Weeds and Pests

Image via WikipediaOur latest pest comes in the form of Mexican feather grass which is one of our declared pest plants. The problem we seem to have in this case is that nurseries have sold them and there are still 44 unaccounted for. It will create damage to our environment, especially pasture lands because people do not realise just how invasive pest plants can become here. They take off like a rocket and just spread far and wide. We have large tracts of land which are really hard to manage. Some sheep stations in Australia are bigger than countries. Dealing with pest plants and weeds becomes a horrendous headache. The problem with the nurseries selling them is they do not seem to be properly informed about our banned species and if plants are banned under the Natural Resources Management Act then we need better ways of monitoring what is actually sold. Likewise, we , as the general public don’t seem to know what is banned. We know a few of the common plants and we know to be on the lookout for them but we’d be blissfully unaware of most of them.I wouldn’t have know about Mexican feather grass had I not read about it in this article. So there is not enough awareness of these plants. In today’s environment with technology, we ought to be able to get the information out there really easily and have information and pictures which help people to know what they should be looking for. We have our own native stipa and there isn’t a problem with that.