Highly invasive weed threatening native flora and fauna at Uluru

Alarm over buffel grass 'covering country' at Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park In short: Uluru is facing a growing crisis with buffel grass carpeting most of the base of the sacred site. A former Parks Australia manager says this year "should be the year of the pretty flower", but instead the invasive weed is growing "where those plants would grow". What's next? Tourism operators and rangers say urgent action is needed to remove the weed and reverse the damage before it is too late. Uluru is arguably the nation's most recognised and revered landmark, but concerned tourism operators and rangers say the World Heritage site is facing a growing crisis. Highly invasive buffel grass, which is known to choke native plants, destroy animal habitats and elevate fire risk, is blanketing the base of the sacred site and its neighbouring Kata Tjuta rock formations. According to a handout from Parks Australia, which manages the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, buffel grass was introduced in the late 70s "around the base of Uluru to reduce erosion from four-wheel drive vehicles". "It now thrives in this area," it reads. Parks Australia says the weed has now infested about 2,650 hectares of the national park, equating to 2 per cent of its total area. Tracey Guest has worked in and around the park for more than two decades, including as a Parks Australia manager, helping protect the natural and cultural values of the area before her recent retirement. During that time, she was on the front line of the fight against the aggressive weed, including co-authoring papers and sitting on an NT government advisory committee about buffel. Ms Guest said buffel grass was "concentrated around the rock and Kata Tjuta", covering "maybe 90 per cent around the base of Uluru, except for where we've done some management". "Buffel grass is the biggest threat to the World Heritage values, the cultural, natural values, of Uluru," she said. "It's a very clever grass that has done a job way better than it was first anticipated and it's now become an environmental weed equal to the cane toad in Australia." Native plants cannot compete Ms Guest said this year had been one for the wildflower, a time when the local Aboriginal Anangu people say "country's really strong". "But when you have the buffel grass covering all that, no one gets that sensation of the country and lifting your spirits and being exciting," she said. "This year should be the year of the pretty flower; it should be amazing, yet we've got buffel grass where those sort of plants would grow. "Nothing will come up around it because it just sends this toxin into the soil that's protecting itself from competition. "It's just covering country and nothing else is able to compete against it." On the outskirts of the park, the Tjakura rangers work to care for the Katiti Petermann Indigenous Protected Area (IPA). Part of their work is managing buffel grass alongside other park rangers, neighbouring Indigenous ranger groups and pastoralists, to prevent it from choking vital habitat. Garth Forrester, an Anangu traditional owner, is the regional coordinator overseeing the IPA under the Central Land Council. Mr Forrester said when buffel grass spreads, "it's indiscriminate, it takes over things". "Looking around where we're standing now, you're just seeing spinifex, and you're seeing all the beautiful wildflowers and vegetation," he said. "But if we drive away from here, just about 10 or 20 minutes down the road, you'll see where the buffel grass is starting to come in and impact. "Our constituents are that worried about the buffel grass that we have acquired funding to get two brand new spray units to be able to combat the oncoming buffel grass." Calls for action to avoid 'significant negative impacts' Tourism Central Australia chief executive Danial Rochford said operators across the region were seeing the effect of buffel grass on the landscape, especially after recent weather created ideal conditions for the fast-growing weed to flourish. "Most of our visitors aren't aware of buffel grass," he said. "But what our members are seeing is its impact to the flora and fauna. "This is a weed that is permeating through very sensitive parts of Central Australia. "We will have significant negative impacts if we don't deal with buffel grass in the short term." Mr Rochford said urgent investment was needed to tackle the problem head-on. "We need to see resources flow through to manage this on the ground, otherwise we're just not going to be able to put the cat back in the bag," he said. "We are not going to be able to eradicate buffel grass in totality; that's never going to happen, but there are places where we can draw a line in the sand. "Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is a perfect example of where we should be putting significant resources." In a statement, a Parks Australia spokesperson said buffel grass management was "specified as a priority" under its management plan and "a combination of mechanical removal, chemical treatment and drone technology" was used to monitor and manage buffel grass. Solutions from the past Ms Guest said a volunteer program and effort by parks staff in the early 2000s had helped to contain the weed. "The park actually had a good program at that stage," she said. "The conservation volunteers would come down and spend … the winter months digging out, paying to dig out, buffel grass around the rock. "And there was a lot of work done, and we were actually making headway through that time, and that program stopped in 2010. "There wasn't enough follow-up." Ms Guest said follow-up required vigilant, relentless work over extended periods. "The follow-up is the most important element around managing buffel grass," she said. "You can go and spray a big area, and if you don't do the follow-up, it'll be back again in 12 months." She said reinstating a volunteer program or welcoming students undertaking a relevant TAFE or university course could also help. "It is a no-brainer," she said. "You need people that are bush regenerators, people that are physically able and interested in doing that sort of work and want to make a difference to the place," she said. "You'd have a double whammy because you have cultural induction. "So understanding how First Nations people look at the world so you get their view, and working alongside people is better than just having some class where someone talks at you." She said new technology is also offering some light at the end of the tunnel. "There's new things coming through that can help us manage buffel grass, and the more interest that we put on this, the more effort people will put into finding solutions," she said. "If we do nothing, it's actually going to cost us way more. So we have to do something."