Bit late replying...havnt been around for a little while
the subject came up the other evening with friends around for BBQ....plants
Basically boiled down to the issue is a joke....
Not as far as DoC cleaning out areas, but rather what is listed, what can be sold in garden centres and council activity in urban and rural areas.
Under the old legislation that refereed to Noxious weeds it seemed making gardeners, farmers, Government Depts far more responsable...
As a city gardener, my main issues with weeds (defined as a plant growing in the wrong place) is Privet, tobacco weed, wandering Jew, Phoenix palm, Choko, jasmine, asparagus fern...all from neighbouring properties and parks.
Cherry tree...what bright spark at the local council decided these would be suitable burn trees?
And from in our gardens, totara, karaka, kawakawa, five finger and lemon wood...
The latter I can live with...a gardener would be bored not having a few native weeds to pull.
Why did the change the term Noxious in the Act....that has a real good 'ring' to it.
The drive down the Auckland motoway, and all the planting of native species is a credit...but then they trim up and leave the damn privit tress....go figure?
As soom as one hits semi rual just outside Manukau city...in all directions Privit and tobacco, with the occassional clump of wild ginger.
I dont know how councils administer noxious weeds, they have inspectors for safe buildings, inspectors for food outlets, noise inspectors, animal inpectors...but when it comes to the health and safey of the land.....nothing.
It is not uncommon to see Railways or Highway maintance and farmers spray weeds gorse etc right upto the boundry then leave everything on the other side...
Sure due to bureaucratic BS and laws they have to...
But at the end of the day, their intentions ar great, and just pouring resources and money down the drain...If they co ordinated such projects, in the long run the problem would not exist, no more expenses in the future....instead they get reinfected year after year, decade after decade....defies logic and plain old common sence.
