Authorities weigh the cost of declaring buffel grass a weed

Authorities are moving to declare buffel grass a weed even in jurisdictions where it is so highly valued, like the Northern Territory.

For many cattle graziers across the north, buffel grass is a lifesaver and crucial stock cattle feed for six months of the year.

It has been called the "king of pastures" in Queensland where it is still the most popular grass sown across pastoral properties.

Despite its importance to the cattle industry, national authorities label it "one of the most environmentally serious weed species in central and northern Australia".

It is called an invader, fire hazard, destroyer of native eco-systems.

Northern Australia is already fighting a losing battle against another super-successful introduced grass, Gamba, with volunteer firefighters saying Gamba grass is now endangering people's lives.

Gamba is now declared a "weed of national significance" and any millions of taxpayer dollars are spent every year to tame it.

Buffel and Gamba grasses were introduced to Australia in the same decade and for the same reasons, to provide a drought-hardy stockfeed.

Droughts during the early 1900s in northern Australia had led to a global search for a grass which could produce good forage for livestock with low rainfall.

Both have done very well in Australian conditions, some would say too well.

The same governments which supplied the seeds which ensured buffel's dominance, and now circling back to say it may have been a mistake.

Buffel grass was officially introduced to northern Australia from southern Asia and East Africa during the 1920s.

Gamba came to Australia from Africa in 1931 for trials in the NT to use it as a pasture grass.

It has been estimated Gamba grass could flourish across 380,000 square kilometres of northern Australia.

Scientific modelling has also shown buffel grass could dominate pastures across as much as 60 per cent of Australia.

Pastoral stations across the Pilbara and Kimberley of WA enjoy the hardiness of buffel.

In Queensland, buffel grass was first sown in Cloncurry in 1926 and some years later at Rockhampton and was an immediate hit with graziers. It thrives in sandy soils.

So much so that it has choked out native grass species.

Some studies have shown it has been just as costly to native animal species as well.

Authorities have been warning for decades about what they call buffel's "weed characteristics".

It also forms big stands, increasing the amount of fuel for wildfires.

In South Australia, it is now a declared weed with prohibition on seed sales and enforced destruction.

"Buffel grass has been recognised as one of the greatest pest threats to the arid rangelands of South Australia," states the Primary Industries Department.

NSW authorities have said there are "public policy issues arising from its positive and negative aspects which need to be resolved" but note its frost-sensitivity already restricts its spread.

Buffel is already on an "advisory list" of weeds in Victoria with expectations it will be listed for control.

Government agencies act to destroy any buffel patches found growing in the state.

The approach of the southern states to the buffel grass "weed" is well established.

Now authorities in the north have a similar problem.

The NT government formed its Buffel Grass Technical Working Group last year "to address environmental concerns around buffel grass, which makes wildfires more intense and impacts biodiversity".

Today's focus is buffel's unchecked spread in central Australia but pastoralists are concerned the action would become Territory-wide.

That working group recommended a new weed advisory committee be formed develop a management plan "with the view of declaring buffel grass a weed".

The government has been quick to declare this committee would include representatives of the pastoral industry "to ensure we better understand the economic and environmental perspectives as well as the practicalities of managing buffel grass in central Australia".

A strategy will be developed over the next three months to determine how declaring buffel grass as a weed can "balance the protection of priority areas with the role buffel plays as fodder for the pastoral industry and as a soil stabiliser".

Environment Minister Kate Worden said: "It is critical that we manage buffel grass in a manner that can balance all aspects of our community and economy.

"Areas of cultural, environmental and conservation significance must be protected, while our pastoral industry must be supported to manage and grow their business in an environmentally sound manner."