On the front line fighting Gamba grass (Part 4) ft. Joey Buckerfield, Big Rivers Weed Management

06/28/23 • 0 min

Our Territory, Our Future

Previous Episode

What is being done about Gamba Grass? (Part 3) ft. Diego Alvarez and James Pike, Territory NRM

When Gamba Grass was first introduced into Australia, many had high hopes for its value as a livestock feed.

However, today it is a declared weed of national significance.

My name is Steph Coombes, and in this episode I sit down with Diego Alvarez and James Pike, who both work with Gamba Grass under different projects run by Territory NRM.

Diego is a project officer who works alongside various stakeholder groups, including many Indigenous ranger groups operating in the Eradication Zone. In his role he supports land managers to achieve strategic gamba management with a view to eradication. Much closer to town, James has spent the last season leading the Gamba Army, operating amongst other stakeholders and land managers to achieve a coordinated Gamba management response across different land types and tenures in the greater Darwin area.

This episode is Part 3 in a 4 part series. In part 1 we heard from an ecologist to get the lowdown on Gamba Grass, in episode 2 we heard from Senior District Rangers about their experience managing Gamba grass in national parks, and in Part 4 we’ll hear from a local contractor about what’s involved in the fight against gamba grass.

This episode is supported by the Australian Government's National Landcare Program.

Next Episode

The challenges in protecting native vegetation ft. Danny Hayes, Mainoru Station

Mainoru Station is a 1300 km2 cattle station, 250km north east of Katherine. In the 10 years since Danny and Cathy Hayes purchased it, they have been relying predominantly on native vegetation for the cattle production system.

In this episode Danny shares the challenges he has in managing his native pastures, including below average rainfall, grazing pressure from both cattle, feral animals, and wildlife, and of course weeds.

He also discusses the Territory Conservation Agreement he entered into, how and why he chose the site he did, and what he hopes to achieve.

A Territory Conservation Agreement supports land managers to protect areas of conservation importance on their properties.

They are a 10-year voluntary agreements between Territory Natural Resource Management (TNRM) and a land manager.

The program is supported through funding from the Australian Government's National Landcare Program. The agreement is a contract, but it is not registered upon the title of the property or binding to future owners.

My name is Steph Coombes, and for this episode I travelled to Mainoru Station to learn about how Danny manages his native vegetation, and what impact the Territory Conservation Agreement will have.

This episode is supported by the Australian Government's National Landcare Program.