Far South Coast Landcare Association Inc

Coastal Weeds – When Everyone Joins the Party

For over 17 years, Landcare has led a collaborative effort on the Far South Coast to protect our stunning beaches from invasive coastal weeds. The secret to its success? Everyone’s invited. National Parks, private landowners, local councils, Crown Land managers, Aboriginal Land Councils—this has truly been a shared mission across all land tenures.

Capacity building - LEP036-LLC-006

The issue

Back in 2008, the beaches of the Bega Valley were recognised as some of the most pristine along Australia’s east coast. But that status came under threat when local botanist Stuart Cameron conducted a weed audit. The results were worrying: invasive species like sea spurge, beach daisy, boneseed, sharp rush and bitou bush were creeping in—many hitching a ride on the tides from infested beaches to the north and south.  Of course, the weeds didn’t delineate between land tenures and were spreading across National Parks, private land, Crown Land, Council Reserves, and even into our Landcare volunteer-managed patches.  It was clear: no one could tackle this alone.

The solution

Far South Coast Landcare Association created a model that ensures 144 beaches in the Bega Valley and southern Eurobodalla are walked and weeded twice a year.  Our Landcare project coordinator, Luke Hamilton, teams up with ranger crews from the local Aboriginal Land Councils to carry out this massive task.
Here’s the clever part: every land manager contributes to a shared pool of funding—what we like to call the “weeds bucket”.   This approach means resources go where they’re most needed, regardless of who owns the land.  A bonus is that it has brought everyone together in our biannual steering meetings to share knowledge, skills and observations that benefit everyone.

The impact

Thanks to this long-running effort, major weed incursions have been all but eliminated across the monitored beaches.  And we’re not stopping. Our team continues to patrol the coastline twice a year, staying vigilant for any returning offenders—or new troublemakers, like the increasingly common lantana.

Learnings

  • The first iteration of this project was a seven-year Environmental Trust (ET) grant. From the very beginning, we brought in all the land management partners—even those who weren’t contributing financially at the time. That early inclusion paid off. By the time the ET funding ended, our partners had real skin in the game. They’d seen the impact, believed in the model, and knew that our massive project gains needed ongoing maintenance. That sense of ownership has been a game-changer, enabling us to secure collaborative funding from all parties each financial year.
Author: Jean Bentley

Key facts

  • 144 beaches are monitored for priority weed species twice a year.
  • Weed incursions are mapped, ranked, and tracked, building a valuable 17-year dataset.
  • Community involvement is growing—we’re encouraging locals and Landcare groups to log coastal weed sightings via the iNaturalist app so our team can respond fast
  • Marine debris is collected during our weed sweeps and logged into the Tangaroa Blue app

Project Partners