I hope you'll excuse me posting this on birding-aus, but it's the quickest
way I know of getting a message out to birders.
Following on from my previous posting I contacted DNR regarding the
presence of parthenium at the Mingela wetlands (an area open to the general
public as opposed
to a pastoral lease). Peter James of the 'Pest Plants & Animals' section
tells me that parthenium is present in the following areas around Townsville:
* Alligator Creek (a rural residential development adjacent to the Cape
Bowling Green Ramsar site)
* Upper Ross (the catchment area for Townsville water supply and one of the
top birding areas in the Townsville region)
* Woodstock and Mingela (rural areas).
The weed spread to the Alligator Creek area in chook food. DNR has mounted
a campaign to clean up infected properties at Alligator Creek; Atrazine is
the prefered herbicide due to its cost and residual properties (a single
parthenium plant can produce several thousand seeds.)
I assured Peter that we were careful not to bring any seeds on our clothing
(I hope!)
Thanks
Alex Appleman
Townsville
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