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Well weeded!

Cath Dickson | 18 March 2021

The data is all in and the numbers have been crunched. Volunteers’ stiff joints and weary feet are now well rested (at least we hope so!). It has been a monumental summer weeding effort across the TLC Central Highlands properties this year. We simply can’t achieve what we have at this scale without all our indefatigable volunteers, and everyone at TLC is incredibly grateful.

Results from the three volunteer weeks Jan-Feb 2021

What a massive effort!

Ragwort

60,000 (60K) ragworts were controlled across the three reserves! This is a huge increase on last year, where just over 30,000 ragworts were treated. There are a few reasons for this:

  • It was a wet summer, with a great growing season.
  • Very likely much of the increase is due to us being more detailed with our recording – thank you to everyone for noting down numbers on your phones!
  • Potentially two years on from fire (Jan 2019) has allowed plants to get bigger/more reproductive, while still taking advantage of the bare ground (typical disturbance response weeds).

Mullein

9K common/great mullein and just over 1k twiggy mullein were controlled, compared to 5k in 2020.

The work on Five Rivers Reserve in the 2019 Great Pine Tier fire scar was made possible by the support of WIRES Landcare Wildlife Relief and Recovery Grants Program. There were 163 days of effort across the reserves over the three events, 108.5 of which was volunteer – what an amazing contribution!

Focal weeds controlled or identified on the three weeding trips
Minor weeds – identified or controlled on the three weeding trips
Author Profile
Cath Dickson
Conservation Science And Planning Manager

Cath is an experienced ecologist who has been working in natural resource and threatened species management in regional South Australia and Victoria, for government and NGOs, since 2004. She recently completed her PhD at Monash University on the response of a dominant threatened plant to climate change on Macquarie Island – which ultimately led to her move south to Tasmania. Cath’s passion is working with people in nature conservation to achieve great conservation outcomes, while getting out into wild Tasmanian landscapes.