Summary of Lavinia Nature Reserve Draft Management Plan 2000
The full version of the Lavinia Nature Reserve Draft Management Plan can be downloaded as a PDF File (1,476 Kb)
Summary
Lavinia Nature Reserve on the north- eastern coast of King Island in Bass Strait, protects a highly significant and diverse ecosystem, spectacular coastal and bush landscapes, a rich cultural heritage and a significant lagoon and wetland system.
The reserve is covered by a variety of sandy coastal deposits. It contains the longest system of beach ridges and parallel dunes in the state which formed at two different periods, the Pleistocene and the Holocene, about 120 000 years apart. The Nook Swamps are imponded between the 'new' and 'old' shorelines.
The reserve is listed under the Ramsar Convention as a Wetland of International Importance. Lavinia Nature Reserve is important for nature conservation due to its variety of landscapes, vegetation communities and fauna. It contains critical feeding and roosting habitat for t he nationally endangered orange-bellied parrot and plant species listed in the schedule to The Threatened Species Protection Act 1995, species including the sticky daisy bush Olearia glutinosa, purple cudweed Gamochaeta purpurea and tiny caladenia Caladenia pusilla. The reserve also protects the rare southern hairy red snail Austrochloritis victoriae which is known to occur in Tasmania only on the north-eastern coast of King Island amongst fallen logs and feeding on rotting wood and leaf litter.
Within the reserve, there are significant Aboriginal sites, particularly around the lagoon system and the coastal beaches.
Lavinia Nature Reserve will be managed to protect its outstanding natural and cultural values, and provide for a limited range of recreational opportunities. To these ends, the management plan:
- zones the reserve to take account of different features and values and to direct and manage visitor activities and impacts;
- allows beach vehicle access to Lavinia Beach between Lavinia Point and north to t he reserve boundary during the months of October - March inclusive to protect nesting shorebird habitat along Nine Mile Beach;
- identifies key locations for the provision of visitor facilities and services at Lavinia Visitor Services Zone and Sea Elephant River Visitor Services Site;
- proposes investigation of options for a high quality-walking track in the Sea Elephant River Visitor Services Site;.and
- identifies a Special Management Area adjacent to the Sea Elephant River between March and July annually to protect the feeding and roosting habitat of the orange-bellied parrot.