Launch of Wheel Cactus Mapping Appeal
Posted on 16 May, 2011 by Connecting Country
With this post, Connecting Country is launching their appeal for observations of Wheel Cactus to be lodged onto the Community Interactive Mapping Portal. Each month, a randomly chosen submitter of Wheel Cactus records will receive a prize. This month’s prize is a copy of Wildlife of the Box-Ironbark Country by Chris Tzaros.
Tarrengower School Rd extension (Photo from DPI).
Wheel Cactus Opuntia robusta is an emerging major weed species across Victoria. It has been a substantial problem in the broader Maldon area for many years, and is a potential risk of becoming a similar problem across most of the Mount Alexander Shire and surrounds. The Tarrengower Cactus Control Committee, with Parks Victoria, has made significant inroads in controlling major infestations around the Maldon-Tarrengower area. However, every Wheel Cactus plant is a potential source for a new out-break, and no part of the shire – including gardens, reserves and agricultural land – is immune.
The Department of Primary Industries are also undertaking a project that analyses the spread of Wheel Cactus spread from the Maldon area, and are seeking as many records as possible from all across the region.
With these thoughts in mind, Connecting Country has offered the use of their Community Interactive Mapping Portal (CIMP) to assist in the mapping of Wheel Cactus. The CIMP is a tool that allows any person with access to the internet to submit observations or other activities of interest (e.g. flora, fauna, revegetation, weeds) for particular point locations across the local area. All community members and groups are encouraged to submit past and present location records of Wheel Cactus, as well as other associated information. ANY Wheel Cactus records, even just dots on the map are useful, but more accurate records will be more valuable.
Further details on the Wheel Cactus mapping project, the use of the CIMP and also information on the identification and biology of the Wheel Cactus, can be found by clicking here.
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