Pest Plants
| Pest (invasive) plants, or weeds, can pose a serious threat to biodiversity and to primary production. They contribute to land and water degradation, losses in productivity, and they can significantly impact native flora and fauna populations. Environmental weeds are listed as a threatening process for native vegetation under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988. To assist public land managers the Department of Sustainability and Environment have published Guidelines and Procedures for Managing the Environmental Impacts of Weeds on Public Land in Victoria 2007. The Guidelines provide a decision-support system to enable public land managers to prioritise locations and resources for weed management. In collaboration with DPI, DSE has also developed new advisory lists of invasive plants of Victorian bioregions. The advisory lists (non-legally binding) have been produced to help weed managers prioritise the threats from different weed species to native vegetation and biodiversity in different bioregions. The advisory lists are able to guide both public and private land managers and will enable better targeting of effort. |  Treated Boneseed at Point Nepean National Park |
The lists are available below to download:
Advisory list of environmental weeds of aquatic habitats of Victoria (PDF - 630 KB)
Advisory list of environmental weeds of coastal plains and heathy forests bioregions of Victoria (PDF - 1.8 MB)
Advisory list of environmental weeds of the Inland Plains bioregions of Victoria (PDF - 1.1 MB)
Advisory list of environmental weeds of the Mallee bioregions of Victoria (PDF - 1.0 MB)
Advisory list of environmental weeds of the Ranges bioregions of Victoria (PDF - 1.5 MB)
The Department of Sustainability and Environment have a number of programs that address weeds on public land. These include the Good Neighbour Program, which manages weeds and pest animals at the interface with private land and the Weeds and Pests Initiative (Public Land) which focuses on weed and pest management for the protection of biodiversity. Grants to community groups working on public land are available under this initiative.
The River Health program addresses aquatic and riparian weeds in several Victorian river systems.