United front gathers against ‘triffid’ grass
A co-ordinated approach to tackle an invasive long grass so formidable it is being compared to science-fiction terrors is gaining momentum.
More than 60 representatives from local, regional and central government, industry and environmental groups attended an education day in Feilding last week on the growing threat of Phragmites karka and the local efforts to slow its hold on Awahuri Forest Kitchener Park.
The plant, which features bamboo-like reeds, has become a plague within the park and its waterways, choking channels and flora. It is notoriously difficult to remove, with three-quarters of the plant being two to three metres underground.
Awahuri Forest Kitchener Park Trust has been trialling control methods with environmental consultancy Green By Nature and Ngā Kaitiaki O Ngati Kauwhata’s Mana Taiao team, but the problem extends beyond Manawatū.
This was signified by the attendance of council staff from Auckland, Taranaki, Whanganui and greater Wellington at the meeting, all sharing information and ideas.
“With just the three of us, we can’t go much further with it outside of our own little patch,” said trust chairperson Jill Darragh, who referred to the plant as a “triffid”.
“It’s really got to go up to another level, to MPI or a government level. It’s got to be listed as a national noxious weed.”
Phragmites was appearing on private properties along the Makino Stream, and visitors to the park were routinely asking to take reeds home, eager to use them as tomato stakes.
Ministry For Primary Industries biosecurity and conservation senior adviser Jasmine Hessell attended the event but said she wasn’t able to comment on the possibility of a national eradication programme.
She was there to listen and learn about the methods the trust had been trialling.
At one point, Green By Nature biodiversity project manager Aaron Madden, who was demonstrating the “snip and drip” method of injecting a herbicide into the cut nodes of phragmites, lightheartedly put out a call for an additional 12 months funding.
Hessell was quickly nominated amid laughter.
Both Darragh and fellow trustee Bessie Nichol accepted there would be caution from the ministry given it had budgets and other priorities in play.
“There’s been some very intense questioning, very astute questioning, and I think they all realise the costs, the share number of dollars needed,” Darragh said.
Nichol said the day concluded with workshops where participants were challenged with a series of questions.
These included: What is the future economic impact of doing nothing? What practices and protocols would be needed to protect sensitive eco-systems? Where should ongoing research and development be managed and by whom?
All the information and “bloody brilliant suggestions” from the day would be collated and passed back to a number of district and national agencies, as would talking points, Nichol said.
“A key one is who should lead this?” Funding for the trust’s phragmites project was to end in June, but Nichol was hopeful it would be continued for another 12 months, allowing time for better solutions for eradicating the pest plant to be developed.