26 February 2008 - Ernwag & Wrnwag

MINUTES
MEETING 9 th October 2012
COMMENCING 11:30 AM
DARLINGTON POINT CLUB
Welcome: Chairman welcomed delegates and visitors noting that
the meeting was being recorded for accuracy of minutes.
Introductions: Delegates introduced themselves to the meeting.
Apologies: M. Michelmore (DPI – ISO), A. Berry (GCC)
Attendees: G. Portbury JSC, I. Stuckings MSC, D. Morris CMCC,
M. Robb DPI-CLD, R. Gardiner OE&H (NPWS), S. Watts WSC,
E. Serevi BSC, K. Woods CSC, J. Woolhouse CSC, J. Hudson
JSC, R. Ferguson RENWA, P. Bissett DPI-CLD, S. Battenally
WSC, G. Neyland BSC, G. McCubbin BSC, P. Bosse RNWPO,
G. Wilesmith LSC, P. Perrin NSC, R. Evans NSC.
Minutes of General Meeting held at Hay Golf Club on the 26 th
June 2012:
Moved: G. Portbury “that the minutes as presented are true and
correct of that meeting”
Seconded: I. Stuckings
Carried
Business Arising
Parthenium Weed outbreak – was a success the way
neighbouring LCA’s worked to control the outbreak.
Local
Government
Balranald Shire
Bland Shire
Carrathool Shire
Central Murray County
Griffith City
Hay Shire
Jerilderie Shire
Leeton Shire
Murrumbidgee Shire
Narrandera Shire
Temora Shire
Wakool Shire
Wentworth Shire
Livestock Health
and Pest
Authorities
Balranald/Wentworth
Hay
Murray
Narrandera
Riverina
Other Agencies
Dept Environment &
Conservation
Land & Property
Management Authority
Murrumbidgee
Irrigation
Murrumbidgee Private
Irrigators Inc (YACTAC)
National Parks &
Wildlife
Correspondence In:
Invoice from Hav-a-chat coffee for previous meetings
catering
Invoice from Hay Bowling Club for venue hire.
Moved: D. Morris “that correspondence be accepted”
Seconded: K. Woods
Carried
Correspondence Out:
No correspondence out.
All Correspondence:
Daryll Morris
WRNWAG Secretary
PO Box 1
FINLEY NSW 2713
T: 0358 831764
F: 0358 833713
M: 0429 607934
E: daryll.cmcc@bigpond.com

Financial Reports: (as attached)
Moved: D. Morris “that the financial report as presented is accepted”
Seconded: G. Portbury
Carried
RNWPO (Paula) Report – June 2012
Class 3 & 4 declaration alterations (inc CG) – the wording for class 4
is still undecided.
Extranet – Calendar of events, regional roundup. First point of call or
ISO (Mich)
NIP- AW – draft finalised and has been put on hold to incorporate
backyard data.
NIP- Fireweed – draft to support ERNWAG’s Class 3 declaration.
Template circulated 29/3/12
What’s overdue? – Handed around – will email out when back in office
also.
‘Early detection’ – proposed new weed awareness theme with DPI
Co-authored (with other POs)a paper being pulled together by Stephen
Johnson being presented at the 18 th Australasian weeds conference
in Melbourne this week
Attended several 17 th Biennial Weeds Conference committee
meetings. Info will start coming out after the next meeting hopefully. A
flyer was created and is being handed out at the Australasian
Conference.
Electronic Notifiable weed reporting form. DPI now posts current and
previously reported outbreaks of notifiable weeds on the extranet for
your information – so don’t forget to fill out the form.
Electronic PDF version of “application for permit” no need to write
them just type and submit.
Henty theme 2013 – “hygiene” onsite slasher demo plus launch of red
guide post factsheet
New roster layout Henty – setup shifts & lockup shifts. We are
professionals and need to run our displays as such – meaning it needs
to be manned the entire length of the field days.
Important information to be provided to all newly elected &
re-elected councillors Emailed 13/9/12
Weed ID and control guide – has consumed a lot of my time up until it was
sent to the printers mid august. As a result some of the WAP documents have
been put on hold. All 4 CMAs contributing to the printing of the guide (Lachlan,
Lower Murray Darling, Murray & Murrumbidgee) - $10,000. We received
$14,000 in additional copies from across several organizations resulting in a
total print run of 30,300 copies. **general business**
WRNWAG Minutes From Meeting Dated: 9 th October 2012
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WAP documentation – this hasn’t progressed since the last meeting due to
the WOTR & Henty FD. It will be my priority now the LMD RWS is uncertain.
Stay tuned.
Review of the Lower Murray Darling RWS - ??? Unsure where this stands
now after the announcement of the LLS. Produced a pest plants flyer that was
distributed at world wetland day a fortnight ago.
Additional funding for AW surveillance and control – emailed and posted
17/5/12. I forwarded a summary of our collated reports on to Charlie Misfud
10/9/12. 3 reports are still outstanding.
WAP reporting 11/12 – overall a fantastic effort by the bulk of the participants
who ensured everything was completed and returned as requested. I have
received a draft evaluation with all positive outcomes.
Late/outstanding items – Unfortunately I was still chasing reports and signed
expenditure statements right up until the day I submitted the regional report!
This isn’t good enough and correspondence will be submitted to those
participants from the project coordination team.
2012/2013 Grant allocations – I have received correspondence from the NSW
DPI 8/10/12. Details of your individual allocation will be discussed by the
Project Coordination Team & you will be informed ASAP. Due to the early
release of funds (which we haven’t received as yet)I will be updating all
reporting spreadsheets ASAP so you can start ticking things off on your 3 rd year
WAP targets.
Bio-control database – discussion was had at Henty that we need a regional
database of Bio-control release sites along with nursery sites. Lisa will be
taking on this project in the coming 12 months so stay tuned.
An example of where this would have been valuable has just come over my
desk. Horehound NPWS.
Privet research project – aims to assess:
1. Just how toxic the Broad-leaved Privet (and the 2 other invasive spp.) are to
wildlife, especially to small and medium sized bird species;
2. The extent of “allelopathic” or “toxin-producing” capacities of Broad-leaved
Privet in ‘wet, ’dry’ and ‘stressed’ or drought conditions, Ligustrum lucidum
Aiton: and
3. To map the extent of ‘invasion of NSW’ by Privets, bearing in mind that there
are only some hundreds of specimens ‘recorded’ in Botanic Gardens.
Definition of ‘professional capacity’ – Until we have a definition from a court
as to what specifically constitutes “a person who, in a professional capacity”, I
presume that it means “any person who enters private or
WRNWAG Minutes From Meeting Dated: 9 th October 2012
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public land as part of their occupation for the purposes of agricultural or NRM
extension, research, regulation or land management or who receives
information from an occupier or land manager” Phil Blackmore, NSW DPI – the
full email transcript is available from Paula Bosse.
RNWPO (Lisa) Report – June 2012
Chinwag – Edition 45 coming soon!! Please remember to email anything you
think might be of interest for the next edition
Our website – www.riverinaweeds.org.au - is constantly being updated.
Remember if there is anything you want to see on there let Lisa know. We
generally put info on there before we circulate it – so check it regularly.
Riverina Weeds
The revamp/reprint of Riverina Weeds has taken up the majority of my time
over the last six months!! It is now complete and we are very proud of what we
have achieved.
I think we can all agree that the finished product looks fantastic and was a big
hit at Henty! We are thrilled to hear all the positive comments that have been
filtering through. It was a much bigger task than Paula and I had anticipated but
now that it is done we know that it was worth every second! The guide is now
completely in house, which means we can change, update or reprint whenever
we like without too much bother. Our plan is to keep up with the changes
electronically as they happen over the next few years and then we can quite
easily do a reprint when it is required.
Henty Field Days
Henty is over for another year! Think everyone that attended will agree that it
was the best display yet!
We were thrilled to welcome the Minister for Primary Industries, Katrina
Hodgkinson to our display and have her officially launch our guide for us. We
were able to get some media and some visitors there at the time which was
great. It is amazing how much organisation goes into getting someone like that
there for 15 minutes! Hours of emails, phone calls, media releases etc! But well
worth the effort.
A big thank you to Paula and her mother-in-law for getting the curtains for the
benches sewn up and printed! They make such a difference to the look of the
shed! Definitely well worth the four or so years that it has taken us to get
around to it!!
Thank you also to Simon (Paula’s husband) for coming and helping Paula and I
in the shed on the Friday before. Simon cut all the carpet for the benches,
which allowed Paula and I to get everything else done!
The new banner that was outside on the front wall looked fantastic and made
the shed look more professional from the outside, the design of which tied in
with the cover of the guide.
WRNWAG Minutes From Meeting Dated: 9 th October 2012
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The pull up banner of the front cover of the guide looked sensational and was
fantastic to refer to when the Minister was launching the guide. We also had 5
small pull up banners on the benches which seemed to work well in guiding
people to the right areas.
The year in review section was also quite well received. So don’t forget to send
through anything that you find in your local media or your own council so it can
be included next year.
Bright coloured printed balloons also looked great and were a hit with the kids!
Hopefully with a message – No Space 4 Weeds!
Weeds Officers Reports:
Weeds Officers presented their activity reports to the meeting
K. Woods CSC:
Boxthorn & Galvanised burr spraying
About to start moving cochineal on prickly pear
Inspections about to start inspections for Alligator weed and Parthenium Weed.
P. Perrin NSC:
Inspecting for Blue heliotrope and SLN, Sprayed some Onion Weed. Nursery
and Stockyard inspections. Found a weed thought to be CNG, in process of
getting it identified.
E. Serevi BSC:
Spraying Boxthorn, distributing Flea beetle on Pattersons curse. BSC now
wants to spray Fruit fly.
S. Watts WSC:
Working on areas of Boneseed, one area up to 730Ha, satisfying results to
date,
Waterways inspected from Nth of Pooncarie to SA border. Continuing with
roadside spraying, Trimac working well.
Taken on roadside slashing program for the Shire as well as RFS firebreak
maintenance.
Will start Boxthorn work as soon as Boneseed work is completed.
G. McCubbin BSC:
Working on boxthorn, Attending local shows with weeds display and having
good attendance with up to 130 local farmers interested.
Started working on SJW.
G. Wilesmith LSC:
Mostly concentrating on property inspections and roadside spraying.
Shire mapping weed locations.
WRNWAG Minutes From Meeting Dated: 9 th October 2012
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I. Stuckings MSC:
Boxthorn, Bridal creeper and prickly pear. Burnt SBG locations. Galvanised
burr, horehound, road shoulder spraying and property inspections.
R. Gardiner OE&H (NPWS):
Working on boxthorn in the Hay area, reserves in Deni, Hay and Jerilderie area.
Bridal creeper treated near Mathoura and The Rock
SBG treated near Yanga, mapping SBG areas near Narrandera. Looking at
fencing off areas to stop spread.
Horehound bio control near Murray and Milawa also working on introducing
more in these areas.
Suspected mesquite found at Gulpha Island but turned out to be Honey locust.
Small areas of Blackberry, fruit trees and willows as well.
Around Bathurst, Orange and Forbes, contractors are spraying Serrated
tussock. Also helicopter spraying Blackberry in inaccessible country with
amazing results.
National Parks currently going through structural changes with combining of
some areas.
Also in process of starting a new pest and weed information system. Basically a
geo-spatial data system with staff entering data as work is completed.
M. Robb DPI-CLD:
Locating large areas of boxthorn and horehound at Coleambally and Darlington
Point
Funding not allocated until Feb/Mar so trying to work out a more realistic and
efficient way to fund works.
S. Battenally WSC:
No new weed incursions.
38 high risk property inspections.
50 property inspections
285km of HR road inspections
No river inspections due to not much happening
3 releases of flea beetles locally
Barham/Moulamein road found to have bio agents along the entire length.
Attended Henty, held a field day in Barham with Paul Sullivan from DPI with
bio-control, had about 8 interested farmers.
Starting Weed Warriors, 5 schools this year.
Boxthorn, prickly pear and bridal creeper work.
About to start SLN program
Attended Western Murray Land Improvement Group meeting, CMA CAP
workshop, working with both groups to improve communication between the
two.
Plant hygiene workshop planned for the end of the month for about 30 of the
outdoor staff
WRNWAG Minutes From Meeting Dated: 9 th October 2012
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D. Morris CMCC:
Working on Boxthorn and horehound around 3 of our shires. Contacted Peter
Bissett at Crown Lands Dept with regard to boxthorn control at Deniliquin.
Inspections continuing around Conargo Shire and Deniliquin Council area. The
biggest problem is small rural residential properties around Deniliquin, Finley
and Berrigan. Boxthorn is the major problem on these properties. Also large
amounts of Bridal creeper located on vacant blocks around Berrigan.
A possible black willow location on a property in the Murray Shire, still to be
confirmed.
Currently treating road shoulders in the Conargo, Murray and Berrigan Shires.
Onion weed out in flower. Areas have been treated in the Berrigan Shire. Still to
check roads in the Conargo and Murray Shires.
SJW still a couple of weeks away from flowering, there will be quite a bit around
the Berrigan and Conargo Shires.
Horehound plume moth very active around the Conargo and Berrigan Shires
and Bridal creeper leaf hopper active on sites near Moama and Tocumwal.
R. Ferguson RENWA:
Road shoulder spraying for the area now completed.
An outbreak of Prickly pear and Tiger pear located.
Horehound Plume moth working well in environmental sites. Releases of Bridal
creeper rust also.
Nearly finished Boxthorn control, about to start SJW.
Coolatai grass in Coolamon/Junee Shire, now using Trimac on these areas as
we are up to the stage of needing the strongest residual control available on
this weed.
Some small Blackberry outbreaks around some creek lines near Temora.
G. Portbury JSC:
Boxthorn and Horehound work. Bio agents for horehound and Pattersons curse
are spreading very quickly.
Some landholders have cleared approx 400 Ha of boxthorns which have been
a problem over past years so this is good to see
Treating Road Shoulders. After the Parthenium weed outbreak on the Conargo
road, this has now been treated with Trimac with outstanding results. Have now
started treating other roads with this chemical.
General Business:
Discussion commenced about the upcoming significant changes to agriservice
delivery with CMA, LHPA and Agriculture NSW advisory services currently
being changed to a new organisation called Local Land Services.
The general outline is that agricultural advice, plant and animal bio security,
NRM and emergency response will be all in one area. Weed management at
this time will stay with Local Government. For the time being, for us, it means
no change. Our funding for the next 12 months has been secured. What it will
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mean in the future is that we will have a new organisation to deal with and we
will be integrating with this new organisation.
The structure of this new organisation doesn’t exist as yet, there is a committee
to be formed and in the next 15 months, that structure will to be outlined. One
central local land services board of chairs will be made up of representatives
from each regional organisation and will be accountable to the Minister for
Primary Industries.
Local Government at this stage has had no particular briefing on this area.
Our challenge out of all this will be that whenever there is local community
consultation in our area about setting up a Local Land Services office, we need
to attend and try to press the case for how weed management is integrated into
and works with this organisation. We also need to find out how much weed
management is going to be done by LHPA and CMA’s. We need to be involved
as much as possible because weeds are part of the system and we need to be
part of the overall program to protect the work we have done and to ensure the
work we are doing carries on.
In our dealings with the CMA’s, we need to get in early and set up proper
linkages that acknowledge if a weed matter comes into that office it gets
directed to our organisation.
More Information is currently available www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/locallandservices
Issues that came up at Henty Field Days:
The weeds shed at Henty needs to be a non smoking area and the attire that is
worn needs to be more professional. Turning up in shorts and T shirts is not
good enough.
Weed Officers are representing their council and the region and need to
present themselves in a professional manner.
Recommendation: That the Henty Field days site be made a non smoking
area and a dress code for representatives be established as well as a
professional attitude from all council representatives
Moved by: G. Portbury
Seconded: S. Battenally
Carried
Discussion continued about the roster system at Henty. There is an issue about
people not being available for set up and lock up. The system needs to be
better organised for next year.
Promoting ourselves – future publicity for our weed professionals.
The Weed’s Network (a weekly email put out by David Low). David contacted
Lisa Mitsch at Henty asking if E/WRNWAG would like to sponsor this
organisation for $500. There would be benefits to the groups such as short
descriptions of our work and services for E/WRNWAG so that when the email
comes out, it would read “this edition was sponsored by……”
We would need to know the distribution list that these messages were going out
to. Because for that amount of money we need to know that we are getting out
to our target audience. Will be held over to next meeting.
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Additional Weeds of the Riverina booklets. Do we sell the remaining booklets
on as requested for $1/ea?
33,300 copies were printed, there are between 5,000 and 6,000 left. It was
decided to get a quote to print 5,000 copies to work out a replacement cost and
bring it back to the executive to make a decision.
LCA’s involvement in CAP’s. Paula was contacted by Lachlan and Murray
CMA’s with regard to an interview on what changes had been noticed over time
and what was thought to be important issues to the catchment.
They also wondered if E/WRNWAG should be approached as a group in regard
to funding and future projects. Paula mentioned to the CMAs to keep us in the
loop when any LLS workshops were coming up.
General discussion followed about reimbursement to Paula and Lisa’s budget
for Henty field days for tickets, balloons, banners etc. It was decided to take it
back to the ERNWAG meeting for clarification.
E/WRNWAG trailer.
There are still issues with the doors not closing properly.
General opinion was that the trailer is fast becoming a liability and needs to be
properly repaired as soon as possible.
Recommendation: That options for repairs to the trailer be investigated and
discussed at the ERNWAG meeting before repairs are carried out.
Moved: S. Battenally.
Seconded: J. Hudson.
Carried.
G. Neyland inquired if council need to appoint delegates to E/WRNWAG
meetings or just request that council delegates attend.
Recommendation: That a letter be sent to constituent council general
managers with subscriptions reminding them of the dates of quarterly meetings
and extend an invitation for councillors to attend.
Moved: G. Neyland
Seconded: S. Battenally
Carried.
No further general business
MEETING CLOSED: 2:50pm
NEXT MEETING: 5 MARCH 2013 at 10:00am
VENUE: Hay Golf Club
WRNWAG Minutes From Meeting Dated: 9 th October 2012
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