Archives for June 16, 2006

Another media release from the new Regional Community Survival Group in western New South Wales (Australia):

“Aboriginal Elder, Mr Keith (Tommy) Ryan, is demanding that the NSW Government change native vegetation laws so that Aboriginals in the Bogan Shire of western NSW can locate and access ancestral sites that have become overrun with infestations of scrub.

“Infestations of invasive scrub are so thick in places on the Western Plains that Aboriginals are finding it impossible to locate and access traditional sites,” said Mr Ryan.

Invasive scrub is the term used to describe native shrubs and woody weeds that have infested formerly open woodlands and grasslands of western NSW.

“It saddens me to see the landscape of my forefathers being destroyed by the unnatural growth of these weeds.

“I remember as a boy walking on the plains and seeing a mixture of open woodlands and grasslands not a landscape dominated by woody weeds. In those days, you could see kangaroos moving across the open country and you could easily find your way to rivers and creeks.

“The city-based green groups are wrong when they say that dense stands of woody weeds are a natural feature of the Western Plains, Mr Ryan said.

Mr Ryan said that woody weeds grow so thick and fast that they smother-out native grasslands making the country prone to erosion. They also rob the soil of limited nutrients and moisture.

“The old tribal elders used to control woody weed infestations by regularly putting a fire stick to the country.

“Today, the woody weeds have become so thick in places that native grasslands have been completely eradicated and there is not enough grass cover to carry a fire hot enough to suppress the weeds,” said Mr Ryan.

It has been estimated that up to 20 million hectares (an area the size of Nebraska) of western NSW is either already infested or highly susceptible to invasive scrub.

“Now that burning is ineffective in large areas of the Western Plains, the NSW Government needs to allow farmers to clear these woody weeds by a process clearing, cropping and finally rejuvenation of native grasses.

“Clearing and cropping removes and suppresses scrub regrowth and allows native grasses to take hold,” Mr Ryan said.

“If the NSW Government acts quickly to change the existing regulations, local communities in western NSW can start the long process of rehabilitating the landscape.

“Local communities of western NSW are committed to restoring the environment and it’s about time that the Government started to heed our advice,” concluded Mr Ryan.”