Bundjalung National Park part of bitou bush eradication campaign
Sections of Bundjalung National Park will be closed this week as part of a campaign to eradicate bitou bush, a plant which was introduced from South Africa and was used to stabilise sand dunes after sand mining.
And ironically, an Australian plant being choked by bitou bush which was introduced to South Africa for the same purpose of stabilising sand dunes has become a pest there.
The Department of Environment and Conservation said the temporary Bundjalung National Park closures would be in force until May 27 while aerial spraying is carried out.
Areas affected include Ten Mile Beach from Goanna Headland tp Shark Bay including Black Rocks camping area and access to Ten Mile Beach at Black Rocks and Sharks Bay.
Woody Head camping area will remain open.
Bitou bush (Chrysanthemoides monilifera) is a native of South Africa. It was intentionally imported into Australia as early as 1858. However, it was also unintentionally imported, probably in the dumped ballast water of a South African ship, according to Lance Wilkie of the Australian Museum.
Mr Wilkie says bitou bush has only become a problem in Australia in the past few decades, since being used to stabilise coastal sand dunes after sand mining.
“In the absence of the South African organisms which usually feed on it, bitou bush has choked native Australian vegetation. In the early 1970s, it was discontinued from use but by then it was too late: Bitou bush was firmly established along more than half of the coastline of New South Wales,” he says.
“Ironically, one of the plants being choked — golden wattle (Acacia longifolia) — has become a major pest of coastal dunes in South Africa, where it was introduced to serve much the same purpose as bitou bush in Australia.”
Ballina Shire Council also has been involved in the campaign to rid our beaches of the pest, spraying local beaches.
