With the decision by Minister Garratt to say 'no' to the proposed Traveston Dam, I could not let this whole saga go 'unblogged'. Three and a half years ago Premier Peter Beattie announced that there would be a dam on the Mary River. This decision set off a train of events that have continued since that first day. The decision to dam the Mary River caused an enormous amount of pain and suffering to the people of the Mary River community and surrounds. Consequently a 'no dam' campaign began.  More >>

Coming down my driveway recently, I saw a most unusual sight. At first I had no idea what is was. As I got closer and got out of the car it became very apparent that I was looking at two very big carpet pythons. More >>

Why are water weeds so much of a problem? They have many social, environmental and economic effects that I will discuss later, however the reason they are so problematic is that they are so hard to deal with. Once an aquatic weed becomes established, it is very difficult, expensive and sometimes impossible to deal with. With terrestrial weeds you can deal with them. It may be hard, and cost a lot of time and money, but if you stick to the job you have a chance of prevailing eventually. Even such a simple thing as getting access to the weed is a problem in an aquatic situation. In the bush, even if you have to use a bulldozer you can get to the site. You can’t use a bulldozer in a lake! More >>

Above Image: Blue Morning Glory, Bruce Highway - Courtesy of Noosa District Landcare

Weeds…why are some people really passionate about picking on these sometimes beautiful plants? Very basically, a “weed” is a plant growing where it is not wanted.  To me, a plant becomes a serious weed when it affects the balance in nature. It behaves much like the school bully, outcompeting and upsetting its mates. At the extreme end of this a weed can become a monoculture not allowing anything else to grow at all. I will give you some examples of this later… More >>