Morrisby’s Gum Recovery Project

Morrisby’s gum (Eucalyptus morrisbyi) is an endemic Tasmanian eucalypt species at risk of extinction. Morrisby’s gum is listed as critically endangered on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List, is amongst the 30 priority plant species listed in Australia’s Threatened Species Strategy and one of the 50 most imperilled plants in Australia.

Morrisby’s gum is found at two locations in Tasmania’s southeast where only a few remnants persist in the wild. These wild stands have suffered significant declines in recent years, going from around 2,000 mature trees to fewer than 50 surviving today. This population decline is being driven by factors such as climate change that is bringing increasingly dry conditions to the region and heavy wildlife browsing. Enviro-dynamics is working with NRM South on a recovery project that aims to downlist this species over the next 20 years.

This recovery project is implementing actions including:

• Protecting adult and juvenile plants from browsers

• Community plantings within the species known range to improve connectivity between wild stands

• Assisted migration through conservation plantings in the future climate range

• Seed conservation

These actions aim to downlist Morrisby’s gum from critically endangered to endangered, as defined by the IUCN red list criteria, by 2038.

The recovery project is delivered in partnership with NRM South through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program. Other delivery partners include the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service, the University of Tasmania, the Tasmanian Seed Conservation Centre, the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, DPIPWE’s Threatened Species Section, the Understorey Network, Clarence City Council, Department of State Growth and pakana Services.