Fire ants are closing down sports fields as more than 50 nests found on an oval
The spread of fire ants across the city is worse than initially reported, with the City confirming some sports fields have more than 50 nests.
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The spread of fire ants across the city is worse than initially reported, with the City confirming some sports fields have more than 50 nests.
Councillors backed a recommendation from committee chair Hermann Vorster that CEO Tim Baker write to government bureaucrats seeking better updates on ant infestations on state land.
The City on Monday confirmed 10 of its sports parks have been closed in the past two months — each for a week at a time.
Those facilities include Coomera Parts Park, Viney Park, Helensvale Rugby Park, Oxenford Park, Ormeau Sports Park and Norfolk Park.
Other grounds to be closed were Pimpama Island Recreation Reserve, Zipfs Park, Cooke Murphy Oval and Cos Zantiotis Park.
Mapping provided by the National Fire Ant Eradication program confirms the challenge.
In the past 12 months there were 135 sightings at Pimpama, 86 at Upper Coomera and 90 at Coomera through to Hope Island on the eastern side of the M1.
Northern-based councillor Mark Hammell said fire ants were shutting down sports events.
“City officers recently found 56 fire ant nests at Ormeau Sports Park, forcing the closure of the Ormeau AFL ground while treatment occurred,” he said.
“We also had 50 fire ant nests found in Norfolk Park, which forced our Ormeau soccer fields to be closed while they were eradicated.
“Last year we also undertook treatment for fire ant nests at the Pimpama Sports Hub and surrounding area.”
Fire ant activity at Pimpama Island Recreation Reserve halted the use of the cricket ground while treatment occurred.
“We need to be very aware of these colonies – they spread quickly and can have a detrimental impact on the lifestyle of our community,” Cr Hammel said.
Southport-based councillor Brooke Patterson on her Facebook page recently updated residents on a new fire ant outbreak.
She said four fire ant nests have been located and treated at Musgrave Sports Park.
The nests were located at the southern end of a football field and surrounding the clubhouse,.
“All active nests have been treated and field closure signs have been erected. The area will continue to be monitored over the coming days,” Cr Patterson wrote.
Residents responding to the posts said the fire ants have “crossed to Olsen Avenue” — one of the suburb’s busiest link roads.
Requests were made to council to obtain exact locations but that data remains with Biosecurity Queensland.
Councillors are struggling to get exact locations of infestations on State land.
“Fire ant locations is a matter for Biosecurity Queensland and specific data on locations and dates does not sit with the City,” a City spokesperson said.
“The closure of parks and facilities is dependent on the number of nests and their location. As we mainly control bookings within sports parks and these have the most use and potential impact, over the past two months we have closed 10 sports parks for approximately one week. “Most of these have only been part closures specifically to the playing surface due to the nest locations.”
The National Fire Ant Eradication Program says fire ant biosecurity zones are one of the key measures currently in place in parts of South East Queensland to help prevent the human-assisted movement of materials which can carry fire ants.
“Our plan to eradicate fire ants involves reducing the size of the infestation in a staged, rolling treatment program starting from the west in the Lockyer Valley and progressively moving east towards the coast,” a spokesperson said.
“It takes everyone working together to stop the spread of fire ants, and the community play a key role in looking for and reporting fire ants in South East Queensland.”
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