Weed reduction strategies working

EFFORTS to tackle weed coverage of the Surf Coast have resulted in a 54 per cent reduction of unwanted vegetation being found in areas last mapped in 2015, according to a review conducted for the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority (GORCAPA).

It is the third snapshot of the coast’s invasive woody and non-woody weed species captured since mapping for a Native Vegetation and Weed Action Plan was conducted in 2009, however it is limited to between Torquay and Lorne as per GORCAPA’s previous area of management responsibility.

Conducted every five years, the latest data from between 2015 and 2021 has been released alongside GORCAPA’s third edition of its newly named Coastal Vegetation Strategy (CVS) that sets out its next five-year plan, and now covers between Point Impossible in Torquay and Marengo, south-west of Apollo Bay.

The CVS covers an estimated 1,090 hectares of landscapes such as sandy beaches, dune systems, cliffs, heathlands and estuaries, and guides on-ground management to protect and enhance their ecological values.
GORCAPA has divided the 65 kilometres of coastline it controls into seven management areas that correlate with key town locations and each area has smaller management zones that have their own characteristics and issues that needed to be addressed.

GORCAPA chief executive officer Jodie Sizer said the CVS will be critical to protecting and enhancing ecological values along the Great Ocean Road and building on the estimated 100 hectares of weed species that were removed from between Lorne and Torquay over the last five years of the plan.

Ms Sizer said the past and future success of the strategy could not be achieved without the contribution of volunteers, community groups and schools.

“The input from numerous stakeholders in our community has been invaluable during its development, and I look forward to seeing our coastal environment continue to flourish over the next five years,” she said.

The review and strategy includes both ongoing and emerging species that are considered threats and the efficacy of control measures to date on managing them.

Weed species that are proving difficult to reduce or eradicate in several areas include serrated tussock, bridal creeper and asparagus fern, but efforts to reduce species such as agapanthus and woody weed species such as coast tea-tree, green honey-myrtle and sweet pittospurum are working with a reduction of their overall prevalence.