- Issued
- 13 December 2024
- Region
Spanning 5,410ha, Porcupine Gorge National Park is a unique area of the savanna plains that extends for more than 25kms along Porcupine Creek. It features an impressive gorge with towering cliffs of coloured sandstone and deep permanent waterholes, each with its own resident turtles.
The national park protects 6 main vegetation types, including pockets of native vine forest, that are threatened by a highly invasive pest plant—rubber vine (Cryptostegia grandiflora). Native to Madagascar, rubber vine is a vigorous climber with twining, whip-like shoots that form dense thickets which spread quickly and smother native vegetation.
Thirty plus years of war on this weed
For over 3 decades, our Rangers at Porcupine Gorge have waged a relentless war against rubber vine. The battle began in 1992, with laborious efforts to cut and treat individual plants in the challenging terrain of the gorge.
After attempting a variety of removal methods over the years, Rangers discovered that cut-stumping every plant and then spraying, was the most effective, but also very labour intensive, removal method.
Ranger Grant is one of the team leading the battle to remove this weed from Porcupine Gorge National Park.
'Most plants could be dealt with using a cane knife to cut it off as close to ground level as possible and then treated with a spray,’ Ranger Grant said.
‘But sometimes we encountered monstrous individual plants, and a cane knife just wouldn’t cut it…, literally!’
To tackle these monsters, a weapon mightier than a knife was needed and that’s when brush-cutters fitted with saw blades and a small chainsaw came into play.
‘We’d send in one brave Ranger, crawling beneath the tangled vines, to saw through the trunk, while also trying to dodge small scorpions. Then, once it was cut, a team effort was needed to roll away the massive plant for disposal,’ Ranger Grant said.
Removal of rubber vine is backbreaking work in steep, difficult terrain.
Photo credit: © Queensland Government
Sometimes a weapon mightier than a knife was needed and that’s when brush-cutters fitted with saw blades and a small chainsaw came into play.
Photo credit: © Queensland Government
The Rangers’ determination and resourcefulness, despite harsh and difficult terrain, has gradually pushed back the front of rubber vine.
Photo credit: © Queensland Government
Battling on
The rubber vine battle occurred on the national park front, but it was also infesting neighbouring pastoral properties. These infestations required treatment to stop any rubber vine sneaking its way back onto the national park, including an area of approximately 12,000 plants with at least one main ‘mother’ plant. Working together with neighbouring landholders, Rangers were able to assist with the treatment of these off-park infestations.
By 2004, Rangers had destroyed all crops of rubber vine in the northern part of the national park, but plants remained in the southern half. Mapping the locations of the remaining infestations was an important next step. By early 2007, all remaining infestations of rubber vine in the southern part of Porcupine Gorge National Park had been mapped and the battle continued.
Our Rangers’ perseverance is nothing short of remarkable. Their tenacious and multi-faceted approach, from aerial surveys to abseiling down cliffs to reach and treat difficult to get to infestations, has led to significant progress in controlling this persistent weed.
On track to win the war
‘Every year, we complete ‘search and destroy’ surveys over all areas that we’ve previously treated for rubber vine and where it continues to spread out into untreated locations of the national park,’ Ranger Grant said.
‘Rubber vine remains in a small section of the southern part of the national park. It’s still producing seeds and new plants are germinating every year.’
‘But we’re not giving up. If we stopped our efforts, it would only take 6 years for rubber vine to re-establish over the entire park. We just need to disable the seed production, then we’ll have a real chance of completely eradicating rubber vine from Porcupine Gorge National Park,’ Ranger Grant said.
The Rangers’ determination and resourcefulness, despite harsh and difficult terrain and limited resources, has gradually pushed back the front of rubber vine.
While challenges remain, Porcupine Gorge National Park is closer than ever to being rid of this pest plant.
From abseiling down cliffs to crawling among scorpions, these dedicated Rangers and their continued battle against rubber vine, are going to see us win the war on this invasive plant pest.
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