Natural Asset Management - March 2014

Up until 2012 an eradication program was in place led by Biosecurity Queensland.  The program itself had a somewhat chequered history and was plagued by inadequate resourcing during the course of its life up until the Queensland Government chose to abandon eradication as a goal.  A glimmer of hope is on the horizon with WTMA successfully securing funding for a five year program from the Commonwealth Government.  Important for northern Queensland is that this resource is more substantial than any other investment to date and it essentially provides a second chance to eradicate YCA from the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.  Hopefully this will provide the tools and momentum to also see them gone from the entire region.

Yellow Crazy Ants should be of universal concern to all local governments across the north.  Reading through landholder's accounts of what it is like to live within the infested area in Edmonton is harrowing to say the least and we can only speculate what the flow-on effects and stresses would be for councils and communities if the situation deteriorates further and we end up with multiple infestations across the region.

During the week of 24-28 March 2014 local governments will be partnering with WTMA and CVA with technical support from BQ in a task force operation which will assist in identifying the western boundary of the yellow crazy ant infestation in the foothills behind Edmonton and Bentley Park. The operation will be hosted through the Resource Sharing in Joint Operations MOU which FNQROC and member councils have had in place since 2010.  Based on the outcomes of this the first round of aerial baiting will be delivered prior to the end of the wet in order to prevent the colonies spreading further into inaccessible terrain.

In the coming months and years there will be continuing opportunities for local governments to learn more about YCA and how they can support the program.  Early detection and response to new outbreaks is vital, so ensuring field staff have the skills to identify out-of-the ordinary ant behaviour is important.  Other ants giving us a hard time include Electric ants (northern beaches, Mission Beach, Koah, Kuranda Port Douglas) and Singapore ants (recently detected in Wujal Wujal). Singapore ants (Monomorium destructor) are widely distributed throughout Australia.  They are mostly a problem with infrastructure, where they are attracted to power points and electrical items.  Within Top End Aboriginal communities Singapore ants are estimated to cause more than $1 million damage each year to electrical items.  Singapore ants bite and have an irritating sting.

For more information visit this DAFF website.

Upcoming events:

Far North Queensland Pest Advisory Forum (FNQPAF) in conjunction with the Innisfail Agricultural Field Day - March 20, Innisfail Showgrounds

NAMAC – March 21, Innisfail

Yellow Crazy Ant Taskforce – March 24-28, Edmonton

For more information or to keep abreast of new developments and forums in this space join our mailing list to recive meeting notifications go to the regions very own resource at the Far North Queensland Pest Advisory Forum website.