Weeding out the problem

There is weeding and then there is weed management. The latter involves serious pest control. And that's what's taking place in the Northern Territory's Sandover Catchment, starting 60 kilometres north east of Alice Springs and running 500 kilometres to the Queensland border.

The area has so far seen 101,000 hectares mapped for parkinsonia and 11,500 hectares of weeds treated with herbicide and physical pulling. This 36,000 hectare infestation runs along the Sandover and Bundy Rivers and is being tackled by a team of 20 including nine pastoral properties and the Angarapa Aboriginal Land Trust.

Funding

The project is funded by the Australian Government with support from the Northern Territory Government.

Activities

Dionne Walsh of the Centralian Land Management Association - the Landcare group looking after the largest area in Australia spanning 300,000 square kilometres - said project staff regularly ride motorbikes out over the vast project area. They need to check more than 100,000 hectares of river catchment to accurately map and treat the pockets of parkinsonia in the lower catchment.

"They have also checked and re-treated - where necessary - the 17,900 hectares that was treated in the upper catchment in the previous stage of the program," Dionne said. "Thousands of new location and treatment records have been provided to the Northern Territory Government database."

Achievements

Not only is the Sandover Catchment a high priority for weed control in the Territory, it is considered to be a nationally strategic buffer zone for preventing parkinsonia spreading to the south, where the heritage-listed Lake Eyre Basin lies.

The region has been dubbed the 'eradication zone' for parkinsonia and work is underway to expand the buffer zone to limit the southward spread of weeds. Individual property weed management plans and a catchment management plan have been drawn up to ensure ongoing maintenance.

Property weed management plans contain illustrated information about parkinsonia and other weeds found in the region plus a history of weed issues and their management on the property. The plan outlines goals for weed management and a property map showing the locations of weeds. Landholders record what treatments have been applied and then a work plan outlines what follow-up work will be undertaken and by whom.

There are now plans to replicate the Sandover model in the neighbouring catchment by expanding the boundary and pushing the buffer zone to the north.

More information

• Dionne Walsh, Central Land Management Association: (08) 8953 4230
• Central Land Management Association website: www.clma.com.au

Australian Government NRM Team
GPO Box 787
Canberra ACT 2601 Australia
1800 552 008 (toll-free)

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Caring for our Country is an Australian Government initiative jointly administered by the Australian Government departments of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts