate and lead the project's implementation with the assistance of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania (including the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service), the Royal Tasmanian Botanic Gardens, and Threatened Plants Tasmania. NRM North will be guided by the project technical reference group comprising botanical and ecological experts, and key stakeholders to:

• develop a monitoring plan and adaptive management plan specific to Shy Susan to strengthen protection measures for known sub-populations of the species and promote the health of vegetation communities at known sites;
• supplement the existing insurance population of the species held at the Royal Tasmanian Botanic Gardens;
• undertake annual population monitoring of Shy Susan at each sub-population site to improve knowledge about the species and guide management interventions; and
• trial and monitor interventions to address known threats and which are considered most likely to improve the species' conservation trajectory.