Springbrook WeedBusters
Regrowth from the 2019 bushfires shows how vulnerable the Springbrook National Park is to weed incursion. Springbrook WeedBusters is a relatively new group focussed on weeding activities and landowner education. With almost $20,000 from the Landcare Led Bushfire Grant Program the group has achieved a range of weed control and community education activities including purchasing a trailer with hand weeding equipment for a small team of skilled volunteers to respond to weed outbreaks.
#Springbrook National Park is listed as World Heritage and its values and status as a national biodiversity hotspot are well established. The thousands of plant and animal species within the region are facing increasing pressures including from land clearing, tourism, water extraction and climate-change induced changes expressing as altered rainfall patterns, a loss of cloud rain and an increased risk of bushfire.
Other key activities include the identification of weed outbreaks, prioritising their control, and holding educational workshops for landholders (many live adjacent to the National Park) to assist with weed identification and appropriate weed control methods.
The primary focus is on weed control in resilient key areas of the park including sections of Carricks Creek above Purlingbrook Falls, Bilborough Crt Section and along roadside verges. Persistent repetitive control on key weeds in key areas is having a gradual but significant impact on the dominance of various weeds.
Workshops included landholders and park users such as hiking groups. The “trailer launch” and community weed workshop will demonstrate equipment use and weed identification. Community response to the Kahili Ginger factsheet letterbox drop resulted in local landholders, who didn’t know of the weed threat, now assisting WeedBusters. https://www.facebook.com/springbrookweedbusters/