Chilean Needlegrass at Hackett, ACT
Identification history
| Nassella neesiana | 13 Sep 2022 | MichaelMulvaney | ||
| Nassella neesiana | 13 Sep 2022 | waltraud |
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User's notes
The Chilean Needlegrass CNG is the bright green grass shown in photographs - the dead grass is Austrostipa scabra subspecies falcata. The reason why the native Speargrass is dead is that it had been sprayed by PCS contractors.
If I understood correctly, the contractor was supposed to spray CNG behind / east of the fences in the nature reserve. I do not know how someone can mix up CNG with Speargrass.
I have been there today with other Friends of Mt Majura one of whom did the grass identification training course recently. We looked together at the ligules of the dead Speargrass and it was hairy - it was not Serrated Tussock.
There are whole patches of dead Speargrass. According to the data presented on ArcGis map, there should have been CNG and occasionally Serrated Tussock sprayed.
3 comments
waltraud
wrote:
13 Sep 2022
You have to click on the pictures to get them from upside down to the correct orientation.
waltraud
wrote:
13 Sep 2022
Contractors sprayed Speargrass instead of targets CNG and ST - ArcGis map shows treated CNG/ST but all the patches we checked yesterday had in fact dead Speargrass.
It is very regrettable as time, money, herbicide was used to kill native grass some of which volunteers direct seeded as part of their weed management effort.
The target weeds were not sprayed. On the opposite: as these photos show they seemed to be carefully avoided!
It would be great
a) for future contracts PCS staff who administer the contracts carry out quality control and check out in the field the work of new contractors to ensure the contractors do the right thing; this was done years ago; I'm not sure whether cuts to PCS don't allow staff to perform these tasks; I understand that PCS trusts experienced contractors with whom they worked successfully many times in the past;
b) contractors undergo training (as the ParkCare volunteers do);
c) since the target weeds are not treated, an experienced contractor should repeat spraying - there is not much CNG as far as I can see, certainly not as much as the dead Spreargrass that was mapped as treated CNG with Fieldmaps;
d) PCS to provide native grass seeds and direct seed over dead Speargrass.
It is very regrettable as time, money, herbicide was used to kill native grass some of which volunteers direct seeded as part of their weed management effort.
The target weeds were not sprayed. On the opposite: as these photos show they seemed to be carefully avoided!
It would be great
a) for future contracts PCS staff who administer the contracts carry out quality control and check out in the field the work of new contractors to ensure the contractors do the right thing; this was done years ago; I'm not sure whether cuts to PCS don't allow staff to perform these tasks; I understand that PCS trusts experienced contractors with whom they worked successfully many times in the past;
b) contractors undergo training (as the ParkCare volunteers do);
c) since the target weeds are not treated, an experienced contractor should repeat spraying - there is not much CNG as far as I can see, certainly not as much as the dead Spreargrass that was mapped as treated CNG with Fieldmaps;
d) PCS to provide native grass seeds and direct seed over dead Speargrass.
Location information
- Coordinates 149.168489-35.251878
- Altitude 633.5m
- Maps Mount Majura
- Places Hackett, ACT
Sighting information
Additional information
- 10cm to 30cm Plant height
Species information
- Nassella neesiana Scientific name
- Chilean Needlegrass Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Exotic
- Major weed or pest
- Up to 1434.7m Recorded at altitude
- 255 images trained Machine learning
-
In flower
- External link More information
Record quality
- Images or audio
- More than one media file
- Verified by an expert moderator
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species
- GPS evidence of location
- Description
- Additional attributes
