The freshwater resources of the northern region are our life-blood. Industries, cities and towns, our outdoor recreation needs, and our natural environment all depend on the reliable provision of good quality water.

To help sustain the water resources of the region, the Rivers and Water for Life program supports a sustainable balance between the environmental, economic and social uses of water, while enhancing water quality.

The people of northern Tasmania play an important role in the management of our natural resources. Ultimately, the day-to-day decisions they make, contribute to the condition of the region’s natural assets.

The Community Partnerships program underpins the region’s ability and capacity to achieve the natural resource asset targets within the Regional NRM Strategy. The aim of the Community Partnerships program is to ensure northern Tasmanians are well informed, skilled and supported by effective and efficient institutional systems across the region.

Community Partnerships has three themes within it:

• Community Engagement and Capacity Building
• Integrated Planning Frameworks
• Integrated Data Management

Most people and organisations look to achieve long-term, productive outcomes from their investments, whether that be a farm, a house, or in the case of a local government, a whole community. The cornerstone of the Productive Landscapes program is to assist managers to apply various supporting tools developed for implementation at a property or sub-catchment level. The program delivers a suite of activities to ensure long-term, productive outcomes, with a focus on the balance between production and conservation values.

The northern region contains a rich heritage of native flora and fauna, with six of Tasmania’s nine bioregions occurring in the region. While native vegetation covers around 65 percent of the region, it also contains a significant proportion of the state’s threatened flora and fauna species. More than 180 threatened species are known to occur in the region and many are listed under the national Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

Northern Tasmania boasts over two thousand kilometres of stunning coastline, including resource rich estuaries, beautiful beaches and rocky shorelines, islands, dune fields, wetlands and marine habitats.  Significant estuaries and coastal wetlands link the inland environment with coastal and marine systems.  Our coastal zone and catchments support unique ecological values and threatened species. Extensive shallow waters sustain sea-grass beds and rocky reef kelp habitat promotes productive marine communities.