• Weed Plans finalised for Communities October 09
• Salvinia sunk in Lake Kununurra October 09
• OLW wins Landcare award - Summary
• East Kimberley Fire Forum - March 2008
• Erosion Banks Installed in Ord Catchment - May 2008
• Neem second time through - July 2008

Weed Plans finalised for Communities

Crossing Falls and Packsaddle communities now have weed management plans developed by the residents to protect both private land and the neighbouring environment. Implementation of the plans is been taken up by residents on their properties and OLW on adjoining ground.

Both communities were able to make big inroads into populations of the high and medium priority weeds over this dry season, particularly in Crossing Falls. Packsaddle has some weeds such as mission grass and coral vine that will be best tackled early in the new year before the plants has a chance to seed.

The plans were pulled together with the initial mapping of properties and surrounding bushland. Two workshops for each community followed on from the mapping and priority areas and weeds were identified. From this information a control program was worked out. Priority weeds at both communities included all the declared weeds such as chinee apple and sicklepod senna as well as environmental weeds such as neem and coral vine.

Crucial to the project were two contractors used by OLW. Sarah Strutt did much of mapping and worked up the plans while Charlie Buckley carried out the control work. Having the local knowledge and an understanding of the threat the weeds posed he helped significantly with the project results.

Salvinia sunk in Lake Kununurra

On October 2nd 2009 in front of a small group of participants the waterweed salvinia was declared ‘eradicated’ from the Lake Kununurra Ramsar site in the north of Western Australia.

The informal ceremony closed the book on a nine year eradication program that involved the efforts of two community groups as well as Local and State Government organisations. It also went a long way to securing the future of a significant ecological and public recreational asset in Australia’s north.

The weed was first found by a local resident in May of 2000. Following the discovery various attempts were made to eradicate the weed including the installation of a boom to limit its spread.

In December 2004 an assessment concluded that the eradication process was not working and there was a risk that the weed may spread during the expected flood events of the 2004/05 wet season so two groynes were built to assist with the control program. This was fortuitous as the week after their completion 162mm of rain fell in an afternoon effectively flooding the area.

With no plants found during 2005 it was hoped the plant may have finally been killed. However it was located again on site in early 2006 prompting more funding to be sort and secures through a partnership between the community group Ord Land and Water and the Shire of Wyndham East Kimberley.

An area on site was in filled with soil and another groyne was constructed to hold two more booms. Most of the control work either consisted of spraying the plant or pulling it out by hand. The last piece of salvinia was removed in October of 2007 but monitoring continued on a regular basis. Finally the plant was declared eradicated two years later.

Wins such as this against any of the Weeds of National Significance are a rare occurrence, especially one situated in such a difficult location but the success if this program demonstrates that given the resources communities can deal effectively with these situations and come out on top.

OLW wins Landcare award

Ord Land and Water was one of the winners of the Western Australia Weeds Committee Invasive Plants Award at the recent State Landcare Awards night in Bridgetown. The award recognises the group’s achievements in the control of neem trees around Kununurra and its ongoing weed project on Lake Kununurra.

The group was also a finalist two more categories, Landcare Professional Award and the Community Group Award.

The award was shared with the Esperance Weed Action Group’s Coral Turley demonstrating weed control is a priority right across the state and country groups are leading the way in participation.

As well as controlling weeds Ord Land and Water’s current projects include erosion control, fire management and litter reduction.

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East Kimberley Fire Forum - March 2008

The East Kimberley Fire Forum was held by Ord Land and Water and Landcare Australia in late March, three sessions (indigenous, community and land-mangers) were held over two days.  All sessions had good participation and some good issues and actions came out of them.  One of the main points of interest was the response of the State Minister for Police and Emergency Services to the Environmental Protection Authority’s (EPA) Review into Fire Management in the Kimberley and other Rangeland Regions.  Although the minister did not attend the forum a letter was received from the minister, in which he recommended that the Minister for Environment be contacted.  The minister for Environment has to date not responded to questions relating to how the State Government intends on addressing the recommendations in the review. 
The EPA Review into Fire Management in the Kimberley and other Rangeland Regions was initiated in response to ongoing concern over the intensity and scale of late dry season fires that have been causing large amounts of the Kimberley to be burnt every year.   From this report came key recommendations which are currently sitting with the Minister for Environment.
The general feedback from the East Kimberley Fire Forums’ three sessions supported these recommendations.

Common messages from the three fire forum sessions were:

• Fire regimes have changed and are having negative impacts; 
• Cool early burning does limit the extent of hot late season fires;
• Inter-property & inter-agency cooperation is improving control of wildfire;
• The opportunity in the future for fire management to provide financial outcomes.

Future aspirations for fire management in the East Kimberley are:

• Cooperative burning programs across tenures;
• Increased engagement of pastoral industry;
• Additional funding to; encourage ‘cells’ of cooperating land owners, implement aerial fire suppression & support local volunteer fire brigades;
• Local Shires supporting and accepting fire management plans;
• Increased support for indigenous ranger groups to do fire management planning, obtain equipment, training & implement fire management;
• Provide pastoralists with a simple guide on how to achieve fire permits for late season fires for woody weed control;
• Reduce volunteer probation time to one or at least by one month;
• Recognition from State bodies and support for fire management to protect values beyond their State responsibilities;
• Be able to communicate as a group to funding bodies;
• Education program for the broader community to promote the idea that irresponsible burning is wrong and to promote an understanding of good & bad fires;
• Produce posters to educate the broader community about the link between fire and wildlife.

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