Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests

The harmless, even charming looking plant below is Tribulus terrestris—variously called Caltrop, bindii, cat’s head, goat’s head, yellow vine. It’s a native of North Africa, now naturalised around the world, including Australia. It’s thought to have been introduced here as a contaminant in seed from the Mediterranean area, California or South Africa, and spread widely when its seed was caught in car tyres in the 1920s and 1930s.

Calthrop/Bindii…a new arrival in our district: how did it get here?

A grisly list of the problems associated with this plant can be found here. They relate to the seed, a diabolical looking object vaguely like a land mine from an alien planet. It’s painful to stand on, punctures bike tyres and can stick to pets’ feet. Obviously not something to have to put up with on a sports field.

Caltrop seed: a glance will suggest why it’s painful.

Caltrop/Bindii is most commonly found in the North of Victoria, but seems to have recently arrived in Castlemaine, where it’s been found on the Western Oval and some roadsides. How did it get here? The common factor in all sites found so far is that they’ve been disturbed by road and other works, or seem to have soil brought in from elsewhere: another reason for paying more attention to the cleaning of machines, and for being more careful about transferring soil from one place to another.

Another part of the terms of reference is to investigate the matter of ‘hazard reduction.’ Although this has been a favourite theme of commentators wanting to distract the public from the fact that climate change might be making bushfires worse, it also could be a good subject to consider.

Except that it too is an idea that’s been kicked around endlessly with no apparent consensus. Who now remembers the 2008 Victorian Parliamentary enquiry into land management and bushfires? One of its recommendations was a huge burn off target. The State Government said of that recommendation:

‘The Victorian Government supports planned burning to improve protection, conservation and production outcomes. However, the annual area treated by planned burning needs to be determined based on science and risk management frameworks and be subject to  opportunities as dictated by seasonal conditions.

‘Given this, the Government recognises that the amount of planned burning will vary to take into account these factors.

‘The Government supports a move away from focusing on hectare—based targets which may lead to inappropriate planned burning outcomes. They do not account for differences in the effort required for small area asset protection burns (often around settlements) compared to larger scale mosaic burns in more remote areas.

Then, only a few years later, the Black Saturday Royal Commission recommended a rolling 5 per cent target…and it was found unworkable and ineffective by the Commission monitor, for exactly the reasons set out in 2008—but only after a large area of land had been burned for no sensible reason.

Let’s hope we don’t have to go around that circle again.

Here’s a factor which should not be forgotten: human causes of fire. We’re not talking only about arson: carelessness or sheer ignorance are factors. The fire which seriously threatened the Canberra suburbs recently was caused by an army helicopter…And it was a helicopter involved in fire protection!

It’s unfair to blame the army for this, but there’s there’s something farcical about it, although we don’t think Canberra residents would have been laughing. The lesson of it, maybe, is that for increasing lengths of time throughout the year, past ways of doing things don’t work…that the way we do things has to change. Let’s see how the Royal Commission approaches that one.