mesquite[ABC News 11 Jan 2011 by By Cherie McDonald and Natalie Whiting] -- Far western New South Wales is being told to act now to prevent a noxious weed taking hold of pastoral land. The Western Catchment Management Authority (CMA) says the greater Broken Hill region has been identified as possibly the country's most important site in the fight against mesquite. Infestations of the aggressive bush have been found around Broken Hill, Silverton, Packsaddle, Menindee and Wilcannia. Matt Goulton from the CMA says workshops are being organised to advise graziers on what action needs to be taken. "I know in the Northern Territory and Western Australia there's large areas of properties that are totally unusable for grazing and that's what we're really trying to avoid in the Broken Hill region," he said. "I think we're well on the way to achieving our targets, which is to reduce the infestation areas to core infestations and from then wok towards eradication."He says there is still time to act.
"Broken Hill has been identified by the state and national prickle bush working groups, who provide advice on mesquite strategy, as probably the most important infestation area in Australia because of, I guess, our ability to contain them now and to stop the infestations reaching the point that is seen in the Northern Territory and Western Australia," he said.
Article: WeedsNews2745 (permalink) Date: 11 January 2012; 3:23:44 PM AEDT