Plan to Protect Environmental Assets from Lantana - Weeds Australia

Plan to Protect Environmental Assets from Lantana
part of the implementation of the WoNS Lantana (Lantana camara) Strategic Plan (ARMCANZ
et al. 2001). It sits within Strategy 2.1.4 of the abovementioned Strategic Plan—to ‘identify
strategic management areas’—and the Actions within to review and evaluate areas where
control programs have already been undertaken, and to identify high-priority areas, including
those for conservation, and take appropriate action (see Figure 1.1).
A Plan to protect environmental assets was seen as a priority under the WoNS Strategy and
by the National Lantana Management Group, because:
the invasion, establishment and spread of lantana poses a significant impact on
biodiversity and lantana is the main threat to many native species
lantana’s impacts vary depending on location
management of lantana requires coordination and commitment from a range of
stakeholders
cost-effective management is available for lantana at a site level.
1.4 Other conservation and management plans
Aspects of this Plan should be integrated into state, regional and local resource protection and
management plans (see Figure 1.1) . For example, in NSW the invasion, establishment and
spread of lantana has been listed as a Key Threatening Process (KTP) under the NSW
Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 (TSC Act) (NSW SC 2006) . Therefore, the actions
identified within this Plan will be incorporated into the Priorities Action Statement (PAS), which
outlines the threats to native species, populations and communities listed under the TSC Act
as well as the recovery and threat abatement actions for those assets. In addition, this Plan
has already been integrated into the Draft Biodiversity Action Plan for Fitzroy Basin Region
(EPA 2008) where it refers to this Plan as the National Lantana Plan for Biodiversity
Conservation.
1.5 Involvement of stakeholders
Effective and efficient weed management requires a coordinated national strategic approach,
which involves all levels of government in establishing and coordinating frameworks in
partnership with industry, landholders and the community (Parker et al. 1999, ARMCANZ et al.
2001). The success of this Plan will depend on a high level of cooperation between these
groups. Importantly, all participants must allocate adequate resources to achieving effective
on-ground control of lantana at priority sites (in accordance with this Plan), improving the
effectiveness of control programs, and measuring and assessing outcomes. No impacts on
Aboriginal or cultural heritage are expected that cannot be addressed during the development
of site-specific management plans for lantana control (see Section 5.2 and Appendix 1).
Lantana is viewed as an agricultural weed, an environmental weed, an ornamental plant, and
a food resource or habitat for a number of native animals. While the depth of concern and the
range of groups with an interest will vary, lantana management is unlikely to be successful
unless all of these interests and concerns are identified and the relevant groups and
individuals are fully consulted. This Plan acknowledges the benefits native animals receive
from lantana and the significant agricultural impacts of lantana. For example, it has been
estimated that graziers spend $17.1 million a year on lantana control and lose in excess of
$104 million in production (QLD NRW 2007). While the actions in the Plan will indirectly
contribute to addressing agricultural impacts, it does not set out to be comprehensive in that
regard as the reason for the Plan is primarily to abate impacts on environmental assets.
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