Pest Plants and Animals Management
Weed management is an ongoing challenge across the Goulburn Broken region. Weeds reduce farm and forest productivity, they invade crops, smother pastures and in some cases (such as with Chilean Needle Grass) can harm livestock. They aggressively compete for water, nutrients and sunlight, resulting in reduced crop yield and poor crop quality.
Weeds are one of the major threats to Australia's natural environment. Major weed invasions change the natural diversity and balance of ecological communities. These changes threaten the survival of many plants and animals because the weeds compete with native plants for space, nutrients and sunlight.
Now is a great time to prioritise weed management on your property. The following priorities will assist you in determining what weeds to target first.
Priority One Treat all known infestations of Regionally Prohibited Weeds.
Priority Two Treat Regionally Controlled Weeds considered to be a priority in the Shire - Blackberry, Gorse, Cape Broom, Prairie Ground Cherry, Silver-leaf Nightshade, St. John's Wort, Sweet Briar. Treat known infestations of rabbits ( Established Pest Animals).
Priority Three Treat Regionally Restricted weeds considered to be a priority in the Shire - Chilean Needle-grass, Bridal Creeper.
Priority Four Treat infestations of lower priority Regionally Controlled Weeds where they pose a threat to environmental values or adjacent clean agricultural land. Species may include Paterson's curse, Spear thistle, Bathurst burr, Horehound, etc.
To find out what weeds are State and Regionally Prohibited, Regionally Controlled and Regionally Restricted, the following guides can be used:
Declared Noxious Weeds by Common Name
Field Guide to Terrestrial and Aquatic Weeds
Additional Resources:
CRC Weed Management Technical Series: http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/64168/20070119-0000/www.weeds.crc.org.au/publications/technical_series.html
