There are groups such as Friends of Queens Park and Lornecare who have devoted their time to managing large tracts of buss in and around Lorne in order to control the infestation of non-native plant species, the worst of which are known as “woody weeds”. Colin Leitch a Lorne local also devotes a large amount of his time to this project. Recently, Colin met with Tim Miller, Project Officer – Native Vegetation Improvement with Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) to discuss the department’s project to manage the spread of woody weeds.
Colin commented: “During the past twenty or so years I’ve adopted a couple of favourite areas of bush to keep them free of invasive weeds and have come across a number of Lorne folk who do likewise. This activity is in addition to the weeding done by LorneCare and Friends of Queens Park. But during this time, I’ve been perplexed to see woody weeds spreading rapidly in other areas, such that the weeds are threatening to change the bush landscape that we love.”
“This DELWP project is an excellent initiative and is targeting a significant portion of the hotspots but I’d like to see property owners getting involved as well. Now, the CFA has developed a model for raising awareness of bushfire safety that could be used for weed control: they’re creating Fire Guard groups for clusters of properties on the periphery of town to facilitate communication about local bushfire issues. We could use this model and call them Weed Watch groups! The aim in this case would be to raise awareness of the weed problems in their precinct, to plan working bees and to jointly seek grants to control infestations beyond their capability. This would be a way of creating a partnership between agencies and property owners to flatten the curve of weed spread.”
Here is a transcript of the discussion between me, Colin Leitch (CL) and Tim Miller (TM).
CL: As far as I can tell Tim, this is the first major attempt to curtail the spread of woody weeds from Lorne – how did the project come about?
TM: Treatment of woody weeds around Lorne has been occurring for many years by both local environment groups and by agencies such as DELWP, Parks Victoria, Surf Coast Shire, and the Great Ocean Road Coast Committee. However, this is no doubt one of our largest targeted woody weed programs. The project came about to complement the work being done by these other groups and agencies by tackling some of the hardest-to-treat areas around the town.
CL: There are seven areas on the outskirts of Lorne where target species of invasive weeds will be removed – how did you choose these areas?
TM: The treatment areas were chosen in consultation with Parks Victoria and the Great Ocean Road Coast Committee, who have extensive knowledge of woody weed issues in the Lorne area. We prioritised the heavily-infested areas that have been a persistent issue over many years. Treating these areas will allow for more effective long-term management of weeds by land managers into the future.
CL: You’ll be using contractors to do this work – what are the typical species they’ll be tackling and what methods will they use?
TM: The typical species our contractors with be targeting in the Lorne area are Sweet Pittosporum, Boneseed, Bluebell Creeper and English Broom. There will be some areas that will require herbicide spraying, but the majority of work will be chainsaw felling and manual removal (hand-pulling).
CL: This approach will break the back of the infestations but follow up weeding will be needed for long-term effectiveness – has this been budgeted for?
TM: DELWP and our partner agencies will look to deliver follow up treatments. Managing woody weeds in the Otways is also a shared responsibility, with other land managers and private landowners playing an important part in reducing their spread.
CL: What’s the plan for other areas of public land that have lower densities of weeds but which in many cases are spreading rapidly?
TM: This project is targeting the worst hit areas, but we’ll look to expand it where we can to other public land. Removing the largest source will help reduce the impacts on those other areas long-term too.
CL: Some of your treatment areas have neighbouring private properties that are similarly infested with weeds. The long-term success of your program requires weed removal there as well – how do you envisage this happening?
TM: Removal of these species on private property will go a long way to ensuring the success of this program. We encourage any residents that are aware of these species on their property remove them where possible, which will limit their spread into surrounding natural areas. The Surf Coast Shire website has a number of great resources to assist residents in identifying, removing and disposing of environmental weeds from their properties. They can be found at https://www.surfcoast.vic.gov.au/Environment/Natural-environment/Local-plants/Weeds-of-the-Surf-Coast.
CL: When can we expect to see the contractors at work?
TM: The works will begin in Lorne by early December and will continue through to June 2021.
During the past twenty or so years I’ve adopted a couple of favourite areas of bush to keep them free of invasive weeds and have come across a number of Lorne folk who do likewise. This activity is in addition to the weeding done by LorneCare and Friends of Queens Park. But during this time, I’ve been perplexed to see woody weeds spreading rapidly in other areas, such that the weeds are threatening to change the bush landscape that we love.
This DELWP project is an excellent initiative and is targeting a significant portion of the hotspots but I’d like to see property owners getting involved as well. Now, the CFA has developed a model for raising awareness of bushfire safety that could be used for weed control: they’re creating Fire Guard groups for clusters of properties on the periphery of town to facilitate communication about local bushfire issues. We could use this model and call them Weed Watch groups! The aim in this case would be to raise awareness of the weed problems in their precinct, to plan working bees and to jointly seek grants to control infestations beyond their capability. This would be a way of creating a partnership between agencies and property owners to flatten the curve of weed spread.
Jointly written by Colin Leitch and Tim Miller
