LAND managers including local governments, should be leading the fight against the spread of plant pests, but they are not and this is contributing to the spread of plant pests says horticulture and weed management expert David Hart.
He said Michael O’Donoghue was ‘quite right’ about the risk fireweed posed to cattle.
“Cattle will probably eat around [fireweed] but put it in hay and they’ll eat it,” he said.
“It can cause liver and brain damage, and lead to death.”
He said annual ragweed would die off on its own but not before ensuring next season’s generation had been widely spread.“Then you have plants like celtis ... well that’s a big shrub and also very invasive,” he said.
“Celtis is a major problem, it’s wind pollinated, the birds eat its fruit and it spreads everywhere.”
He said he’d been asked for help by residents who had received council control orders when nearby roadsides and reserves were ‘full of declared pest plants’.
“If you drive through the Scenic Rim, you will see pests like catsclaw, and all sorts of other declared weed species on the side of council maintained roads,” he said.
He said he “agreed with Mr O’Donoghue 100 percent” that local governments, like all responsible land managers, should have a biosecurity plan in place.
“We are talking about class three declared weeds and if you go to the Department of Agriculture’s website you will see a declaration and statement along the lines of a general biosecurity obligation to not take any risks with these plants.
“You can’t sell or distribute this material and by reason that suggests control measures should be in place to limit its spread.”
He said he regularly fielded calls from landholders asking him for help with groundsel, fireweed, lantana and all kinds of invasive plants.
“The problem you have with plants like lantana is it is so far gone we’ve lost all capacity to eradicate it,” he said.
“And it’s the same with fireweed, nobody is putting any real effort into controlling that anymore because it’s just too hard.”
“This is the problem, [councils] didn’t get on top of [pest plants] when they first turned up and now many are too far gone.”
He said Mr O’Donoghue’s concerns, while valid, were nothing new.
“I hear this all the time from landholders in many council regions,” he said.
“You get weeds that are significant at a particular time then time passes, nothing happens and there is no longer an ability to control them.”
He said pest plants invaded pastures, taking up space, absorbing nutrients and some species contained compounds that were hazardous for cattle.
“I think yes, councils should be doing more but I’d hazard a guess that they just don’t have the budget.”