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Spring Into Weed BustingPeople across Bass Coast are being urged to weed bust their way through Spring. By Bass Coast Shire Council - 12th October 2007 - Back to News In conjunction with National Weedbuster Week, a free indigenous plants offer is being made to residents and landholders to encourage them to join the battle against the weeds. Bass Coast Shire Council, Bass Coast Landcare, Phillip Island Nature Parks and volunteer groups have all been busy controlling weeds across the Shire.
"Spring is a great time to bust environmental weeds, because the life cycle of many plants means that they are vulnerable at this time," says Council’s Environment and Coastal Officer, Derek Hibbert.
"Many environmental weed outbreaks in our bushland reserves originate from plants that have spread from private properties. Some of these have spread from private gardens due to seeds being transported by the wind, water or animals.
Mr Hibbert urged private landholders to do their bit to reduce the impact of garden weed escapes.
"We want people to take advantage of the"Weeds Out, Indigenous Plants In" campaign that we are running," said Mr Hibbert.
"In this program residents from Bass Coast townships will be provided with free indigenous plants as a reward for removing identified problem species from their gardens.
"Often weeds are easier to identify when flowering, so this is a perfect time to target them," continued Mr Hibbert.
"Creepers such as Cape Ivy and Dolichous are sometimes inconspicuous when growing amongst plants such as the canopy of trees and shrubs when they are not in flower
"For other weeds, like Bridal Creeper and Asparagus Fern, spraying them when they are active over these months means that future shooting will be kept to a minimum."
Council’s Environment Team run an environmental weeds control program for Council managed Foreshore and Bushland Reserves.
"Over the past year, we’ve targeted a number of different species at different times," said Mr Hibbert.
"These include garden escapes such as Kikuyu, Dolichous, Boneseed, Mirror Bush and Sweet Pittosporum.
"We are currently spraying 20 kilometres of foreshore reserves for Bridal Creeper and Asparagus Fern and over 50 hectares of bushland reserves," continued Mr Hibbert.
"Our volunteer groups have been working at locations across the Shire, targeting various week species."
Mr Hibbert said the work that people did in their own gardens was an important part of the overall weed control strategy for the Shire.
"We know that weeds can spread from private gardens and threaten the natural ecosystems, "said Mr Hibbert.
"Weeds can invade native plant communities and over run them. In the worst case scenario, this could mean the loss of some plant species and the habitat for some of our native animals."
For details of the "Weeds Out, Indigenous Plants In" offer, please visit Council’s website www.basscoast.vic.gov.au or contact Council on 1300 BCOAST (1300 226 278) for the cost of a standard local call.
Source: www.gippsland.com Published by: news@gippsland.com
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