Mond

Monday, 7 August 2006

SYKES: GRAZING MOKOAN WETLAND CONCERNS

Bill Sykes, Nationals Member for Benalla, has cautiously welcomed recommendations to use grazing as part of the weed management strategy for the proposed Mokoan wetlands but in doing so he has raised a series of concerns regarding the practicality and cost of the proposal.

The latest consultant’s report on rehabilitating Mokoan wetlands (in the event that the lake is decommissioned) recognised weeds, in particular phalaris, to be a major problem.

Dr Sykes said, “Weed control whilst revegetating up to 6,000 hectares is a formidable challenge.

“I and many other landholders know how hard it is to control weeds when revegetating creek frontages and creating wildlife corridors.

“It is especially challenging in the first few years when young trees, shrubs and grasses are particularly susceptible to competition from phalaris and other weeds but the use of stock to graze is generally not appropriate because of the damage caused by livestock to the desirable species being encouraged.

“Then when the vegetation is a few years old the DSE/DPI recommends ‘crash’ grazing rehabilitated areas with large numbers of stock for just a few days.

“You are talking about stocking densities of hundreds of dry sheep equivalents per hectare, having large mobs and relative small areas to graze on a rotational basis.

“For grazing to be effective to manage phalaris it needs to be done in a brief window of opportunity of about 30 days in late spring. Cattle are more effective because they are less selective grazers but unfortunately cattle also do more damage to desirable species – especially if they are feeling frisky they can demolish a tree/shrub in minutes.”

Dr Sykes continued, “I reckon that at least 100,000 sheep or 10,000 cattle would be required and the 6,000 hectares would have to be subdivided into ‘paddocks’ of less than 100 hectares with good quality stock water also being made available to each ‘paddock’.

“Such large numbers of stock will not be easy to access for such a short period and issues such as the introduction of more weeds via grazing animals may be a risk.

“And of course the cost of over a hundred kilometres of extra fencing and multiple stock troughs will be significant.”

Dr Sykes concluded, “There are clearly a number of practical and economic issues to be resolved prior to finalising any plans to use grazing as a weed control option in the proposed Mokoan wetlands.

“But there is also a major philosophical issue of using livestock for weed control for the Bracks Government who has kicked the mountain cattlemen off the high country and are now hell bent on kicking cattlemen out of the Barmah Forest.

“One thing is for sure – the proposed wetlands have a high risk of simply becoming a weed infested jungle if the Bracks Government manages it as it manages so much of Victoria’s seven million hectares of National Parks and State Forests.

Media contact: Bill Sykes (03) 5762 2100 or 0427 624 989