Natives flourish in the flood out

On Boolcoomatta Reserve there's an area called the 'flood-out'. As the name suggests it's a low-lying area where water run-off gathers, which makes it fertile ground for weeds.

Most years we slash management access tracks. These enable us to access what was once wall-to-wall box thorn and pepper trees. I'm not joking – it was once 3 metres tall and impenetrable, 2 inch long spikes everywhere!

Since Boolcoomatta has been a conservation reserve, tens of thousands of weeds have been removed from the flood-out, an area of approximately 100 hectares.

One of the fantastic results from this weed control, is not only the removal of such an impressive amount of weeds, but the opportunity it has created for native species to re-establish themselves where they were once out-competed.

The images show how fast the tracks are growing back after consecutive average rainfall seasons, and some additional local summer rains. And the map outlines the extent of the effort we go to to control weeds.

Many of the initial management tracks in the flood-out have been deliberately left to regenerate, as will most over time. We'll always maintain just enough to monitor for emerging weeds, as the battle on weeds is never over.

The transformation this area has seen is a credit to our long-term management actions – native flora and fauna are now flourishing in the flood-out.