Parks unknown: the secrets to managing national parks
23 Apr 2019
Did you know Parks Victoria uses military-grade thermal imaging technology to spot animals? How about that they patrol marine parks by deploying underwater drones? Here are some things you didn’t know about Parks Victoria.
1. They use giraffes to beat weeds
Parks Victoria has some secret weapons when it comes to the war against weeds: Twiga and Nakuru – Melbourne Zoo’s family of giraffes – who are mad for Acacia Longifolia, otherwise known as Sallow wattle.
Less crazy about this wattle is the team at Parks Victoria. “These ‘woody weeds’ have got totally out of balance with the other indigenous species,” says Sam Pollard, Ranger Team Leader, Parks Victoria.
But one man’s weed is another giraffe’s lunch, and Rob Boekel, Melbourne Zoo’s Browse Coordinator – Horticulture, spotted an opportunity to form a fruitful alliance.
Twice a week, Rob and his team jump in a truck and head out to The Pines Flora and Fauna Reserve in Frankston, an outer suburb of Melbourne, where they cut down the Acacia Longifolia. They can get 12 cubic metres of vegetation on board, or about 200 pieces of Sallow wattle, which will feed the giraffes for about three days.]
2. They protect an army of crabs
Each year around May or June, thousands of giant spider crabs invade Port Phillip Bay for their annual winter moult. “We’ve had David Attenborough telling the story of the spider crabs right on our doorstep,” Mark Norman from Parks Victoria says.
“A football field worth of crabs crawl up the channels to a shallow sand area and pick their one moonlit night to quickly all shed their hard skeletons.”
Parks Victoria’s marine rangers keep a close eye on the crabs with the use of underwater drones, but for punters the best way to see them is to go diving near the town of Rye – or you can stand on the jetty and watch “a big black stain” move across the water.
3. They rock military-grade thermal-imaging tech
Forward-looking Infrared Radar, or FLIR, is basically next-level night-vision goggles that detect heat sources. “I used a vehicle-mounted one and we could see the exhaust of a car about 300 metres away that had been turned off six hours before,” Mark says.
Parks Victoria uses FLIR as well as a helicopter-mounted military system called MX-10 that combines super high-resolution video and FLIR.
“As soon as you see something that is 4 degrees above the base background temperature it stands out brilliantly white,” Mark says. “It shows us things that were previously impossible to spot through the tree canopy; now you can see this brilliant white shining through the trees, and you go to the high-resolution video and you can see what type of animal it is.”
This tech is helping get a better understanding of both the native and feral populations. On the Murray River, locals thought there were about 150 feral horses in the region and it turns out the number is actually closer to 1,000.
4. They have weed sniffer dogs
In the alpine region there is a team of dogs that search for oxide hawkweed, a small plant that is difficult to spot but can takeover whole hillsides if it is not managed properly.
“We also have some programs in the Great Otway National Park where the dogs are trained to look for evidence of the endangered native cat, or quoll, that is under pressure there from foxes and feral cats,” Mark says.
“Some of these endangered animals have only hung on by being so hard to find, so we have to use our best tools to sniff them out.”
5. They use DNA testing
The latest DNA technology is so accurate that Parks Victoria can detect marine predators from miles away.
“You can take a sample of water and analyse it and find the DNA of what has been in that water. We use it to search for pests around Wilsons Promontory,” Mark says, where they know a Sydney octopus is heading south.
“Other groups are checking for platypus in rivers, so they check the water and say, ‘Yes, a platypus has pooed here in the last few days.’” Parks Victoria will then make sure to keep an eye on the elusive native.
6. They provide seaweed for your glass of wine
Ribbon weed grows up to four metres in length in Albert Park lake and is rich in nutrients. As Albert Park is a run-off lake, they aim to drop the nutrient out of the water and it is also harvested to maintain usability for boats, sailors and rowers as the weed gets stuck in rudders.
The harvest occurs in November and February. A contractor comes in with what could be described as an “underwater mower”, which harvests 110-120 tonnes of the aquatic plant so it is approximately one metre below water level.
The aquatic plant then gets loaded into a compactor truck, squashed down and taken out to Brown Magpie Wines on the Surf Coast to be recycled and used for open-air composting for the vines. Owner, Shane Breheny is constantly looking for organic solutions for wine production and said the Ribbon weed contributes to producing a better grape.
“It creates an organic balanced compost that improves soil by introducing more carbon, which reduces the need for water; improving the PH, which reduces the need for artificial fertilisers; and preventing weeds, which reduces the need for herbicides,” he says.
“Ultimately it improves the fertility of the soil, which means better production and a better drop of wine.”
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