Conservation and Heritage
The Great Western Tiers is the north eastern face of the Central Plateau of Tasmania. This is the most northern edge of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. The valley of Jackeys Marsh is a mountain valley with the Great Western Tiers escarpment to the south and Quamby Bluff to the north. It is easily accessible from Launceston, Devonport and Deloraine.
The slopes of the valley are heavily forested while the valley floor has been used sporadically for farming for the last century. Most of the land on the valley floor is privately owned and conservation covenants cover part of it. These have been put in place by current owners to protect the vegetation and landscape values of the valley for future generations.
Landscape
The valley retains the landscape values of 19th century rural Australia. Winding roads are overhung with trees, meandering creeks support native wildlife and there are no power-lines or intensive agriculture to spoil the soft lines of the valley edge. Local residents have worked hard to maintain this landscape idyll of another century.
Vegetation
The forests of the valley have significant heritage values. Situated at the junction of the eastern drier forests of the north and east and the wetter eucalypt and rain forests of the south and west, the complexity of the vegetation communities is unique in Tasmania. As well, the valley has some of the steepest climate gradients in Australia with native grasslands on the valley floor and alpine vegetation closer to the edge of the Great Western Tiers escarpment. On a day walk up the slopes you can cross from valley floor swamps and grassland through the whole climate sequence of tall eucalypt forest, through rainforest to alpine vegetation. And you can do this on a hand built track, constructed by convicts in the 1860's.
Alpine
The Central Plateau Conservation Area, at the top of the track is part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area and is known as the land of 1000 lakes and tarns. It contains many Tasmanian endemic plant species, including the two Athrotaxis species which are related to the Californian redwoods, Athrotaxis selaginoides and Athrotaxis cupressoides.
Threatened Species
The vegetation communities in the valley of Jackeys Marsh support some important threatened species. Swift parrots feed in the spring, there is a resident population of spotted quolls, white goshawks nest within the valley and wedge-tailed eagles can regularly be seen overhead spiraling on the thermals of the escarpment. Over 75 species of Tasmanian birds have been recorded in the valley and most of the marsupial species are residents.