Asparagus weeds - Weeds Australia

Case study 6Regenerating the Narrawallee Beach Dunes: controllingAsparagus aethiopicus to restore an Endangered EcologicalCommunity – Bangalay Sand ForestAlasdair Stratton and Kerry Thompson, ShoalhavenCity Council; Wendy Fuller, Narrawallee BushcareGroup, New South WalesThe Narrawallee Foreshore and Reserves BushcareGroup have been managing Asparagus aethiopicuswithin the local dunes since 2005 to protect thedunes from further degradation by this weed.The group’s long-term aim is to encourageregeneration of the native understorey, improvelocal biodiversity and increase the resilience ofthe dunes.Narrawallee Beach dunes are located along thesouth coast of New South Wales and sit just southof the 880 ha Narrawallee Creek Nature Reserve.The fore-dune vegetation consists primarily ofCoastal Foredune Scrub. The hind-dune area isdominated by Bangalay Sand Forest, which is listedas an Endangered Ecological Community under theNew South Wales Threatened Species ConservationAct 1995.What is the problem and how are theymanaging it?The dunes were heavily disturbed during the earlyresidential sub-division of Narrawallee Beachtownship and the vegetation was degraded asa result. Over time, large areas of the BangalaySand Forest understorey had been invaded bydense infestations of A. aethiopicus, up to 90%of the understorey in some sections. Asparagusaethiopicus had reached such a high density thatit was completely suppressing regeneration ofgerminating native species, which was causing theBangalay Sand Forest to senesce. This promptedthe Narrawallee Foreshore and Reserves BushcareGroup to act.^! Asparagus aethiopicusCase study siteNo Reported OccurrenceGain financial supportThe Narrawallee Foreshore and Reserves BushcareGroup, with support from Shoalhaven City Council,applied for funding and received two successiveAustralian Government Envirofund grants. The grantfunding was used to pay professional contractorsto conduct initial control activities in areas of highweed density which were beyond the capacity ofthe volunteers. This was a great help, as the grouphad limited labour resources to draw upon.Control the weed and encourage native plantregenerationTo encourage native plant regeneration andincrease resilience at the site, the group undertooktwo phases of control. Primary control focused onremoving A. aethiopicus from a contained 7.5 haarea of the foredune and hind dune zones. Of thisarea, about 2.3 ha had high density infestations ofA. aethiopicus and the remaining area had mediumto light density infestations.Contractors were employed to manually controlthe 2.3 ha of dense infestation. They did this byremoving the crown and leaving the root matand tubers in the ground. The group insisted that103