Warning over 'terrifying' invasive threat taking over Aussie outback: 'Really dangerous'
The 'terrible, flammable, really dangerous grass' is causing huge issues in the Northern Territory, Queensland and WA.
At first glance, the large patch of tall, thin weeds sprouting from the dirt, surrounded by native trees, looks like a typical outback setting. However, the seemingly innocent scene pictured above is anything but pleasing to the eye — and should in fact prompt tears of concern, experts have warned.
The “dense” growth is actually gamba grass, a “really terrifying” invasive weed that has fuelled devastating bushfires and will continue to do so if more is not done to combat the problem, Dr Carol Booth told Yahoo News Australia on Friday.
“At the moment gamba grass has invaded about 4 per cent of the area it could invade, so it’s one of these grasses, where you look into the future and you just want to cry. It’s just really concerning,” the Invasive Species Council principal policy analyst said.
'Really dangerous' gamba grass taking over northern Australia
The grass is native to Africa but was widely promoted to the pasture industry and planted in the 1980s. It has now become a huge pest in Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia, which is currently on track to eradicate the issue. The state was able to launch into action before it was widely cultivated.
While the grass was listed as a weed of national significance in 2012, models estimate that it could potentially invade 380,000 square kilometres — bigger than the entire country of Japan — if further methods are not implemented, Dr Booth said. It's already consumed roughly 20 per cent of NT's Litchfield National Park.
“Across the north it’s going to be a big problem. The less Australia deals with this grass, then we’re just going to have terrible, flammable, really dangerous grass taking over the north. The fires that it fuels burn five to 20 times more intensely than native grasses do. That’s the scary thing.
“They’re so hot that they kill trees, so if you have these repeat fires you can basically turn a savannah woodland — our wonderful northern woodland — into a monoculture of an African grass.”
Also worrisome, bushfires create the perfect conditions for gamba grass to “keep progressing”.
“The other thing it does is it changes the nutrient cycles in the soil to benefit itself, which also then creates this positive feedback loop where it can keep spreading,” Dr Booth explained, adding more funding is needed to help tackle the issue.
The Invasive Species Council would also like to see proper assessments in Queensland.
“We’re in that dangerous stage of the longer you leave it, the more difficult it becomes, and the more impossible it will become to manage this grass.”
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Calls to deem buffel grass a weed of national significance
Gamba isn’t the only African grass causing chaos. The widely-planted buffel grass is “slowly being recognised as a threat”, Dr Booth said, despite heavy residence from the grazing industry.
Although it can be found across the country, it has only been declared as a weed by the Northern Territory and South Australia, the latter of which is “really leading the way” in management.
Experts are calling for buffel grass, which is still allowed to be imported, to be listed nationally following concerns it is creeping into new areas via busy trucking routes, the ABC reported in August.
“That’s going to be an interesting one to watch, because it’s, it’s already causing enormous damage in Central Australia and Western Queensland,” Dr Booth said.
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