Mosaic Map: NRM funded projects
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Fighting dieback disease in Perth bushland
Disease is slowly infecting Australia's heathlands, woodlands and forests as Phytophthora dieback spreads over hundreds of thousands of hectares in Western Australia and Victoria, tens of thousands of hectares in South Australia and even the cool temperate rainforests of Tasmania.
It has a deadly impact, with the water-borne mould rotting the roots of susceptible plants and preventing the uptake of water and nutrients.
The community-based Dieback Working Group with the Swan Catchment Council has taken up the fight against dieback, concentrating on reserves and bushland in Perth.
Funding
The latest project has been supported with more than $100,000 from the Australian Government as well as cash and in-kind contributions from the State Government.
Since 1998 the Australian Government has given more than half a million dollars to the Dieback Working Group in the fight against Phytophthora.
Activities and achievements
Former Project Coordinator Chris Dunne said dieback was a "biological bulldozer" which threatened over 40 per cent of the total native plant species and half of the endangered plant species in the state's southwest. He said dieback was "a bigger threat to biodiversity than salinity in Western Australia."
"Our team trains community groups and volunteers in a special process designed to boost the immune system of individual trees and shrubs through the injection of phosphite," Chris said.
"Phosphite is a highly-effective chemical that boosts the immune system of a tree for up to five years. When a tree has been inoculated it's better able to defend itself against an attack of dieback. It fights back.
"A large percentage of the Banksia Woodland and Jarrah Forest in the Perth metropolitan area is infected with dieback and phosphite is the only effective tool in protecting trees against death once dieback has entered an area."
Over the past few years the Dieback Working Group has inoculated tens of thousands of trees and trained more than 1100 volunteers and 450 council workers in the inoculation technique. The group also works with many local government authorities to use management procedures that minimise the risk of spreading dieback to remnant bushland reserves.
More information
- Ian Colquhoun: (08) 9530 2344 or email Ian.Colquhoun@alcoa.com.au
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