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First Bullet bang on target

Residents of the Queensland section of the Lake Eyre Basin now have an independent voice for opinions and points of view relating to these unique inland river catchments and how we best manage them for the future.

The first edition of the recently launched electronic newsletter, the ‘Basin Bullet’ was bang on target according to Leanne Kohler, Executive Officer of the publisher, Desert Channels Queensland.

	DCQ's e-zine, The Basin Bullet will be available on this website as soon as possible but until then can be obtained at info@dcq.org.au

“The Basin Bullet is certainly a vehicle for Desert Channels Queensland to get better known around the region,” says Leanne, “but it’s also much more; it’s an independent voice for the people of the region.”

“Our independent editor, Bruce Honeywill is not only a highly experienced and regarded journalist, documentary maker and magazine editor, he walks these catchments with an open heart, a keen eye and an enquiring mind, and he has a great affinity with the people who call the region home.”

The concept for the Basin Bullet came from Bruce who has been engaged by Desert Channels Queensland, the regional natural resource management body for that part of Queensland , to implement some specific awareness raising activities.

“What I wanted to deliver,” he explains, “is not just the DCQ message, but a voice for the people.  The Bullet is not a propaganda sheet, it’s news, opinions, information, recipes and the region presented through art, be that fiction, photos, paintings or poetry.”

Unsolicited feedback on the Bullet has ranged from, ‘Well done with the Basin Bullet; it's excellent. Congratulations!!’ to ‘Love the format - nice and easy to read…great stories…top marks to the production team’, and ‘Well I've bitten the "The Bullet', and survived.’

If you’d like to contribute to the Basin Bullet, you can contact the independent editor, Bruce Honeywill, on 0407 337 798 or bhoneywill@bigpond.com.  To subscribe to the Basin Bullet, or for more information on the work of Desert Channels Queensland, call 4658 0600 or email info@dcq.org.au.

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Residents urged to track nomads

Longreach based natural resource management group, Desert Channels Queensland is urging landholders to be part of a new three year research project examining the ecology and management requirements of that nomadic wanderer of the black-soil grasslands, the Flock Pigeon (Phaps histrionica).

			Once seen in 100,000 strong flocks, the Flock Pigeon (Phaps histrionica) was feared extinct around 1900 due to pot-hunting, foxes and habitat loss.

This striking native bird was once found in ‘countless millions’ throughout semi-arid Australia , but has suffered a substantial decline over the last century.

While the Flock Pigeon can sometimes still occur in flocks of thousands in what appear to be their remaining strongholds, the Northern Territory ’s Barkly Tableland and Queensland ’s Channel Country, they have, sadly, disappeared from large areas of their former range.

Peter Dostine, a PhD student from Australian National University aims to find out why, and what we can do to ensure they don’t vanish completely.  He is leading a research project with support from the Australian Research Council and the Northern Territory Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment.

“We don’t know much about this bird other than they are nomadic seed-eaters that travel large distances to locate feeding areas after good rainfall,” he said.

He said this mobility made it very important to devise conservation strategies for the birds in partnership with landholders.

Landholders throughout the range of the Flock Pigeon can make a significant contribution to this project later in the year when a survey is posted to properties throughout northern and central Australia , seeking information on if and when the birds have been seen there.

Throughout the study, Flock Pigeons will be captured and sampled for diet and body condition.  Some will be fitted with satellite transmitters to track when, where and why they move about their extensive range as seasonal conditions change.

Mr Dostine said that working with landholders on the project will provide vital information and a long-term perspective on the ecology of this species.

“We hope the project can provide insights as to how country can best be managed for both pastoral productivity and the maintenance of habitat for wildlife like the Flock Pigeon, to ensure they remain an inspiring feature of our landscape,” he said.

Peter Dostine can be contacted by telephone on (08) 8944 8475, by email at peter.dostine@nt.gov.au, or by mail at PO Box 496 , Palmerston , NT 0831.

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West Shines at State Awards

Groups involved in natural resource management across the Desert Channels region shone at the recent Queensland Landcare awards in Barcaldine, with three winners, a runner-up and a highly commended across five of the ten categories.

Longreach-based regional group, Desert Channels Queensland won the prestigious Australian Government Landcare Regional Award for its innovative and highly successful work in reinvigorating local Landcare across the region.

	Desert Channels Queensland Chair, Peter Douglas and Minister for Natural Resources and Mines, Henry Palaszczuk.

Through investments of more than half a million dollars the group has successfully reignited participation in Landcare activities on more than 200 properties across the region where the capacity to deal with land-management issues on a broad scale had been sapped by long-term drought conditions.

“This award is tremendous recognition for the all the hard work put in by landholders, our staff and Board members,” says DCQ’s Executive Officer, Leanne Kohler .

“We’re getting good awareness of Landcare and natural resource management generally and that can only be good news for the third of Queensland that is Desert Channels Queensland.”

Hosts of the Landcare conference at which the awards were held, Desert Uplands Committee, took out the Australian Government Bushcare Nature Conservation Award in recognition of their outstanding efforts in on-ground nature conservation.

They also celebrated 10 years of working with their community on the sustainable management of the natural resources of the Desert Uplands bioregion, a designated biodiversity hotspot.

Also in the winner’s circle was the Towerhill & Torrens Creek Landcare Group with the Alcoa Landcare Community Group Award.  This group has been very active in the headwaters of the Cooper Creek catchment working on weed control and property management planning.

The Winton Shire Council was runner-up in the Landcare Australia Local Government Landcare Community Partnerships Award.  This council has been a great support to its land management community, particularly in weed control.

The fifth finalist from the Desert Channels Queensland region was the Aramac Landcare Group which was Highly Commended in the Murray Darling Basin Commission Rivercare Award for its weed control work along waterways.

“These awards are great recognition for the blood, sweat and tears of everyone involved in Landcare in the region,” says Ms Kohler.

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Jobs – Better Land – Better Water (Million Dollar Investment)

More than a million dollars will be invested in on-ground projects to reduce weed problems, improve grazing efficiency and help ensure clean and adequate water and sustainable industries for the future.

The million dollar plus cash flow will provide employment opportunities and strengthen land and water programs in Western Queensland .

The funds are outlined in Desert Channels Queensland’s Regional Investment Strategy launched this weekend at the Landcare Conference in Barcaldine.

Executive Officer of Desert Channels Queensland , Leanne Kohler , said the investment comes from Natural Heritage Trust funding.

“The funds are devolved from the Government through Desert Channels Queensland to Landcare groups, individuals and other groups in Western Queensland ,” said Ms Kohler.

“The Regional Investment Strategy is another example of the important role DCQ is playing as a catalyst between Government and people and groups actually carrying out on-ground works,” she said.

The Regional Investment Strategy outlines the million dollars to be spent in projects on the land, with water, supporting the community, helping biodiversity, indigenous land management and cultural heritage.

Land projects will help maintain pastoral land where it is in good condition and assist in rehabilitation where there is deterioration at a first year cost of $360,554.00.

The Water Program will assist communities and landholders to maintain water quality, develop water use efficiencies and create projects to help maintain important wetlands at a cost of $193,798.00.

The Community Program will fund projects to help build the capacity, knowledge and awareness of land holders and communities at a one-year cost of $432,436.00.

The Biodiversity Program will support on-ground projects to enhance biodiversity and increase public awareness of its importance in developing sustainable industries at a cost of $148,729.00.

The Indigenous Program will create projects to involve the indigenous community and place cultural heritage in natural resource management decisions at a first year cost of $45,069.00.

“A clear goal in developing these investments is to ensure integration and the potential to deliver tangible outcomes across multiple programs,” Leanne Kohler said.

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Camels and Goats do the Work

Camels and goats are working around the clock to reduce the weeds on a property in the Winton District.

Sixty interested people turned up to watch the animals browse a stand of Prickly Acacia as part of an innovations field day demonstrating various ways to control the woody weed on The Grove on Tuesday (12^th July).

A wide range of control measures were on display, including a mulcher, techniques using a heavy loader, and a front-mounted Ellrott blade plough.

People attending the field day saw first-hand that the answer to weed infestation is not only chemicals and heavy machinery.

“The results that David and Maree Jones are getting here at the Grove shows that innovation and adaptive management are the keys,” says Damian Byrne, Weeds and Feral Animals Project Officer with Longreach-based Desert Channels Queensland.

“Using camels and goats in conjunction with more traditional methods can not only increase effectiveness but reduce the cost of control.  We saw country on Tuesday that had been chained and the goats have killed all the regrowth.”

The field day was jointly organised by Desert Channels Queensland and the Winton Shire Council.

		David and Maree Jones addressing attendees at The Grove field day.

Control of Prickly Acacia costs Australia around $60 million per year.  More than six million hectares are currently infested with the woody weed.

“It is important weeds like Prickly Acacia are kept under control in the river catchments,” said Mr Byrne, “so they do not escape to areas downstream where the plants have not yet taken hold.”

Desert Channels Queensland is a community based non-government organisation that assists landholders with funding, information, networks and expertise to manage our region’s natural resources for the future.

To date, they have overseen about $1 million of government investment in weed control across the region which has, in turn, stimulated a further $2 million of investment by landholders.

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Understanding and Time are the Keys

Desert Channels Queensland held a two day regional Indigenous forum in Longreach on the 30^th and 31^st of May with the aim of promoting cross-cultural understanding and Indigenous participation in formal natural resource management.

	Participants at the Indigenous forum held in Longreach on the 30th and 31st of May 2005.

The meeting brought traditional owners and Indigenous community leaders together to talk about the challenges they face in managing land and their potential involvement in the Desert Channels Queensland regional process.

The challenge faced by Desert Channels Queensland is that there are 14 language groups covering the region.  Finding a framework to give all groups a voice in the management of the region’s natural resources is not easy; having to do it within the time-constraints of external expectation only adds difficulty.

Forum facilitator and cultural awareness consultant, Tom Kirk said they were looking at getting representation on the Desert Channels Queensland committees through an Aboriginal process.  “Even though we had an Aboriginal style of day, we still had external timeframes to stick to,” he said.  “It’s difficult to balance the different styles of doing business.”

At the Desert Channels Queensland Board meeting in February, Mr Kirk delivered cultural awareness training to Board members and staff of the organisation.  This week, in Longreach, he delivered a similar program to the Indigenous forum.

“Participants looked at gaining an understanding of some difficult and complex issues,” he said.

“Not only are we an outcome of history, there’s a whole range of experiences in our lifetime that makes us what we are today.

“Among other things, we looked at Murri attitudes about non-indigenous people because we stereotype, distrust government and hold misconceptions just like anybody else.”

Speaking for the Bidjara and Kara-Kara people, forum participant Leann Wilson said it is very important that Aboriginal people are included in the formal natural resource management process right from the start.  “We can help develop it and move through the journey together,” she said.

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Acting the Goat on a Prickly Issue

Goats are playing the lead role in a new short film on prickly acacia control commissioned by Longreach-based regional body, Desert Channels Queensland, and produced by local documentary maker, Bruce Honeywill.

The ten minute presentation highlighting innovative prickly acacia control methods was shot recently on David and Maree Jones’ Winton district property, The Grove. When the Jones family bought the property five years ago, the infestations of this invasive weed were widespread and quite thick.  This has been turned around with a combination of goats, camels, chemical and mechanical techniques.

David Jones says the goats, with some help from camels, have been very effective.  “The goats eat everything they can reach and are really effective on the pulled country at getting rid of regrowth and seedlings.

“Anything the goats can’t reach, the camels can.  They eat the crowns out of the trees and particularly go for the flowers, which has got to reduce seed production.  While they’re browsing they often break limbs down and that puts it into reach of the goats.

“When we came here the prickle trees were so thick in places that you couldn’t ride through it; the goats have now got it to the stage where we can ride wherever we like.”

The film was commissioned by Desert Channels Queensland (DCQ) for use at the State Landcare Conference in Barcaldine at the beginning of August.

Executive Officer of DCQ, Leanne Kohler, says the film will not only be used at the conference to promote the successes of the region’s landholders in tackling difficult natural resource management issues, it will also be used for ongoing promotional work and to attract further funding to the region.

“The theme of the conference is ‘The Outback Speaks’,” says Mrs Kohler, “and, as a major supporter of the conference, we’ll be using a variety of ways to tell and show visitors from outside the region just how much landholders are doing out here to best manage our natural resources.

“Not only are most of them doing a great job, under very trying circumstances (with the ongoing drought), they’re being quite innovative at the same time.

Mrs Kohler says the four day Barcaldine conference, hosted by the Desert Uplands Committee which is a sub-regional group supported by Desert Channels Queensland, will attract around 350 people and is a rare opportunity to showcase the outback to the rest of the State

“People are going to go away thinking, ‘Gee, the Outback is a great place, and those who live there are doing some great work to keep it that way’.”

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Landholder Commitment Impresses Bureaucrat

The commitment and innovation of landholders to the sustainable management of the region’s natural resources has impressed Canberra bureaucrat, Colin Macdonald, during a recent trip through the area.

Colin Macdonald, a Regional Program Officer with the Department of Environment and Heritage, is the Commonwealth liaison officer for the Longreach-based regional body, Desert Channels Queensland (DCQ) and was in the west for its April Board meeting.

	Canberran, Colin Macdonald discussing weed control with Jim Lawrence of Cherhill, Aramac and DCQ's Steve Wilson.

Regional Coordinator for DCQ, Steve Wilson, says it was a great opportunity to take him bush.  “It was too good an opportunity to miss,” he says.

“We all get a better understanding of issues and perspectives if we experience them firsthand and when Colin came out for our latest Board meeting, he said he had time for a short trip.

“Well, we gave him a trip; it wasn’t short but he’s seen some country, met some people and seen the issues of the west.”

The two-day, 1,600 kilometre trip highlighted the challenges of managing natural resources over vast areas with few people and little money.

According to Mr Macdonald, he now has a greater understanding of not only the issues and challenges facing the region’s land managers, but also those that Desert Channels Queensland has to face with such a large area, high operating costs and modest budget.

“I’ve been particularly impressed by the commitment and innovation shown by landholders in tackling weeds, drought and other major natural resource management challenges, assisted by DCQ and local council staff.  Many of my colleagues in Canberra would benefit from also making such a trip.”

He had billy tea beside an artesian spring, inspected a fencing project designed to protect threatened sandhill habitat on the Diamantina and seen first-hand a wide range of weed control initiatives on extensive pastoral properties, including rubber-vine control work near Aramac and the use of chemicals, bulldozers and even goats and camels to control prickly acacia in other areas.

“It was great to get out into the real world, talk to landholders about the challenges of managing natural resources, and see what the landscape is really like.  Seeing it firsthand and discussing it with those directly involved has a much greater impact than when you read about it in reports.”

He says the trip also helped him to understand the challenges Desert Channels Queensland faces and the approaches it takes to tackle issues of regional priority like weeds and feral animals.

DCQ’s Regional Investment Strategy is currently being considered by Ministers.  Mr Macdonald is confident that, with DCQ’s experience and proven track record, the requested funding will help build partnership projects with landholders that will ensure the sustainable management of land and water resources, and the conservation and enhancement of wetlands and many other biodiversity features in what is one of Australia’s truly unique regions.

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Landholders learn mapping skills

Eleven landholders of the Tower Hill Torrens Creek Landcare Group have acquired mapping and other property planning skills in a series of recent training days funded through the Longreach-based regional body, Desert Channels Queensland.

The last of three full weekends of Property Management Planning training for the group was conducted in the Prairie Hall on the 16^th and 17^th of April by David Hickey from Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, Rockhampton.

	Members of the Tower Hill & Torrens Creek Landcare Groups soak up the property mapping tuition of David Hickey in the Prairie Hall.

Regional Coordinator for Desert Channels Queensland, Steve Wilson, said it was great to see landholders embracing the funding opportunities that the regional body is working hard to provide to the community.

“These guys are rapt that we’ve been able to help them,” he said.

“They’re a really go-ahead group who put together a funding application to us last year for this project to train their members in computer mapping and planning skills.”

Workshop participants had a wide range of computer skills but all learnt how to enter GPS points, fence-lines, roads and tracks, watering points weed infestations, Regional Ecosystems and a range of other things into their mapping software.  They also learnt how to manipulate that data to assist with management decisions.

According to Chairman of the Landcare Group, Clive Poole, the training will have long-term benefits to landholders.  “You only have to enter the stuff once,” he said, “then it’s like putting cellophane paper over a map, you just keep adding layers of information as you need them.

“We’re using the skills already; it’s a hell of a lot better than the old way.”

Steve Wilson says that he hopes other groups will look at similar innovative ways of putting available funds to work toward the goal of sustainable economic, social and ecological future for the region.

“We (Desert Channels Queensland) are working hard to get as much investment into the region as we can.  In fact our latest funding round of $330,000 has just closed and I’m sure that among the applications there will be more like the Tower Hill Torrens Creek Landcare Group one.

“It’s really great to see the funding we’ve been able to get (for our region) is being put to such good use.”

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Cooperation Between Shires on Weeds and Ferals

A recent Longreach meeting to coordinate local governments’ pest plant and animal control and eradication efforts across the Desert Channels Queensland region has been hailed as a great success.

“We had 36 people along and really achieved a lot more than we thought we would,” said an enthusiastic Damian Byrne, the Project Officer for Desert Channels Queensland’s Cross-Catchments Weeds and Feral Animals Initiative.

	Some of the 36 participants at the March Regional Local Government Pest Planning Workshop under the expert facilitation of Chris Capel.

The 2 day Regional Local Government Pest Planning Workshop, hosted by Desert Channels Queensland and organised by Mr Byrne was attended by mayors, councillors, CEOs and Shire Rural Lands Officers from most shires in the region.  There were also representatives from the State departments of Natural Resources, Environment Protection, Main Roads and Qld Rail.  LGAQ were also represented.  All up there were about 36 participants not including the DCQ staff.

“The last time a similar meeting was held was 5 years ago,” said Mr Byrne.

“A lot has happened in the meantime: what started out as the Cross-Catchments Weeds Initiative with the Cooper’s Creek and Georgina Diamantina catchment committees has now been expanded to include feral animals.”

This initiative not only accessed funding for weed control, it generated cooperative control projects and led to the development of the Shire Rural Lands Officers Group of Western Queensland which concentrates on inter-shire cooperation at the operational level.

The logical next step in maximising the effectiveness of funding on weeds and ferals, according to Damian Byrne, was to have cooperation and planning across local governments and State departments at the management level.

“Under the expert facilitation of Chris Capel of Longreach DPI, we came out of this meeting with a draft regional pest management plan,” he said. 

“The Regional Local Government Pest Working Group – DCQ Region was formed to further develop this plan over the next 6 months.  It consists of 2 CEOs, 2 councillors, 4 Shire Rural Lands Officers, 1 Dept NR&M rep, 1 DCQ board member and myself as secretary.  We aim to have the management plan finalised, approved and operational by the end of September.”

This comprehensive plan will prioritise areas in the region for control, identify areas where local governments can work together on control, set out emergency response plans, mapping and surveying prioritisation, along with quarantine measures for the region.

In addition to assisting local governments to work more efficiently and effectively together, this process will provide Desert Channels Queensland with a powerful lever to tap into more pest control funding for the region.

“All funders like to see that those they are funding know what they’re doing and are committed to the task,” said Damian Byrne, “and this plan will definitely show that.”

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Spotlighting Weeds and Ferals

The strategic control of weeds and feral animals will be under the spotlight of Desert Channels Queensland and 16 local governments when they meet in Longreach on the 30^th and 31^st March for the Regional Local Government Workshop.

It will see Councillors, Chief Executive Officers and Rural Lands Officers come together to develop a strategic plan to control weeds and ferals in Desert Channels Queensland (DCQ) region.

Damian Byrne, Project Officer with DCQ’s Cross-Catchments Weed and Feral Animal Initiative says this workshop is important in progressing the good work already done in this area by the Shire Rural Lands Officers’ Group of Western Queensland.

“These blokes (Rural Lands Officers) have been working really hard over the last several years to help each other and to take a regional rather than shire approach to weed and feral control,” he says.

“Weeds and ferals don’t stop at lines (shire boundaries or state borders) we draw on a map so it’s really important that we all work together on control, eradication and the establishment of buffer zones.

“This workshop gives us all the opportunity to see and understand what everyone else is doing and to work out the most efficient and cost-effective ways to work together.

The workshop has been organised by Desert Channels Queensland in its role of working with all sectors of the community to tackle the issues that affect the way we sustainably use the natural resources of the region and to make the most out of available funding.

Weeds and feral animals cause more than $600 million in lost production each year in Queensland; a cost borne by the whole community.

“Regional planning is required so shires can see the bigger picture and see what pests (weeds and feral animals) may be going to impact on them in them future,” says Mr Byrne.

“If the elected representatives and managers of the shires can see and understand what’s happening outside their shire, they can plan and commit resources for prevention.”

The expected benefits from such a cooperative approach are better understanding, integrated control, good compliance, and a greater ability to attract resources.

“When dealing with weeds and ferals prevention is by far the best strategy,” says Damian Byrne.

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$330,000 Investment in the Region's Future

Desert Channels Queensland has secured a further $330,000 of Landcare Community Support Program funding to invest in the future of the region.

Jundah district grazier and Chair of Desert Channels Queensland, Peter Douglas, said it is the second significant investment the regional body has made in the region in the last 12 months.

“We funded 18 projects last year to the tune of $360,000,” he said.  “That was out of a total of 35 applications so I reckon there’ll be plenty of competition for this current round of funding.”

The funds will be used on projects that make a strong contribution to the natural resource management priorities set by the community of the region.  These include reducing the impact of weeds and feral animals; preventing the decline in, or restoring, ground cover; protecting or restoring aquatic ecosystems; and improving the condition of endangered species or regional ecosystems.

“People think we’re a bunch of greenies, says Mr Douglas, “nothing could be further from the truth: we’re about making sure our kids have got a future in this region.”

“This group (Desert Channels Queensland) is mainly made up of producers who are committed to managing the country for the long-term and not wasting or ruining our resources for short-term gains.

“You hear a lot of jargon like ‘sustainable NRM’, ‘ecological sustainability’, and ‘project outcomes’ but it boils down to this, if we want our kids to be able to earn a living off this land then we better make sure we’re not doing the wrong thing.

“We have to correct any mistakes we made in the past and build on all the things we’ve been doing right, not just for our own sakes but for the sake of our kids and grandkids.”

Desert Channels Queensland has developed a Regional Investment Strategy that is currently before Federal and State ministers for endorsement.  When endorsed, it will release a further $5.1 million over the next three years into the region from the Commonwealth’s Natural Heritage Trust for investment in sustainable natural resource management projects.

Desert Channels Queensland covers the Queensland section of the Lake Eyre Basin and is assisted with its work by its implementation groups, Georgina Diamantina Catchment Committee, Cooper’s Creek Catchment Committee and the Desert Uplands Committee.

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DCQ's Bellyache Cure

Desert Channels Queensland is working closely with shire councils and landholders in the battle against weeds in the east of the region.

In mid January, Desert Channels Queensland staff got together with landholders and the Shire Rural Lands Officers from Barcaldine, Tambo and Ilfracombe shires to conduct strategic control spraying of Bellyache Bush on Busthinia, 40 kilometres east of Barcaldine.

Damian Byrne, the Cross Catchments Weeds and Feral Animal Initiative Project Officer with Desert Channels Queensland, said it was not only a highly strategic infestation to control, it was a great way to encourage cooperation between the shires and their Lands Officers to learn more about this relatively unknown, but highly invasive plant.

“There are only a couple of patches of Bellyache Bush in the Desert Channels region and this is the most southern and isolated one,” he said.

“It’s a huge threat to the region; everyone knows that weeds don’t stop at property or shire boundaries, so it was very strategic for us to all get together and control it before it has the time to spread.”

Bellyache Bush is another in a long line of garden plant escapees that quickly take over in suitable Australian conditions where they have no natural control like predators, parasites or disease.  Bellyache Bush infests gully areas, forming dense canopies and out-competing pasture and native plants.  The Busthinia infestation came from one plant in a homestead garden.

Damian Byrne said the cooperative spraying day was not just about stopping the spread of a new weed, it was also an education and awareness opportunity for the Shire Rural Lands Officers.

“Once you’ve sprayed a plant for a day you don’t forget it very quickly,” he said.  “Even though spraying weeds isn’t the most pleasant activity these shire officers were keen to look at a different weed and I think this infestation impressed them too with its incredible density and ability to spread.”

Desert Channels Queensland will be organising more of these cooperative days to increase the knowledge of land managers and to halt the spread of weeds throughout the region.

In a first for the region, at the end of March they will be hosting a Regional Local Government Pest Management Planning workshop with 16 local governments to, among other things, identify more areas of high strategic value throughout the region where shires can work collaboratively.

In the last six years, under the Cross Catchments Weeds and Feral Animal Initiative, landholders of the region have added more than $1.5 million of their own money to almost $1 million dollars from the National Weeds Program and the National Landcare Program for the control of weeds in the Desert Channels Queensland region.

The current annual cost of weeds to the Queensland community is more than $500 million.

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