Extract from ABC News
The Tarkine includes a huge expanse of cool temperate rainforest. (ABC iview: Back Roads)
Marta Dusseldorp closes her eyes as she soaks up the tranquil stillness of an ancient forest.
She is surrounded by towering, centuries-old trees and vivid green tree ferns. Beams of sunlight break through the canopy and create patterns of light on the forest floor.
"Spectacular!" she says.
"Imagine the thrill of walking through forests which have stood for 65 million years."
The Australian actress is visiting Tasmania's Tarkine in the state's north-west for the latest season of ABC iview's Back Roads.
Marta Dusseldorp has been exploring the stunning landscapes of Tasmania's north-west. (ABC iview: Back Roads)
Covering nearly half a million hectares, the area is home to Australia's largest tract of cool-temperature rainforest.
It also boasts rugged coastlines, wild rivers, and large plains of grassland and forested mountains, all abundant with diverse plant and animal species.
But the Tarkine is also resource-rich, making it a political flashpoint for forestry, mining and environmentalists.
Marta is here to find out how the locals see its future and understand why the region stirs up such passion.
Ancient forests: The heart of the Tarkine
During a tour of Trowutta Arch State Reserve with rainforest guide Rob Saltmarsh, Marta discovers that the Tarkine's spectacular wilderness is a haven for people wanting to connect with an unspoiled natural environment, like its "magnificent" Gondwana rainforest.
Inside this ancient rainforest are plant species that have thrived for millions of years, from the time Australia was connected to the Gondwana supercontinent.
"I think it's one of the big attractions for people to come into Tasmania and come to what's left of our beautiful wildernesses ," Rob says.
"[It] dates back to 500 million years ago, and this is what that giant Gondwana continent looked like — it was covered in this cool-temperate rainforest."
Here, Rob points out a towering myrtle beech tree that reaches approximately 40 metres above the forest floor.
"This would be arguably the oldest tree in the forest — every bit of 500 years old," he says.
It's estimated that this myrtle beech tree has been living since the 1500s. (ABC iview: Back Roads)
This multi-centenarian giant is part of an old-growth forest of myrtle beech, sassafras, and leatherwood trees that form a dense rainforest canopy.
Below these enormous trees, fern fronds gently rustle, and mosses and fungi flourish along an ethereal walk to the Trowutta Arch.
Formed by a collapsed cave, the limestone rock feature stands above three sinkholes, two of which are filled with water and striking green algae.
Dappled light and leafy tree ferns line the arch and sinkholes, creating an other-worldly atmosphere.
"It's just one of those magic places that you come to," Rob says.
"It's nature at its very best. "
The Trowutta Arch rock feature is one of the Tarkine's many natural wonders. (ABC iview: Back Roads)
Logging risk to Tarkine forests
Just a 10-minute drive from Trowutta Arch, a large tract of the Tarkine's old-growth eucalyptus forest has been clear-felled.
Approximately 20 hectares of towering eucalypts have been cut down by Sustainable Timbers Tasmania, with tree stumps and logging debris in their place.
The logging of old growth forests in parts of the Tarkine remains a contentious issue. (ABC iview: Back Roads)
The Tasmanian economy benefits vastly from forestry and the state government has strict rules in place to ensure that logging is done sustainably.
The question of how to balance the conservation of the Tarkine with Tasmania's economic interests makes it a hot-button political topic.
But as other Australian states are winding back the deforestation of native trees, Tasmania is still logging wild areas, including a small section of the Tarkine.
The state's Minister for Business, Industry and Resources Eric Abetz says industries have co-existed in the Tarkine for generations through a multiple land-use management model.
He says changing this model would impact "thousands of Tasmanian families".
"Approximately 75 per cent of the Tarkine is already in held in formal reserves with another 19 per cent in informal reserves," he says.
"The region is critically important to the mining and forestry sectors, which support over 8,000 jobs in north-west Tasmania and contribute billions of dollars to the economy."
However, there are calls for the whole of the Tarkine to be given World Heritage and National Park protection.
Rob is an advocate for Tasmania cutting back logging operations in the Tarkine to protect its old-growth forests.
"If we keep woodchipping them and clear-felling them we're just not going to have any left," he says.
Instead, Rob sees a future in harnessing the area's natural beauty for growing tourism and tourism-related employment opportunities.
"I'd like to see more walks in the area for people to utilise," he says.
From his experience as a tourist operator, Rob says people who visit the Tarkine want to see the area's untouched beauty.
"They're not coming here to see the regeneration forests," he says.
"They're coming here to walk through these ancient old-growth forests and we need to preserve more of them."
It is still legal for native forests in Tasmania to be logged. (ABC iview: Back Roads)
An ancient cultural landscape
On the western edge of the Tarkine, buffeted by the ferocious winds of the Roaring Forties, Marta absorbs a breathtaking view of the Southern Ocean from the top of preminghana, formerly known as Mount Cameron.
Preminghana is part of a 524-hectare Indigenous Protected Area and it's where Marta meets Brendan Lowery.
He is one of the rangers who manages the site, which he says is an ancient and powerful place.
Preminghana rises above the ocean of Tasmania's wild west coastline. (ABC iview: Back Roads)
"It's where our people can come and have that connection with the country and gather resources," Brendan says.
"It's just a safe place for the Aboriginal community to connect with their culture."
For approximately 40,000 years, the Tarkine has been the ancestral home to the tarkiner people, whose tribal country extends from the Pieman River mouth to the Arthur River.
The area remains a place of deep cultural significance, and Brendan believes its future sustainability requires "balance".
"So no more logging and the farmers around the Tarkine [need] to stop clearing the bush," he says.
"I'd like to see the Tarkine have a covenant placed on it and then I'd like to see it returned to the Aboriginal community.
"It's not about money … it's about connection to country among all of our people."
Brendan says preminghana is rich in Indigenous heritage. (ABC iview: Back Roads)
The Tarkine is dense with Indigenous heritage and cultural living sites like middens, stone tools, petroglyphs and hut depressions that are dotted along the coastline of North West Tasmania.
The Circular Head Aboriginal Corporation (CHAC) welcomes tourism growth in the region to "protect, preserve and celebrate" the histories and cultures of the 12 tribes of the North West, including the tarkiner people.
CHAC spokesperson Rochelle Godwin says that by growing the Tarkine's tourism industry, more visitors could experience and understand the wilderness and culture that have nurtured Indigenous people for thousands of years.
"You see tourism booming in the Northern Territory and in Queensland for Aboriginal culture, and what we have down here is incredible, too," she says.
"We have cultural sites in the North West that people don't even know about that people just walk past.
"Let's tell them what it is so they can actually go and appreciate it and protect it as well."
Petroglyphs — ancient rock carvings — in the Tarkine are considered "older than time" by the Aboriginal community. (ABC News: Manika Dadson)
Pristine rivers Tarkine's lifeblood
For the tarkiner people and the other tribes of the North West, the thriving waterways of the Tarkine have held deep cultural significance for thousands of years.
Brendan and Marta stand amid preminghana's flourishing wetland, which is teeming with life.
Black cockatoos screech mournfully as they fly overhead and a chorus of croaking marsh frogs echoes across lush grasses and pools of shallow water.
As a caretaker of preminghana, Brendan explains to Marta how the waterways of the Tarkine are interconnected and that its wetlands and rivers are dependent on the health of the region's forests, grasslands and heathlands.
The flourishing wetlands of preminghana are vital in maintaining the health of the Tarkine. (ABC iview: Back Roads)
"These wetlands go all the way along the coastline and are like the veins of the Tarkine. The Tarkine's the heart," he says.
Brendan says if the Tarkine's "heart" stops working, "the veins stop running".
"A majority of the creeks and streams in Tasmania run from the Tarkine, so it's really important that we protect it," he says.
One of the best ways to absorb the splendour of the Tarkine is by travelling down the pristine Pieman River, which carves its way through the region's ancient forests.
Aboard the Arcadia, the oldest Huon Pine tourist boat operating in Tasmania, its skipper, Matthew Morgan, tells Marta he wants to see the preservation of the Tarkine's wilderness.
Tourists can enjoy a cruise along the Pieman River, which cuts through the Tarkine's pristine rainforest. (ABC iview: Back Roads)
"It needs to be protected for all time, forever, so that our grandchildren, [and] their grandchildren, get to share this unique experience," he says.
One boat passenger, who did not provide her name, agrees and says the Tarkine's rainforests are a rarity.
"I've been around the world, and I don’t think we realise how lucky we are to have this … rainforest at our fingertips and it's worth looking at and preserving," she says.
"It's one of the most beautiful, amazing places on Earth. "
Stream the Back Roads Tarkine episode anytime on ABC iview or watch the latest episode on ABC TV Tuesday at 8:00pm.
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