Dr Jennifer Lavers and Andrew Fidler are the owners of ᒥᔪᓯᐃᐧᐣ ᓴᑳᐤ (this means “beautiful forest” in the North American Cree language), a property situated in Underwood, north of Launceston, Tasmania.
The property is also listed with the ‘Land for Wildlife’ program and spans 110 hectares (272 acres), including a large area listed as Conservation Covenant that features Eucalyptus ovata and Eucalyptus amygdalina (together, these comprise a ‘Threatened Ecological Community’). While parts of the property were selectively logged about 40 years ago, there are a large number of much older Eucalypts that were not felled and are 50+ m tall.
At present the block is completely forested, but the owners are in the process of building an off-grid sustainable home and organic permaculture gardens. Wombat, quoll, and Tasmanian devil scats are regularly observed and the land provides vital habitat for a diversity of bird species, including yellow-tailed black cockatoos (Zanda funerea) and flame robins (Petroica phoenicea).
