Twenty priority weeds heading towards eradication

News article |

Work is well underway to locally eradicate 20 priority weeds that threaten agriculture and biodiversity across the Hills and Fleurieu region.

The ‘Towards Eradication: 20 Weeds by 2023’ is a two year project, funded by the State Government’s Landscape Priority Fund[i], being delivered by the Hills and Fleurieu Landscape Board with help from private landholders, local councils and state government agencies.

The $600K project is using a two-pronged approach to get ontop of some established and emerging weeds of concern across the region. In many cases the board is working directly with landholders to tackle the priority weeds where they occur on private property. At the same time, the board is working in partnerships with the region’s six local councils, National Parks and Wildlife Service South Australia (NPWSSA), SA Water and the Department of Infrastructure and Transport, to eradicate weeds on roadsides and in reserves, including within the Cherry Gardens fire scar.

Susan Ivory, Team Leader Pests and Land, said the project will develop clear eradication plans that will be carried out in a staged approach to result in long-term local eradication.

“We are working with landholders to monitor and identify where these 20 weeds are currently established and providing detailed eradication plans to help combat their spread. The list of 20 target weeds can be found on our website and if anyone suspects they have any on their property, they should contact us for help with a control strategy.

“We are already seeing positive outcomes across the region, with weeds including Spanish broom, Tufted honey-flower, Sagittaria, Mexican Feather Grass and White weeping broom being identified and recorded in a new weed mapping app, which has also been developed for the project. We can now implement control and monitoring programs with contractors and the landholders,” she said.

“We are also working hard with the six councils, and state government departments across the Hills and Fleurieu to remove these weeds from our roadsides, parks and reserves.

“While the ‘Towards Eradication’ project is very targeted and deliberate in its delivery, our landscape officers have extensive experience working with private landholders on weed management programs, and are always on-hand for general weed identification and control advice for all pest plant species. Landholders have a responsibility to control declared weeds on their property and best practice weed management starts with the basic principle that effort in the early period of weed invasion provides significant long term efficiencies and value for money,” she said.

Find out more about the project and access weed control advice and information here.

[i]The Landscape Priorities Fund is funded from landscape levies collected in the Adelaide metropolitan area and redistributed to South Australia’s regional landscape boards to enable them to work in partnership with other groups and individuals and invest in environmental projects.

Twenty priority weeds heading towards eradication
The board has been working with Alexandrina Council to target African Lovegrass, one of the 20 priority weeds.

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