Alice Springs Landcare, incorporated in 2008, is a volunteer group that encourages community involvement in caring for the local environment. Spurred on by recognition of the devastating effect weed grasses, such as buffel, have on fire regimes, the group formed to help build capacity within the community to deal with the issue.
We operate by having an overarching committee that hosts branches co-ordinated by people interested in a specific area around town. At the moment we have active branches in Ankerre Ankerre (Coolibah Swamp), Eastside Community Garden (Eastside), Lhere Mparntwe (Todd River), Northside (Maynard Pk and Charles River), and Spencer Valley (Old Eastside). Ilparpa Valley is currently without a co-ordinator. During the “fighting season” from March till October we have a community field day at an established site. These are opportunities to see what is achievable and accelerate the progress at that site based on what the branch co-ordinator’s priorities.
Passionate people come and go in the red centre as do the natural cycles that continue to shape the landscape. The boom years of high rainfall are times of peak activity in field work while the lean or droughted years are times for Alice Springs Landcare to take stock and prepare for when good rains return.
The group works to protect and restore native habitat by reducing the fire risk caused by introduced grasses such as buffel and couch. We use an integrated approach to weed control that involves slashing and physical removal combined with herbicide application. With care and persistence it is possible to allow native groundcovers to recolonise the space that problem weeds such as Buffel, couch, and African lovegrass have occupied and return areas to stable, low flammability highly diverse sites.
Stable areas allow the native seed that still persists in the environment to complete another life cycle free from burning, mowing or grading. This creates a living seed store that provides opportunities to demonstrate what is possible with different management regimes and what country may have looked like pre-colonisation.
One downside of walking round in the bush is you notice other things. Several species of Cactus have escaped from gardens and invaded areas around town so the group has also been active reoving plants from various locations. Other impacts that apill over the blurred line between the town and the bush give rise to a myriad of other issues ranging from erosion to rubbish dumping. Buffel grass, at one time promoted as a remedy for erosion, has now entered a cycle, combined with off-road vehicle use, where erosion may accelerate due to repeated fires, fire control activity, and reduction of overland water.
The wide range of knowledge and experience help by ASL members, is allowing us to contribute to a variety of advisory groups, school’s programs, and public information events.
The vast arid lands of Australia cover 70% of the continent. While we have some true deserts, much of central Australia is well vegetated and incredibly diverse. This richness is on display around Alice Springs due to it being nestled in the confluence of the usually dry Todd (Lhere Mparntwe) and CHarles (Anthelke Ulpaye) rivers and between the worn remnants of a huge mountain range (Tjoritja). The variety provided by this particular geomorphology is what has allowed Arrernte people to maintain a strong and vibrant culture here for thousands of years. It is what gives today’s Alice Springs a backdrop with 27 different vegetation units and a landscape that captures the imagination. It is what leads to sites, where Landcare activity has persisted, to present over 100 different plant species in areas no bigger than a football field.
The wildflower season of 2024 was testament to this and many of our sites, despite decades of abuse, still hold a plethora of native seed. Arid environments are extreme and so have developed resilience. Long lived seeds and cycles measured in decades is what enables this environment to flourish but right now it needs your help. We need more people, looking after more places to honour the land we live on, the people who came before us, and leave those who follow us more than photographs and paintings of what could have been.
