Natural Asset Management - December 2012
By: Travis Sydes, Regional Natural Assets Management Coordinator ...
National Weeds of National Significance coordination may cease next year
Word on the street is the Federal Government has determined to cease resourcing national coordination of Weeds of National Significance sometime next year (the current communication is that the Commonwealth has confirmed it cannot confirm the continued national resourcing of the coordinators). This year, 12 new species came onto the national WoNS list and stakeholders have been engaged in the development of the National Management Strategies for each candidate weed over the past six months. This announcement comes as a bit of shock given that the national strategic plans for some of the new WoNS weeds have not been completed yet, and many of the updated strategies for the existing 20 species have not seen the light of day since we participated in their review some 18 months ago.
Siam weed national containment strategy development
The Tropical Weeds Operational Committee met recently to workshop the shape and form of a national containment strategy approach for the transition of the national cost shared siam weed eradication program. A second workshop is being held in the Townsville region and from there we should begin to get an idea of what future prospects look like. Paramount to this is that we will have no idea of what role the Queensland Government and other jurisdictions will play in an ongoing program until the team (working under some extraordinarily compact timelines) comes up with a strategy for their consideration. This is all new ground and we are lobbying for the best outcomes for the region given the considerable investment Local Government and others have made to date, but time will tell.
Northern Biodioversity Fund call for expressions of interest
There has a been a rush of activity as a result of the Northern Australian call for expressions of interest for the next round of the National Biodiversity Fund. There are a wide range of projects on the table across the gulf, cape and coast. FNQROC member councils are both supporting and submitting bids on a range of biodiversity and pest/weed management projects. What is welcomed is the first round of submissons require an EOI rather than a full application which is direct way to reduce stakeholder investment in slim chance project submissions which draw an innordinate amount of our time. It is nice to see the Federal Government has taken the overwhelming feedback from stakeholders on board.
Projects underway
It has been a busy month on the project front with development of the Cairns Regional Council biodiversity overlays and code for CRC's revised planning scheme. The Bloomfield Link Study is out for consultation, the Hinchinbrook Pest Management Plan has been released for comment, and by no means least the first relocation of horses from Wujal Wujal to Normanby Station in the Bloomfield Valley Horse Management Plan has taken place.
Cape York Peninsula Pest Advisory Group
The Cape York Peninsula Pest Advisory Group and Forum was hosted in Coen in November 2012. Delegates from right across the cape and the Far North joined in the six monthly meeting to discuss the business end of weeds and pest animals, and to share updates on projects from across the region. Following the forum, FNQROC co-hosted a workshop to progress the operational plan for the FNQ/Cape York Peninsula gamba grass project.