Managing Pests and Weeds in Yass

Funding provided by a NSW DPI and Landcare NSW from the Established Pest Animals and Weeds initiative enabled YAN to host an invasive weeds information night and a Feral animal awareness afternoon during May. Yass Valley Council Weeds Officer Brett Lees spoke at a the May Yass Landcare meeting about the common responsibilities that landholders, council and public land mangers have in relation to weed management. The DPI Weeds App was discussed, and proved to be a consolidated resource of specific weed attributes, bio-security and control information. On 17 May an afternoon workshop with guest speakers from SE LLS, CSIRO and a demonstration on how Ferrets could clear a rabbit burrow was held. Deer, wild rabbits and feral pigs are the top three feral animals within the SE region as highlighted in the SE LLS briefing. A discussion on the differences between exotic Indian Mynas and native Noisy Miners was lead by Jacqui Stol, CSIRO and Chair of Murrumbateman Landcare. Tanja Strive also from CSIRO detailed the 150yr history of rabbit control across Australia were fleas, flies and mosquitos were shown to be active contributors to the spread of rabbit virus across Australia.