Weedwalkers In Action:
Helping to protect Litchfield’s Habitats
Armed with spray packs and determination, Weedwalkers Top End volunteers spend every wet season in Litchfield National Park tackling one of its greatest threats — invasive gamba grass, they traverse on steep gullies, creek lines and waterfalls (stopping for the odd swim in gorgeous waterholes) while surveying and treating gamba infestations, to give native habitats a fighting chance.
“To think that within a year or two we may be struggling to find gamba in some of these beautiful places, once threatened by infestations large and small … it confirmed to us the benefits of doing what we’re doing,”
— Weedwalkers Top End volunteer
Each wet season volunteers make around a dozen trips into Litchfield’s Tabletop Range and Central Valley, mainly following up on previously treated sites. Gamba grass, an invasive grass from Africa which fuels several times more hotter and destructive fires than native grasses, can be locally eradicated from key areas to protect the biodiversity of riparian and monsoon forests and savanna woodland. Already, the difference is visible in key places treated by volunteers west of Florence Falls — native habitats are looking more and more free of infestation by gamba grass.
Learning and Connections
For Weedwalkers Top End, the work is about more than just protecting habitats from highly flammable invasive grasses. It’s also about learning and connection:
- Learning about the animals that depend on these habitats, who scientists say would lose their homes if invasive gamba grass took over — like bandicoots, phanigales, marsupial rodents and savanna gliders.
- Building volunteer skills to recognise tracks or spotlight at night to better understand what’s still out there.
A Bigger Picture for the Top End
Weedwalkers Top End’s efforts also speak to a broader reality in the Top End: invasive plants are spreading faster than agencies can respond (given the level of funding they choose to allocate to the problem). Until tools like drones and remote sensing become more widely available, skilled volunteer groups like Weedwalkers Top End may be a valuable weapon against gamba spread, particularly in rugged areas only accessible by foot.
“Weedwalkers challenge citizens who care about loss of habitats to take physical action, to give their effort and time to protect ancient savanna habitats. This Landcare group is unlike most, who focus on community involvement in protecting habitats on a very small scale. Weedwalkers operate at a much larger scale, tackling a dire and urgent threat to Top Enders’ favourite National Park (and a source of income for many tourism businesses).”
— Weedwalkers Top End
