Hawkweed a looming new curse in the Alps
From the February 2009 edition of Agriculture Today.
An Alps-wide eradication plan is being developed to identify the resources and steps required to beat hawkweed, a highly destructive recent arrival from Europe.
The NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC) and Parks Victoria are currently preparing the plan.
DECC has contractors visiting NSW sites twice a week during the summer flowering season to find and eradicate populations.
Dozens of staff and volunteers are also searching for new populations.
"Hawkweed can alter ecosystems, and dominate and control natural landscapes," plant ecologist, Keith McDougall, said.
"In New Zealand it has also destroyed native pasture.
"This year we have publicised the threat in the hope of enlisting the help of bushwalkers in Kosciuszko National Park."
Stands of orange hawkweed (Hieracium aurantiacum) exist in the Round Mountain area between Cabramurra and Khancoban.
Dr McDougall said the good news was in NSW, orange hawkweed was so far confined to a small area of high country National Park and infestations found last year had been eradicated.
"However, original source populations in Kosciuszko National Park continue to resist eradication and new patches have been located.
"The battle is far from won," he said.
In the Victorian Alps there are two species - orange hawkweed and king devil hawkweed, that have spread from a ski village and established many colonies in the National Park.
"The attribute that separates these species from most other exotics is they don’t require disturbance for invasion," Dr McDougall said.
"So, while most exotics will dominate roadsides but struggle to invade natural vegetation, hawkweeds jump straight in and quickly dominate."
New Zealand research scientist, Dr Peter Espie, has seen the massive damage hawkweeds have caused to agriculture in his country.
At seminars and workshops organised in Australia by Dr McDougall before Christmas, Dr Espie sounded the warning, to help stop the import from getting a permanent foothold.
Dr McDougall and Dr Espie agreed there was no reason hawkweeds would not do well in natural pasture on the tablelands, as in New Zealand, where they dominate half a million hectares of grazing country.
Contact Keith McDougall, DECC Queanbeyan, (02) 6229 7111, Keith.McDougall@environment.nsw.gov.au or Michael Michelmore, DPI Goulburn, (02) 4828 6617, michael.michelmore@dpi.nsw.gov.au
