A combination of new ideas, new technology and old-fashioned elbow grease is winning the war against prickly acacia in outback Queensland.
Story and photos Mandy McKeesick
Travellers driving between Longreach and Kynuna in western Queensland have been so aghast at paddock after paddock of dead trees they have reported the seeming disaster to authorities. In reply, they have been told not to panic. “They are looking at the world’s greatest weed control program that no-one’s heard of; targeting prickly acacia, a weed of national significance, that is now found across 23 million hectares of prime grazing land,” Leanne Kohler says.
Leanne is chief executive officer for Desert Channels Queensland (DCQ), a not-for-profit natural resource management group based in Longreach determined to eradicate prickly acacia from the northern Lake Eyre Basin, the Gulf Country and ultimately Queensland. Their revolutionary and highly successful program challenges convention and combines cutting-edge technologies, such as drones, with old-fashioned elbow grease to wage the war against this most invasive of weeds.
This story excerpt is from Issue #115
Outback Magazine: October/November 2017
