DRIVERS on the Glenelg Highway between Casterton and Mount Gambier are being blindsided – literally – by an overgrowth of coastal wattle.
On a stretch of the highway between Cawker Creek and the Grubbed Road intersection, wattle trees have reached the edge of the sealed surface, with vegetation intruding over the road in some places.
The area is also active with logging traffic and the overgrown roadside vegetation is creating a hindrance to required signage, which normally alerts road users to the presence of logging trucks entering the highway.
Casterton’s Anthony Povey said he and wife Gayle “got off lightly” when travelling along the stretch of road, when a kangaroo emerged from the trees, with no warning and only his slower speed prevented a serious incident.
“You can’t see if there’s wildlife or anything coming, because the trees are right at the road,” he said.
“We were going a bit slower, because we were aware of it … so we didn’t get much damage, but if something major did happen, you’ve got nowhere to go.”
Strathdownie’s Ian Hargreaves said the unchecked roadside growth was a “disgrace” and an “accident waiting to happen”.
“You’ve got log trucks, cars, people going to and from work and town,” he said.
“If something happens, if a truck’s in the wrong spot or even another car, there’s nowhere to go if you need to get off the road … and in one spot, if the (logging) trucks are coming out, they’d have to be on the main road, before they can see if there’s any traffic coming.”
Regular drivers along the affected stretch of road said the roadside overgrowth had been an issue for months, despite claims the Glenelg Highway underwent regular assessments.
When questioned on the issue, Department of Transport Acting Regional Director for Barwon South West, Aj Armstrong said the Glenelg Highway was inspected fortnightly.
“We examine road surfaces, roadside reserves and other surrounding infrastructure during our fortnightly inspections of the Glenelg Highway,” Mr Armstrong said.
“The Glenelg Highway between Casterton and the South Australia border was inspected last week and we plan to carry out vegetation removal and pruning in this area in the near future as part of our regular maintenance program.”
He said under the State Government’s Victorian Road Maintenance Plan, crews cleared vegetation up to six metres vertically between the edge of the road and the drain line.
The Department is planning to conduct vegetation removal and pruning in this area in the coming weeks, with 600 metres of road to be pruned along the highway, near Doughboy Road.
While not an officially declared pest, in 2018 the South Australian Natural Resources South East group was calling for work to stop the inland spread of the wattle, which had already been reported as a problem along both the Casterton-Penola Road and Glenelg Highway between Mount Gambier and Casterton.
Natural Resources management officer, Alan Robins said at the time, that local forest management company Timberlands Pacific was taking on the initiative to control the potential threat.
“We have identified sallow wattle spreading along roadsides from Penola to Casterton,” Mr Robins said.
“This area of concern has seen infestations spread into pine plantations, which can impede harvesting and maintenance operations.
“With this in mind, we consulted with Timberlands forester Kim Thomas to organise their summer fire crew to undertake control along a four-kilometre section near the roadside.”
Timberlands Pacific completed control work in early 2018 and the control measures were reported to have allowed other non-invasive native species to regenerate in areas where sallow wattle could have become dominant, outcompeting others and creating a potential fire hazard.
“We encourage industries to get involved in pest control for the benefit of their business and for the improvement of our natural resources,” Mr Robins said.
“The future plan is to do further work to combat sallow wattle along the northern side of Casterton Road adjoining Timberlands Pacific plantations in 2019.”
