THE war against the arum lily is heating up in the Margaret River region with landowners working together to the control the spread of the toxic weed.
Arum lily is an invasive weed that spreads rapidly particularly in damp areas.
It invades areas of good quality native vegetation and reduces the diversity of native species.
Since 2012 the Cape to Cape Catchments Group has focused on supporting landowners willing to work together and control the weed over large areas using low amounts of chemical spray.
"The Cape to Cape Catchments Group identified that a coordinated approach involving many landholders is needed," CCG project officer Genevieve Hanran-Smith said.
"In this way there is more likelihood of success and we can better use the funding available to assist landholders to do the work."
Efforts to fight the weed have been hampered by the plant's fast-spreading nature which can make attempts to control it appear futile.
In the Redgate and Calgardup area 32 landowners effectively controlled the weed across an area of 800 hectares last year.
Weed control contractors did 168 hours of arum lily control in the area.
The Department of Parks and Wildlife and the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River also controlled arum lily in the area to complement the work done on private property.
The control effort will continue this year.
Other nodes of arum lily control include 20 ha of good quality bush at Burnside, the Hamelin Bay subdivision which covers an area of 200 hectares adjacent to a national park, and an area of more than 60 hectares to the south of the Margaret River.
To assist landholders to better understand the weed and methods of control the CCG has recently developed A Guide to Arum Lily Control.
This brochure is now available from the CCG office in the Community Resource Centre or at www.capetocape.org.au.
