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Category Archives: Weed and Pest Management
Fraser Island to Benefit from Commonwealth Funding for Green Army Projects
The Fraser Island Defenders Organization has been provided with funding as Project Host as a result of Green Army funding for two projects from the Department of Environment and Heritage. The service provider for these projects will be Conservation Volunteers Australia.
The project, Restoring the balance in weed and erosion management on Fraser Island, will commence in late February and again in mid-August and run for 20 weeks. The six participants will range from 17 to 24 years old, and will be provided with training, including Occupational Health and Safety, First Aid, chemical use and the management of small motors. They will gain hands on skills in weed management, erosion control and will be fortunate to have advice and information from the QPWS rangers who will direct the work plan.
The participants will have their training at Hervey Bay and spend four days a week on Fraser Island working on different parts of the island. Other potential work may include:
- Easter Cassia management around Happy Valley and south to Yidney scrub
- Jamella – egg raft collection (and wasp release if training were provided), monitoring and leaf stripping
- Giant Rat’s Tail Grass control
- Eurong nursery – plant propagation and re-potting, including of Pandanus
- Great Walk track maintenance
- Track building
- Site stabilisation through erosion control and weed management on Indian Head (Takky Wooroo).
The project provides a unique opportunity to have work carried out on Fraser Island over the period of a year that would possibly take many years otherwise.
The team will work with a number of different groups on the island, including the Butchulla people, to learn about the culture and management of the island.
Libby Gardiner, Regional Manager Southern Queensland, CVA
Propagating Natives instead of Weeds
Since Fraser Island’s World Heritage nomination was prepared 25 years ago, the number of identified weeds has grown from 40 to 200. Most of the additions to the weed list are garden escapees or alien grasses and pasture plants.
Most of these alien grasses and pasture plants have arrived on K’Gari as hitchhiking seeds stuck in the under-bodies of vehicles that haven’t been cleaned adequately before going to the island, or in the luggage and freight brought inside those vehicles by island visitors. This is evident by the fact that the epicentres for the invasion of almost all of the grasses and pasture plants, such as Green Panic and Siratro, are in the township or camping reserves. By diligence, we are whittling away at these weeds that arrived essentially as stowaways.
A more difficult challenge is countering the weeds that were deliberately taken to Fraser Island as garden plants. Landholders sought to establish hardy plants that could thrive on the island with little care or attention when they were absent for long periods. Thus they came up with a group of plants that were ideal to survive if they got loose in the Fraser Island bush. Roses and many of the more classic garden plants just can’t survive on Fraser Island. However, garden plants like Clivias, Coral Creeper, Singapore Daisy, Easter Cassia, Mother-in-Law’s Tongues, Glory Lily, Mother of Millions and Fish-bone Ferns, which looked attractive around the houses and required little care, all escaped their garden enclosures and ran riot on the island. Because these plants are so hardy they are now very difficult to eradicate.
Coolum-based volunteer, Suzanne Wilson, gathering seed for the Eurong QPWS nursery. These are attractive plants that can be grown by Fraser Island landholders
Landholders are being encouraged to plant and cultivate attractive native plants. However, sourcing those plants has been a major problem. The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service has a nursery, but lacks the staff to operate it as a supplier of plants on demand to landholders who are told not to take any plants at all onto the island.
Now, as another FINIA collaboration, FIDO and the Fraser Island Association are building up a stock of plants to entice landholders to opt to grow natives that are grown from seed collected on the island, and which, with a little tender loving care to establish them, can do just as well as the weeds we are working to eliminate. As well as purchasing pots and other nursery supplies, FIDO has been scrounging cleaned used pots and recruited a very experienced seed collector to help build up the nursery.
The resorts at Eurong and Happy Valley have set the tone by purging their properties of weeds and establishing wonderful rich gardens of natives. FIDO is prepared to cooperate with other landholders to replace exotic plants with plants from the Eurong Nursery as part of a long-term strategy to reduce weeds on Fraser Island.
John Sinclair (AO), FIDO
Weeds of the Month – Please keep your eyes open for these!
Inspections in Fraser Island townships continue every May and November, with great work occurring with the volunteer groups and residents.
Look out for—Sisal hemp
There are still plants being brought over from the mainland seen without any known quarantine. Please think before bringing plants to the island to reduce the potential for spreading disease and pests.
We are hoping that we have tackled most of the large broad-leaved peppers in Happy Valley, but if anyone knows of any more please let us know. This also applies with the spotting of Easter Cassia and umbrella trees in Eurong.
This work could not be achieved without all FINIA associates’ assistance. Thank you.
Sisal hemp (Local Law No. 3)
Agave sisalana
- A succulent plant from Mexico, originally cultivated for its fibre.
- Tough rosette of thick sword-shaped, smooth-edged leaves to two metres.
Native alternative—Swamp Lily (Crinum sp.)
- flowers green/yellow on a long central stem to over 5m
- Rhizomes sucker from the base and plantlets grow from flowering stem.
- found in rocky hillslopes, roadsides, beach dunes and older gardens.
- Carefully hand remove and bag when small.
- Chemical control by applying glyphosate through stem injection or cut, scrape and paint. Apply picloram and triclopyr (e.g., Access) at 1:60 mix with diesel using basal bark method (PER11463).
- Before using any herbicide, always read the label carefully and apply strictly in accordance with directions on the label.
Sisal Stripped to Bare Minimum
Originally from Mexico, Sisal Hemp plants grow up to two metres tall and closely resemble the native Crinium lily. As the plant matures, it produces a tall flowering spike on which smaller plants develop. Mature plants are often surrounded by younger plants that have fallen off the flowering spike. These younger plants are easily spread through site disturbance, which can roll or wash them down slopes, where they establish new colonies.
QPWS staff at work removing immature sisal
Queensland Parks and Wildlife rangers have worked to remove large patches of Sisal Hemp from land surrounding Bogimbah, Urang and Wanggoolba creeks since 2002. Contractors funded through the State Government’s strategic pest management program have also assisted staff in controlling these Sisal Hemp infestations by removing remaining plants before they reach maturity and surveying areas for potential infestations.
Immature sisal 2015
In the first four years, the area affected by Sisal Hemp was reduced from an approximately 3,000 square metre area, to just small sporadic re-emergences of plants. Sisal Hemp was initially introduced to Fraser Island in the 1800s, in an effort to cover the site of the Bogimbah Mission; now, native grasses and shrubs cover this important cultural site.
Help reduce the spread of introduced species by always disposing of garden waste at designated waste transfer stations. Weeds know no boundaries and management is everyone’s responsibility.
L. Behrendorff RIC NRM, Queensland Parks & Wildlife Service
Strategic Funding for Pest Management
Funding applications for state government pest management projects were recently approved for the Great Sandy National Park.
Treatment of Planthopper on Pandanus
Over 8–11 June, members of the Lower Mary River Land and Catchment Care Group, Don Bradley, Lesley Bradley and Janet Price, treated 160 Pandanus plants at Kingfisher Bay Resort and Beach Front against infestation by Jamella australiae (Pandanus Planthopper). An effort was made to locate all plants at the resort.
Injecting the chemical using the Sidewinder tool
In addition to the 160 plants treated, 25 plants were found to be infected with Jamella, including three in very poor condition; a further three dead plants were found. Treatment was with 50% Confidor, and involved injecting trunks and low braches, or in the case of smaller plants, spraying leaves and squirting the crowns. Size of tree and type of branching determined the number of injections per tree: trees head high received one injection; taller, single trunk trees received two injections; trees branching up high received three injections; and large trees branching received two injections per branch where branches could be reached. Infected trees were marked with blue paint.
Funding for this project was supplied by a BMRG-Chemical grant, and thanks go to QPWS for supplying the Sidewinder tool and training for the injections, and to Kingfisher Bay Resort for providing barge passes and accommodation.
Lesley Bradley, Lower Mary River Land and Catchment Care Group
Old Photos Revive Memories
Sue Sargent was instrumental in bringing FINIA collaborators together back in 2005 and along with the BMRG deserves credit for the creation of this wonderful collaboration. She continues to be FINIA’s chief inspirer and facilitator. (more…)
FINIA is turning TEN
When FINIA was founded in December 2005, the catalyst was a two-day gathering of a large number of groups and agencies at Dilli Village, Fraser Island, organised by the Burnett Mary Regional Group. Nobody then could have imagined that an organisation that has a set of objectives but no formal constitution, and therefore no formal membership, could have survived for so long and achieved so much just through communication and collaboration. (more…)
Stowaway Antics – a story for children
John Sinclair’s children’s stories always carry a message and this one is no different – with the story of some suburban ants that plan their escape to Fraser Island. Suitable for children or adults (who will also get some fun out of the story), you should approach it with ANT-ICIPATION!
To download John’s story, please click here: Stowaway Antics
Autumn’s Worst Weeds!
Have you noticed plants in your gardens escaping and spreading into other parts of your garden or neighbourhood? You can help stop this spread by removing them wherever you see them and planting better alternatives that benefit the gardens diversity and reduce the possibility of weedy plants invading. (more…)
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