2015-01-12 General Committee Agenda Attachment 1 to Item 7 Pest Management Plan 2015-2019

Several populations of red, rusa, and fallow deer are currently established within the region.
Deer pose a serious threat to the region, hence their declared status under state legislation
and the subsequent requirement of land managers to take reasonable steps to ensure
numbers are managed accordingly. As well as providing competition for both domestic
livestock and natives species, deer present many other impacts, including traffic hazards to
motorists; they are implicated in the spread of declared plant species as well as exotic
diseases such as Foot and Mouth disease; destroy property infrastructure, such as fences;
and can quickly degrade pristine areas through intensive activity, leading to erosion and
sediment transport and damaged vegetation.




                         Camphor laurel (Cinnamomoum camphora)

Pests of our hinterland ranges

Vines such as blue morning glory (Ipomoea indica), thunbergia (Thunbergia spp.), cat’s claw
creeper (Macfadyena unguis-cati) and madeira vine (Anredera cordifolia) are ubiquitous
weeds of hinterland areas. They smother native vegetation with dense blankets of growth
that can kill trees. Another problem vine, dutchman’s pipe (Aristolochia elegans) is closely
related to the native Pararistolochia praevenosa, the larval food plant of the Richmond
birdwing butterfly (Ornithoptera richmondii). Adult butterflies mistakenly lay their eggs on the
exotic vine, which is poisonous to the caterpillars. This has had devastating effects on local
populations of Richmond birdwing butterflies.

Pests of our urban areas

The urban-bushland interface is an area of intense pressure from environmental weeds and
residential gardens are the source of many of them. People dumping garden waste over the
back fence or in environmental reserves introduce substantial weed loads to bushland
reserves. Other garden plants such as mock orange (Murraya paniculata), duranta (Duranta
spp.), Mickey Mouse bush (Ochna serrulata) and Queensland umbrella tree (Schefflera
actinophylla) that are popular with gardeners for the brightly coloured fruits they produce are
also popular with birds who eat the fruit and transport the seeds into bushland areas.

Our pets can also cause major impacts in urban bushland parks. Domestic cats allowed to
roam are known to hunt and kill native fauna such as birds, lizards and frogs, while domestic
dogs that are not properly restrained at night are recognised as a key threat to koala
populations. The highly modified urban environment has also provided suitable habitat for
certain introduced species, such as the Common myna bird (Acridotheres tristis), to

                                               8