VIDEO: Gamba grass - A weed that's killing country

Our friends at Mimal Rangers have helped produce this video warning Territorians about Gamba grass, a weed that's killing country.

The video shows how since being introduced as stock feed several decades ago, Gamba grass has quickly grown throughout the NT, often dominating the environment it moves into and wiping out other native plants.

During bushfires, Gamba grass acts as a highly flammable fuel, contributing to temperatures that can become so hot nothing survives the fire, not even trees.

The video shows time lapse maps of Gamba grass becoming more prolific in the Darwin area and some of the Ranger's experiences learning about managing the weed.

The video was produced as part of a larger TNRM-supported project setting up an exchange program between Mimal Rangers and Jawoyn Rangers.

Luckily, much of the land Mimal and Jawoyn rangers manage only has relatively low densities of Gamba grass, and another weed species, Prickly acacia.

Since these weeds can spread easily though, the ranger exchange program exposed rangers to their dangers and took them to Heytesbury Cattle Company's Moolooloo Station and Bushfires NT facilities to learn how to combat them before they become unmanageable.

This way the rangers can help stop weeds taking over new landscapes. The secret is stopping them early.

There is a large and coordinated push back against Gamba grass and the video shows how the Northern Territory Government, rangers and landholders can help stop it taking hold in new areas, and where Gamba grass does exist, help remove it.

More info on what Gamba grass looks like and how to manage it can be found here

TNRM supported the Mimal Aboriginal Land Management Corporation to set up the exchange program for Mimal and Jawoyn Rangers, and to help produce the video, through funding from the Australian Government's National Landcare Programme.