NTG commits $1m in funding to tackle scourge of invasive grasses

The funding includes an ongoing annual commitment of $750,000 for the strategic management of buffel grass, including $575,000 for program management, planning and technical services.

Gamba grass is highly flammable and can increase the intensity and frequency of bushfires.

The Territory government will set aside $1m in this year’s budget for the management of the invasive buffel and gamba grasses which threaten biodiversity and raise the risk of bushfire.

Buffel and gamba are highly flammable and increase the intensity and frequency of fires, impact the biodiversity of the natural environment and are a particular scourge in Central Australia.

It comes after the government formed a technical working group to address environmental concerns around buffel grass last year.

The group recommended a weed advisory committee be formed to build on its findings and develop a management plan, with a view to declaring buffel grass a weed.

The new funding will go towards buffel grass management strategies that will be informed by the committee, which is considering priority areas and methods where direct management of buffel grass will be most effective.

The funding includes an ongoing annual commitment of $750,000 for the strategic management of buffel grass, including $575,000 for program management, planning and technical services.

Another $50,000 will go towards a fire ready (south) program that adapts the successful northern program to Central Australian conditions, with $75,000 allocated for a herbicide program in Central Australia.

A further $50,000 will go towards mapping and data analysis while $250,000 will be invested annually to continue to manage gamba grass in Litchfield National Park.

Environment, Climate Change and Water Security Minister Kate Worden said “ensuring our natural environment remains protected from invasive grasses” was “a priority”.

“It is critical that we manage the impacts of invasive grasses like buffel and gamba to reduce their impacts on our natural environment and our national parks,” she said.

“There is also still a role to play for buffel grass with pastoralists and we understand the importance it plays for cattle feed.”