The Federal Government has ordered assessments of a plan to allow four-wheel-drive tracks along Tasmania’s heritage-listed north-west coast.

Tasmania’s Hodgman government wants to lay rubber matting over middens and other Aboriginal heritage sites on the Tarkine coast to allow four-wheel-drive access.

The plans bring potential risks to the national heritage-listed Indigenous cultural values of the landscape and to threatened species, incuding the orange bellied parrot and the Tasmanian devil.

Environment minister Josh Frydenberg has called for an independent assessment in the form of a public environment report.

The Wilderness Society Tasmania has welcomed the objective assessment.

“I think any objective assessment will find that laying plastic matting over ancient middens so you can drive four-wheel-drives over them is an unacceptable thing to do in a cultural heritage landscape,” Wilderness Society campaigner Vica Bayley has told reporters.

The Bob Brown Foundation has welcomed the review too, but is still calling on Premier Will Hodgman to ditch the plans.

“Premier Hodgman can still withdraw his shameful plans to open these tracks and provide secure protection for this national heritage-listed landscape,” a foundation spokesperson said.

“He should remove the threat of cultural and environmental vandalism by off-road vehicles, keep the tracks closed.”

Tasmanian environment minister Elise Archer acknowledged the federal government’s referral in a statement this week.

 “This is a normal part of the process and we remain 100 per cent committed to reopening the tracks,” she said.

Once the public environment report has been finalised, it will go through a four week public comment period before Mr Frydenberg makes a final decision, which will then be subject to a 28-day appeal period.