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A prickly, poisonous problem in the Flinders Ranges
Pastoralists have destroyed thousands of prickly weeds threatening to engulf sensitive habitats within South Australia's stunning Flinders Ranges.
Over the past decade landholders from the tiny communities of Blinman and Parachilna witnessed introduced cactus plants and oleander transform the rugged mountain ranges, gorges and creeks of the region, some 480 kilometres north of Adelaide.
By far the worst culprit was wheel cactus which had spread at an alarming rate, infesting about 400 square kilometres of rangeland including environmentally significant places like the popular Parachilna Gorge.
Without intervention the cactus and other weeds such as prickly pear, devil's rope pear and oleander would be a major threat to pastoral production and native plant and animal habitats.
Funding
Over the past two years landholders through the Blinman and Parachilna Progress Associations have received more than $210,000 from the Australian Government to trial a range of control methods. The South Australian Government has also provided assistance.
Activities and achievements
By the end of the project's first year landholders, together with contractors, had treated or destroyed about 15,000 wheel cactus plants over some 90 square kilometres.
In its second year the project team left their quad bikes behind, spending 45 days on foot to eradicate 5,000 of the weeds across 80 square kilometres of some of the most inaccessible and rugged terrain in the Flinders Ranges.
A variety of herbicide control methods have been tested. In the most successful trial, undiluted herbicide was injected into cactus stems and large pads resulting in the plants completely rotting away and dying within six weeks.
"This method is quite time-consuming, so in future we'll mainly apply it to isolated plants or small stands," project leader Lorraine Edmunds said.
Contractors have received abseiling training, so they can now tackle weeds on cliff faces and ledges using this stem injection method.
The project has also trialled controls for oleander, a colourful but highly poisonous garden plant that has colonised the area's creeks. Cutting stems off close to the ground, drilling a hole into the root system and injecting undiluted herbicide had resulted in some success. But results will be closely monitored.
As well as chemical controls, the project has also created a scholarship to investigate biological control options. "The researcher has already started to examine a range of insects that might be successful pests on wheel cactus," Lorraine said.
More information
- Lorraine Edmunds, Project leader: (08) 8648 0014 or asklorraine@internode.on.net
- South Australian Arid Lands NRM Board
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