What better subject for discussion this month. I don’t know about you, but not having had to take the lawn mower out of the shed (I have one of the manually motivated variety—I don’t have a scythe though, I’m not that manual) for the last two years, I’ve now had to mow three times in almost as many weeks! And that’s just the stuff I’d like to have growing—the stuff I don’t want seems to be growing even faster!
And what’s all this got to do with local government? Well, maybe not my lawn but council does have something to say about some of the weeds. When I last wrote on this subject back in 2015, weed management fell under the control of the Noxious Weeds Act. Since then, however, this act has been repealed and the relevant pieces of legislation in NSW are now the Biosecurity Act (2015) and Regulation (2017), not to be confused with the Biodiversity Conservation Act (2016), which replaced the Native Vegetation Act at around the same time.
The narrative accompanying the new legislation notes that “biosecurity is the protection of our economy, environment and community from the negative impacts of pests, diseases, weeds and contaminants”, so the Biosecurity Act is about much more than just weeds—it also includes, for example, the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) that is used to keep track of livestock via the Property Identification Codes (PIC) that many of us have.
Amongst other things, the Act identifies control authorities for weeds and this is where local government and our local council come in. Councils are responsible for implementing and enforcing compliance with the Act on all lands within their areas of operation. Given that councils have always borne this responsibility, however, nothing has really changed on this front. The general responsibilities for landholders are also similar under the new legislation, but some of the names have changed to reflect a change in focus of the control process.
We no longer talk about noxious weeds, we are now dealing with priority weeds and priorities can vary with location. Gone are the previous five control classes. We now simply talk about State, Regional or Local priority weeds, although we still manage weeds with respect to the relative impact they have on priority assets such as productive agricultural land and the habitat of threatened species.
If there’s a key change in the new legislation it is an explicit recognition that the most cost effective means of weed management is to focus on controlling new weeds early in the infestation cycle. As a consequence, and given that we will never have the resources to completely eradicate most weeds, the primary focus at the weed management level is now on preventing the introduction of new invasive species into an area. This doesn’t let us landholders off the hook though. We still have our responsibility to control any priority weeds on our properties and the priority weeds in our area remain Serrated tussock, Scotch broom and St John’s Wort. And, of course, the good old Blackberry.
With regard to new species though, council is particularly alert to the spread of a number of isolated infestations within the LGA. Outbreaks of Fireweed, Silver-leaf nightshade and Spanish broom have all appeared recently within or near our rural residential areas. Some such outbreaks have been traced to externally sourced feed, so if you have had to bring in feed during the recent drought, be particularly alert for any unwanted passengers that might have hitched a ride. Also, while Gorse has been established along the Yass River for many years, there is an ongoing program to reduce numbers and ultimately eradicate this particular weed.
Perhaps the most obvious flourish this year, with the flooding rains following the recent drought have been Capeweed and Patterson’s Curse. Neither of these, however, is currently considered to be a priority weed in our area. The latter, in particular, often appears under the sorts of conditions we have experienced recently but tends to die down again within a couple of years, largely thanks to ‘biological agents’, which you can apparently see on the plants if you look closely.
More generally, there is a range of resources available to assist residents in both identifying and dealing with unwanted weeds. The Department of Primary Industries WeedWise website is a good place to start, or you can download the WeedWise app for your smartphone or tablet.
QPRC has also produced a number of informative short videos to help property owners identify local priority weeds (click on the Priority weeds heading to see the list of videos).
Finally, as I have mentioned previously, while many people only meet Council’s weeds men during inspections, they are available for consultation, free of charge, to assist residents with the identification and control of invasive species—just call Council (Ph 1300 735 025) during business hours to arrange a suitable time.