Organic Soils Presence/Absence Sites

This layer was produced by the Organic Soils Mapping (OSM) project, a project undertaken by DPIPWE Natural Values Conservation Branch between 2019 and 2021. This project received grant funding from the Australian Government through the Australian Heritage Grants Program, funding from 2017 Tasmanian Bushfire Mitigation fund and The Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area fund. This project has used existing (legacy) data from previous Tasmanian land resource assessment studies, spatial data sets, expert desktop inputs, and newly captured site data from the AHG grant project activities. This project has collated these data to produce this and a further 6 spatial layers that predict the likely distribution and characteristics of Organic Soils in Tasmania. The project was focused on the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA), with modelling applied state-wide to assist in organic soil identification elsewhere.
The Organic Soil Mapping was undertaken to specifically identify organic soil extent in the TWWHA and to increases the understanding of the organic soil landscapes and characteristics in greater Tasmania. Organic soil areas are recognised globally as ecologically significant. These landscapes support a diverse range of ecosystems. They also provide and control ecosystem services/processes and provide highly valued carbon and water storage functions. These project outputs aim to improve and assist conservation and management of these important soil landscapes. This point dataset has been collated from a combination of legacy and contemporary land resource studies and is designed to assist land managers see where actual on the ground works and assessment activities within likely organic soil areas which have confirmed the presence or absence of organic soils. Organic soils sites for the purpose of this work are defined as soil description locations with any surface Organic Materials deeper than 5cm that could constitute as a fuel in a fire situation. These soils differ from the Australian Soil Classification 3rd Edition (ASC) definition of ORGANOSOL and this term should be avoided when referring to these sites. These sites include soils from a range of ASC Soil Orders including Organosol, Hydrosol, Podosols and Tenosol that display a dominantly peaty surface layer or have organic materials (>20cm) in the uppermost surface soil layers.