Native vegetation and weed action plan
About this page
Our five-year action plan is bad news for weeds along the Great Ocean Road coast.
GORCC's Native Vegetation and Weed Action Plan 2009-2014 sets out a comprehensive program for tackling weeds along the Great Ocean Road coast between Torquay and Lorne.
Loss of native vegetation caused by weed invasion is a major threat to the natural values of our coast. In some areas, native vegetation communities comprising dozens of species can be displaced by just a few species of invasive environmental weeds.
Our Native Vegetation and Weed Action Plan contains data and detailed maps for coastal reserves between Torquay and Lorne. It maps and assesses Ecological Vegetation Classes (EVCs) and maps weed infestations, down to the scale of individual plants in some instances. It also lists the status of each native vegetation community and each weed species to determine their importance.
The plan underpins our conservation activities and aims to provide strategic directions for volunteer groups involved in coast care. The first priority is to keep out weeds that aren’t yet established in the area. Another high priority relates to weed species that are established but can be controlled or eradicated before they’ve done much harm.
Such weeds are managed using an 'assets-based' approach, standard around Australia, which involves focusing first on EVCs with high conservation significance and low weediness, since these can be managed with relatively little effort. Restoring areas that have been totally overrun with weeds requires considerably more effort and resources.
Our key message for weeds is this: be afraid... be very afraid!