The South West's annual Arum Lily Blitz is back - with an ambitious goal of signing up a record number of landholders to help eradicate the weed from more bushland than ever before.
Now in its fifth year, Nature Conservation Margaret River Region says the Blitz has reached a crucial tipping point where real wins are being made to bring back bushland and biodiversity from the grip of the toxic and highly invasive introduced weed.
Blitz coordinator Mike Griffiths said the program had grown as more of the community took up the challenge.
"The Arum Lily Blitz has really taken off in the past four years, with more than 1600 landholders across the Margaret River Region joining a whole suite of local on-ground groups and government agencies controlling arums across an area that now exceeds 20,000 hectares," Mr Griffiths said.
"People are really connecting and taking action - they're not just talking about it.
"And when people care, great things happen."
Mr Griffiths said while locals had embraced the Blitz, arum lilies were a tenacious species.
"We need to keep up the fight," he said.
"We have funding to ramp up the Blitz for two more years, so now is the time to get on board.
"Just one neighbour who doesn't control arums can let down their entire street or suburb because arums will spread and re-seed from there."
- Nature Conservation said it planned to make the 2023 Arum Lily Blitz the most successful yet with a number of goals including:
- Recruiting an additional 300 landholders to join the Blitz and handing over free herbicide the control arums on their property
- Partnering with more local groups, volunteer organisations and government agencies to widen the net of bushland where arums are being controlled
- Plugging the biggest gaps where arum control is not happening
- Leading a major push to control arums in the southern part of the Leeuwin Naturaliste National Park in the wake of the December 2021 bushfire
- Urging everyone to take to social media and share their stories and pictures of fighting arums with the hashtag "#arumlilyblitz"
"Arum lilies aren't a natural part of the south-west environment. They're an introduced species from South Africa and are one of the major threats to biodiversity in our region," Mr Griffiths said.
"They outcompete the unique and colourful wildflowers, degrade forests, choke out understorey vegetation and crucial wildlife habitat with it."
Nature Conservation's coordinated, region-wide attacks on the invasive species will be funded by the WA Government's State Natural Resources Management Program until 2024.
Participants can access free herbicide, information and resources, while Nature Conservation brings together local and state government agencies, businesses and landholders to coordinate arum lily control.
"Using herbicide should always be a last resort to control weeds, but unfortunately when we're tackling huge patches of arums with hundreds or thousands of plants, the only practical way to deal with them is by using a low-risk herbicide that is specific to arums and certain bulbous plants," Mr Griffiths said.
"The preferred herbicide is very effective against arums, breaks down quickly in most soils and has minimal environmental impact.
"We'd prefer not to use any herbicide, but doing nothing and watching whole ecosystems being wiped out is far worse for the environment."
All landholders are urged to join the Blitz, regardless of land size and experience level.
Find out more, register and see how to get your free herbicide at www.natureconservation.org.au
