Defence

Meet the Green Team from Tassie

By Susan Elekessy

What do you get when you put some security guards at Tasmania’s beautiful Fort Direction and tell them to ‘look after the environmental stuff too’? Believe it or not, the award-winning team not only improved the local habitat for endangered and significant bird species (which subsequently led to an increase in their numbers), but also protected State and nationally listed rare flora species, and even discovered a rare and threatened orchid species—all this while maintaining security of the facility!

Keith Edney, on behalf of the Fort Direction guards, is presented with the inaugural Environment and Heritage Award by the Secretary of Defence, Ric Smith, and the then Chief of the Defence Force, General Peter Cosgrove.

The team of contracted security guards at Fort Direction consists of Keith Edney, Peter Norris, Vic Parkinson, Brian Revell, Ian Harvey, Michael Cusick, Barry Cohen, Paul Harvey, John Goodman, Glenn Lee, Ken Johnson, Wayne Davis and Chris Alexander. They have patrolled Fort Direction’s Explosive Ordnance Storage Area since 1998, and their ‘above and beyond the call of duty’ attitude and volunteer efforts as caretakers of the site illustrate some of the quality teamwork being done by the Defence Support Group (DSG) in Tasmania. Under the guidance of the Senior Environmental Adviser, Alistair Clark, who confessed to ‘lending them some books on orchids once … they seemed pretty interested …’, the team have promoted Defence’s reputation in environmental management in the community. This is also a great example of the successful partnerships DSG builds with our contractors, and how DSG guides and supports the work of these service providers.

The Large Gnat Orchid discovered at Fort Direction (Crytostylis Robusta)—rare in Tasmania. The whole plant is only as big as your thumb nail!

Tasmania’s Fort Direction training area is home to numerous reptiles, seabirds, marine mammals and some 120 000 mutton birds migrating to their rookeries each year. It is also home to feral cats, ferrets and weeds, such as the blackberry and African boxthorn. During their brief term at the site, the security-guards-turned-caretakers have significantly encouraged the return of the little penguin and traditional indigenous birding practices, and the protection of rare, endangered and significant flora and fauna through a comprehensive fire, feral animal and weed control program.

It was the 1998 destruction of mutton birds, bandicoots, little penguins and ringtail possums by plague proportions of feral cats that initially mobilised the security officers into action. They implemented an identification and trapping plan, which is still operational today and is also used to detect and eradicate feral ferrets.

The team’s success with the feral cat program spurred them on to a range of other initiatives, and in just seven years the group has moved from being novices to masters in environment and heritage management.

The result of the reduction of feral animals was that a safe haven for little penguins to nest was re-established, leading to their return to Fort Direction rookeries in 2004. Recent surveys suggest that only 70 pairs of little penguins nest in the Derwent Estuary. The site has over 10 per cent of these nest sites, but could become the biggest due to the area’s size and low human profile. The team is now conducting a public education campaign to control the number of unleashed dogs in the area in order to ensure that the little penguins are safe at the site now and into the future.

Swan Greenhood (Pterostylis Cycnocephala)

The team also worked with the local indigenous groups to reinstate traditional mutton birding practices. This cooperation not only benefits the local community, but reduces mutton bird numbers to prevent overbreeding and occupational health and safety issues raised by the rabbit warren– style rookeries for members training on the site.

Focus was then placed on getting rid of the tough weeds such as boxthorns, bone seed and radiata pine on the site and reestablishing native flora.

This led to another unexpected benefit. Once the site was cleared of weeds, the team discovered a very rare orchid species previously unseen in the region, the Swan Greenhood (Pterostylus Cynocephala). The team has also since discovered the Large Gnat Orchid (Cyrtostylis Robusta) on their patch, which is listed as rare for Tasmania.

Not only were the team’s actions of benefit to the environment through their commitment and hard work, but they have ensured that the training area is in the best possible shape to accommodate Defence capability needs. The team has also enhanced our international reputation through habitat improvements for endangered and significant species under the Japanese and Chinese migratory bird agreements.

Defence’s national reputation is strengthened by the protection of flora and fauna from feral animals and weeds, and a partnership developed with the indigenous community through the mutton bird harvesting program. And if all of that is not enough, the local community benefits from the team’s provision of credible and accurate daily rainfall reports to the Bureau of Meteorology!

The team won a Chief of the Defence Force and Secretary’s Environment and Heritage Award in 2005 for their efforts, and their success at Fort Direction highlights what can be achieved through leadership, drive, vision and a flexible yet rigorous approach to environmental management while protecting Defence capability.

Let’s hope Alistair keeps lending them his books!

Susan Elekessy works for the Defence Heritage and Environmental Communications section of the Environment, Risk and Heritage Branch, Defence Support Group.

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