[ABC News: Fri Oct 9, 2009 10:13am AEDT] A new environment threat is emerging in the New South Wales Snowy Mountains. The National Parks and Wildlife Service says Hawkweed has become a menace in the big Kosciuszko reserve. It says the noxious plant has an attractive flower and is often found near former Snowy Hydro construction villages. Jindabyne Operations Coordinator, Anthony Evans, says bushwalkers are being asked to record the location of the weed but not to remove it without professional advice.
Orange Hawkweed flower
"It's such a huge area," he said. "While we're going to have large scale searches hopefully with the use of volunteers we can never cover every patch of dirt out there. "We will have signs at major track heads showing people what the flower looks like and hopefully if people think they have a positive identification they should let us know - not pull the plant out but let us know immediately."
