Untitled Document

Interview Todd Dudley: Outside St. Mary's in Tasmania's North East

Todd Takes the F.A.T. Four for a tour of INVASIVE WEEDS.

Todd: You could just about see our house from here about ten years ago, it is regenerating quite well now, but its got all this horrible Spanish Heath to get rid of, and there are quite a lot of pines coming up through here. There is a little one, you can see they are coming up all through here, that one got ring barked but it hasn't died though, I didn't do a good job of that one. You can see what happens that once they get in here they just start spreading, and you can see further around they start growing over the top of the other species.

Lachie: You can see this one is quite a lot taller.

Todd: They produce quite a huge amount of seeds too. There is a huge blue gum down here. This area must have been logged about 15 or 20 years ago

Lachie: They are coming up everywhere

Todd: As we get further down they get thicker and thicker. You can see there quite a few growing through. They are really quick growing actually and they seem to be able to out grow the eucalypts around here, grow faster than them.

Lachie: How old would a twelve foot specimen be?

Todd: Probably only a few years old or something, they are really fast. It's amazing. That's the main reason why they planted them because they grow quickly. Whether they are any use or not is another thing. Especially around here. At Scamanda haven't grown so well, it's a harsh spot, its steep and really poor soil, but here where there is a bit more soil and shelter they have done really well. I see them potentially as a really big problem. The other thing too is that once they get to a certain size it becomes really expensive project to get them down. Once they get 10 or 20 metres high they cost chainsaws and all that other stuff. It becomes an economic problem then and people begin to say its too big and there is to much of it, we cant do anything about it any more. And like you said in Canberra they just give up on it.

Jake: I know we don't like Roundup but there is a fellow, a very environmentally sensitive guy down in the Huon that goes around with his willows and such and drills a couple of holes and drops a couple of mills of Roundup in the trees.

Todd: Yeah for pine trees you don't have to, you can either ring bark them or just cut them down, even reasonably smalls ones and they just die and they don't reshoot. But I occasionally use roundup for cutting and painting of stumps, if you have say a gorse or some other weed where it is too big to keep digging it out and you cant go back and keep stripping the vegetation of it. Yeah you know I don't really like using chemicals but in some situations it is the only thing you can do really. There is a really big blue gum down here that has survived amongst pines. Quite a lot of pines down here too.

Lachie: Yeah it is quite invasive isn't it, as soon as you get a canopy opening.

Todd: People say you know it only grows along the roadside edges and stuff but then when you start looking around there is quite a lot of it and gradually it is creeping along the coast and in coastal heathland and it is getting into the forest a bit too. And it is really hard to get rid of once it gets going. This is the biggest blue gum around.

Lachie: He's a monster

Todd: Most weed problems are really a land management issue. The way the land is managed dictates how many weeds there are. This tree would have been here before any European came here, its at least one hundred and fifty year old. It's a blue gum. One big old tree amongst all this regrowth.

Jake: I love your fern glen down there.

Todd: Yeah that is all part of the creek, yeah that's really nice.

Jake.:Wow Spunky, geez and only one hundred and fifty years old, geez they grow fast don't they.

Todd : Yeah well it could even be a bit more but it would be at least that though.
It's a pretty impressive

Lachie: do you find the Spanish Heath gets right down into the fern glen?

Todd: Yeah a little bit, it doesn't grow right in them but it grows on the edges a bit though. Yeah it pretty invasive stuff . There is another pine tree there.
I reckon pines are potentially one of the worst weeds actually in the forest because they can tolerate reasonably shady spots and all they need is a bit of an opening and they can shoot up right through the canopy and right up into the top of the trees.
And more Spanish Heath.

Lachie: its everywhere

Todd : Yeah its quite nasty. And you can see more pines over there. It is getting quite thick here. I think the black cockatoos spread them around, and the wind too because they are only light seeds. We'll go back along the road and you can see there too.

Jake: there's hundreds.

Todd: It is funny with the forestry though because after they have clearfelled they call the native regrowth "woody weeds". People think when the forestry is talking about weeds they are talking about blackberry or gorse but they are actually talking about native regrowth.They are using the definition of a weed as being a plant that is not wanted. I prefer the definition that a weed is something that is not native to the local area, because at least with having a definition like that the first thing you are thinking of is the native vegetation and how things are impacting on that rather than just saying its just whatever you want it to be.

Lachie: Yeah, "we"ll make up our own terms"

Todd: Yeah it's a bit too flexible for my liking. But you can see down here…these have only just come from a couple of acres there so you can imagine if there is thousands and thousand of acres of planatations going in all over Tasmania they are going to start spreading into the adjacent bushland areas sooner or later. Definitely there is no risk about that.

Lachie: well there is living proof right here.

Todd: You can see what's happening here, you can see already just to get rid of this little patch here would take a couple of weeks, you would need a chipper to mulch it all and a chainsaw. If this is left for another twenty years this there will be a really dense patch if it.

Heidi (video): Maybe you could just start by introducing yourself and telling us why you are here.

Todd: My name is Todd Dudley from St Helens and I am interested in the environment in all its various aspects. What we are talking about here is a small plantation of pine trees that was planted across the road here about, I don't know how many years ago, probably about fifty may be more years ago. And what has happened is over a period of time the seed from the trees over there has blown or been transported across the road by animals. So what you can see here now is that the native bushland has been taken over by the pine trees and in another twenty years if nothing is done about it the native understory will be covered over by the pine trees and all you'll be left with is pines and a few big eucalypts sticking out above them. And I think this is a small example of what could happen in a lot of native vegetation around Tasmania where plantations are getting established .

Heidi: What's your vested interest in this in particular, what made you get interested in this?

Todd: I am just interested in nature basically, that's all I can say

Heidi: But it affects you ?

Todd: I having got vested interests I am just concerned about any environmental degradadtion anywhere. I am just as concerned about something that happens right next to me as something that happens 10, 20, 30 kilometres away. I suppose that's why I was involved with the case at St Mary's.

Heidi: But this is sort of vested I meant because this is right next door.

Todd: Yeah well the main reason why I brought you down here I guess is just to show you what the effects or potential effects of pine trees spreading into the native forests.
People drive past and don't notice until one day when suddenly well look all the pine trees have taken over and then they ring up the council and wonder what they are going to do about it. But is might have been going on twenty or thirty years but by that stage it is almost too late. It is really a lot bigger problem. You know a lot of smaller weeds you can deal with but when you are talking about huge trees it becomes a major difficulty then. I think they are probably underestimated actually what the impact could be in the longer term.

Heidi: Can you just point to where the plantation was. How big was it, was that it?

Todd: Yeah it is only a few acres, probably two acre plantation. Just from that little area it has spread across the road here down to our place and down the road. Then once you get a few big trees say 5oo metres down that way and then they start producing seed, it is quite expodential growth basically. And they are fairly adaptable too, they will grow in most types of conditions to fairly wet to pretty dry poor gravely soil. Well that's why they were planted I guess because of that reason they grow well in Tasmanian conditions. The problem is they don't stay where they were put.

Heidi: They have got some evolutionary advantages to the native trees because of that?

Todd: Yeah I suppose so, they seem to grow well here. I suppose they haven't got as many predators as a lot of the local species have, although a lot of the local eucalypts grow nearly as fast as well, but they definitely do well in this kind of environment. And its probably worth taking a bit of footage of the Spanish Heath growing all along the roadside here.

Heidi: So how long has that been here for?

Todd: I am not sure really, quite a while, I think it was first planted maybe about 40 or 50 years ago for a cut flower, now it is spreading all around Tasmania. It starts of along the roadsides and then it spreads into the bush along tracks or any disturbed areas. That is another big problem in Tasmania too and it is getting worse all the time. We have got enough problems without them clearing all the native bush as well, just dealing with the issues that already need to be.

Lachie: Well it makes the reproduction off these weeds a whole lot easier doesn't it.

Todd: Yeah well anywhere you disturb the soil and add nutrients you are going to get more weed problems. It was interesting in that case a t St. Mary's they said there would not be a weed problem with the plantation establishment because they would spray any weeds that came up, which is not much of a solution.
Have you ever read that "Feral Future" book by Tim Lowe, its is an interesting book all about exotic plants and animals and their impact on the Australian environment. It is really worth reading. Because I think it is a bit underestimated really the impact they are having.

Lachie: Yeah until you actually start to get out into the bush and realize just how bad the impact is

Todd: But it is madness to destroy self sustaining ecosystems and replacing them with this high maintenance agriculture type of crops. It's creating a huge amount of work and problems.

Lachie: And they are wiping out all the native flora and fauna at the same time.

Todd: Yeah absolutely. It s just crazy. The amount of resources you need for all that extra land management is ridiculous too, I think they have cleared some like 50 or 60 thousand hectares of native vegetation in Tasmania in only the last three or four years, so all of that land is going to need to be continually sprayed and all the rest of it, where as before it was just looking after it self.


Home Articles Discussion Gallery Maps Links	Interview Todd Dudley: Outside St. Mary's in Tasmania's North East Todd Takes the F.A.T. Four for a tour of INVASIVE WEEDS. Todd: You could just about see our house from here about ten years ago, it is regenerating quite well now, but its got all this horrible Spanish Heath to get rid of, and there are quite a lot of pines coming up through here. There is a little one, you can see they are coming up all through here, that one got ring barked but it hasn't died though, I didn't do a good job of that one. You can see what happens that once they get in here they just start spreading, and you can see further around they start growing over the top of the other species. Lachie: You can see this one is quite a lot taller. Todd: They produce quite a huge amount of seeds too. There is a huge blue gum down here. This area must have been logged about 15 or 20 years ago Lachie: They are coming up everywhere Todd: As we get further down they get thicker and thicker. You can see there quite a few growing through. They are really quick growing actually and they seem to be able to out grow the eucalypts around here, grow faster than them. Lachie: How old would a twelve foot specimen be? Todd: Probably only a few years old or something, they are really fast. It's amazing. That's the main reason why they planted them because they grow quickly. Whether they are any use or not is another thing. Especially around here. At Scamanda haven't grown so well, it's a harsh spot, its steep and really poor soil, but here where there is a bit more soil and shelter they have done really well. I see them potentially as a really big problem. The other thing too is that once they get to a certain size it becomes really expensive project to get them down. Once they get 10 or 20 metres high they cost chainsaws and all that other stuff. It becomes an economic problem then and people begin to say its too big and there is to much of it, we cant do anything about it any more. And like you said in Canberra they just give up on it. Jake: I know we don't like Roundup but there is a fellow, a very environmentally sensitive guy down in the Huon that goes around with his willows and such and drills a couple of holes and drops a couple of mills of Roundup in the trees. Todd: Yeah for pine trees you don't have to, you can either ring bark them or just cut them down, even reasonably smalls ones and they just die and they don't reshoot. But I occasionally use roundup for cutting and painting of stumps, if you have say a gorse or some other weed where it is too big to keep digging it out and you cant go back and keep stripping the vegetation of it. Yeah you know I don't really like using chemicals but in some situations it is the only thing you can do really. There is a really big blue gum down here that has survived amongst pines. Quite a lot of pines down here too. Lachie: Yeah it is quite invasive isn't it, as soon as you get a canopy opening. Todd: People say you know it only grows along the roadside edges and stuff but then when you start looking around there is quite a lot of it and gradually it is creeping along the coast and in coastal heathland and it is getting into the forest a bit too. And it is really hard to get rid of once it gets going. This is the biggest blue gum around. Lachie: He's a monster Todd: Most weed problems are really a land management issue. The way the land is managed dictates how many weeds there are. This tree would have been here before any European came here, its at least one hundred and fifty year old. It's a blue gum. One big old tree amongst all this regrowth. Jake: I love your fern glen down there. Todd: Yeah that is all part of the creek, yeah that's really nice. Jake.:Wow Spunky, geez and only one hundred and fifty years old, geez they grow fast don't they. Todd : Yeah well it could even be a bit more but it would be at least that though. It's a pretty impressive Lachie: do you find the Spanish Heath gets right down into the fern glen? Todd: Yeah a little bit, it doesn't grow right in them but it grows on the edges a bit though. Yeah it pretty invasive stuff . There is another pine tree there. I reckon pines are potentially one of the worst weeds actually in the forest because they can tolerate reasonably shady spots and all they need is a bit of an opening and they can shoot up right through the canopy and right up into the top of the trees. And more Spanish Heath. Lachie: its everywhere Todd : Yeah its quite nasty. And you can see more pines over there. It is getting quite thick here. I think the black cockatoos spread them around, and the wind too because they are only light seeds. We'll go back along the road and you can see there too. Jake: there's hundreds. Todd: It is funny with the forestry though because after they have clearfelled they call the native regrowth "woody weeds". People think when the forestry is talking about weeds they are talking about blackberry or gorse but they are actually talking about native regrowth.They are using the definition of a weed as being a plant that is not wanted. I prefer the definition that a weed is something that is not native to the local area, because at least with having a definition like that the first thing you are thinking of is the native vegetation and how things are impacting on that rather than just saying its just whatever you want it to be. Lachie: Yeah, "we"ll make up our own terms" Todd: Yeah it's a bit too flexible for my liking. But you can see down here…these have only just come from a couple of acres there so you can imagine if there is thousands and thousand of acres of planatations going in all over Tasmania they are going to start spreading into the adjacent bushland areas sooner or later. Definitely there is no risk about that. Lachie: well there is living proof right here. Todd: You can see what's happening here, you can see already just to get rid of this little patch here would take a couple of weeks, you would need a chipper to mulch it all and a chainsaw. If this is left for another twenty years this there will be a really dense patch if it. Heidi (video): Maybe you could just start by introducing yourself and telling us why you are here. Todd: My name is Todd Dudley from St Helens and I am interested in the environment in all its various aspects. What we are talking about here is a small plantation of pine trees that was planted across the road here about, I don't know how many years ago, probably about fifty may be more years ago. And what has happened is over a period of time the seed from the trees over there has blown or been transported across the road by animals. So what you can see here now is that the native bushland has been taken over by the pine trees and in another twenty years if nothing is done about it the native understory will be covered over by the pine trees and all you'll be left with is pines and a few big eucalypts sticking out above them. And I think this is a small example of what could happen in a lot of native vegetation around Tasmania where plantations are getting established . Heidi: What's your vested interest in this in particular, what made you get interested in this? Todd: I am just interested in nature basically, that's all I can say Heidi: But it affects you ? Todd: I having got vested interests I am just concerned about any environmental degradadtion anywhere. I am just as concerned about something that happens right next to me as something that happens 10, 20, 30 kilometres away. I suppose that's why I was involved with the case at St Mary's. Heidi: But this is sort of vested I meant because this is right next door. Todd: Yeah well the main reason why I brought you down here I guess is just to show you what the effects or potential effects of pine trees spreading into the native forests. People drive past and don't notice until one day when suddenly well look all the pine trees have taken over and then they ring up the council and wonder what they are going to do about it. But is might have been going on twenty or thirty years but by that stage it is almost too late. It is really a lot bigger problem. You know a lot of smaller weeds you can deal with but when you are talking about huge trees it becomes a major difficulty then. I think they are probably underestimated actually what the impact could be in the longer term. Heidi: Can you just point to where the plantation was. How big was it, was that it? Todd: Yeah it is only a few acres, probably two acre plantation. Just from that little area it has spread across the road here down to our place and down the road. Then once you get a few big trees say 5oo metres down that way and then they start producing seed, it is quite expodential growth basically. And they are fairly adaptable too, they will grow in most types of conditions to fairly wet to pretty dry poor gravely soil. Well that's why they were planted I guess because of that reason they grow well in Tasmanian conditions. The problem is they don't stay where they were put. Heidi: They have got some evolutionary advantages to the native trees because of that? Todd: Yeah I suppose so, they seem to grow well here. I suppose they haven't got as many predators as a lot of the local species have, although a lot of the local eucalypts grow nearly as fast as well, but they definitely do well in this kind of environment. And its probably worth taking a bit of footage of the Spanish Heath growing all along the roadside here. Heidi: So how long has that been here for? Todd: I am not sure really, quite a while, I think it was first planted maybe about 40 or 50 years ago for a cut flower, now it is spreading all around Tasmania. It starts of along the roadsides and then it spreads into the bush along tracks or any disturbed areas. That is another big problem in Tasmania too and it is getting worse all the time. We have got enough problems without them clearing all the native bush as well, just dealing with the issues that already need to be. Lachie: Well it makes the reproduction off these weeds a whole lot easier doesn't it. Todd: Yeah well anywhere you disturb the soil and add nutrients you are going to get more weed problems. It was interesting in that case a t St. Mary's they said there would not be a weed problem with the plantation establishment because they would spray any weeds that came up, which is not much of a solution. Have you ever read that "Feral Future" book by Tim Lowe, its is an interesting book all about exotic plants and animals and their impact on the Australian environment. It is really worth reading. Because I think it is a bit underestimated really the impact they are having. Lachie: Yeah until you actually start to get out into the bush and realize just how bad the impact is Todd: But it is madness to destroy self sustaining ecosystems and replacing them with this high maintenance agriculture type of crops. It's creating a huge amount of work and problems. Lachie: And they are wiping out all the native flora and fauna at the same time. Todd: Yeah absolutely. It s just crazy. The amount of resources you need for all that extra land management is ridiculous too, I think they have cleared some like 50 or 60 thousand hectares of native vegetation in Tasmania in only the last three or four years, so all of that land is going to need to be continually sprayed and all the rest of it, where as before it was just looking after it self.