'Buffel bust' sees volunteers clear more than 100sq/m in Alice Springs

In short:

A wet winter in parts of Central Australia has caused the highly-invasive weed buffel grass to blanket the region.

In response to concerns about its spread, a group of Indigenous artists are pulping the weed and turning it into art.

What's next?

The National Biosecurity Council is expected to deliver a decision on the inclusion of buffel grass on the list of weeds of national significance in December.

For Western Arrernte artist Carita Coultard, painting bush tucker that has been found across the nation's central desert for millennia is a chance to celebrate the region's bounty, but it also comes with an alarming message.

Her watercolour work depicts different foods she remembers collecting as a child in Hermannsburg, about 130 kilometres west of Alice Springs, which she laments "we don't see around anymore".

As the artist describes each plant, offering their names in English and her first language — including "the bush onion (yalka), the bush potato (lutjia) and all these sultanas (kutjirra ntjirrka)" — she points the finger at the invasive weed, buffel grass, for wiping them from the landscape.

"I think about in childhood we used to just go around, walk around and get all these bush foods, but we can't see it now," Coultard said.

"We don't see them anymore around, especially around in the Alice area; like maybe way, way from town area, way up bush you might find some.

"It's so sad we can't even see.

"It's just no good at all — buffel grass is everywhere growing."

A wet winter in the Alice Springs region has created prime conditions for buffel grass to flourish.

The hardy, drought-resistant grass was declared a weed in the Northern Territory in 2024 and spreads easily, smothering native plants and fuelling fire.

Introduced to control erosion and feed cattle in the 1960s, buffel grass spread from Central Australia and is now found in all states and territories except Tasmania and the ACT.

To highlight concern over the invasive weed, Coultard and a group of artists have created an exhibition that opened at the Olive Pink Botanic Gardens in Alice Springs today.

The works have been painted on buffel paper handmade in the Many Hands art centre studio.

"You can just cut it all down in pieces … just boil it all in a pot … we just leave it to soak down, get real fluffy … blend it and then put on the mesh and put it outside to let it dry," Coultard said.

"The first lot was so rough. It was testing, trying to bring it smooth.

"We don't have a proper machine. We can just do what we can do here."

Buffel busting ahead of fire season

In another part of Alice Springs, a group of volunteers are battling buffel along the Todd River.

Its rampant run has sparked concerns of a big fire season, where excess fuel loads and predictions of a hot El Nino summer have residents on high alert.

Landcare volunteer Steve Eldgridge says he has seen change over the past 20 years where "buffel grass has really started to take over and what we see now is almost a monoculture".

"Our aim is really to protect these huge … lovely big old red gums that grow along the Todd River," he said.

"Obviously with so much grass growth underneath, they're at real risk of fire and we just want to stop that happening.

"I've seen so many of these 300, 400-year-old trees burn down and we're left with very few of them now."

Since May, a weekly "buffel bust" has seen volunteers clock around 150 hours to clear an area of about 5 hectares near the centre of town.

Charles Darwin University professor Kamaljit Sangha co-authored an economic impact assessment commissioned by the NT government that looked at the cost and benefits of the spread of buffel using a model of the grass established in 1,000 hectares.

"We looked more from societal perspective thinking whole of the society, including the pastoral sector, the conservation, tourism, public and the Indigenous sectors," she said.

"We know that buffel grass has spread into other landscapes where it's not wanted, so the costs are about 60 times higher than the benefits that accrue to the pastoral sector."

She said the results were conservative and a key recommendation included a coordinated approach to managing the weed.

"The costs are going to be huge because there is no natural barrier for buffel not to spread to other places," she said.

"It's not just the cost with the spread of buffel for biodiversity, the most important thing is the public costs for managing fire in the landscape."

Not yet a weed of national significance

In response, NT Lands, Planning and Environment Minister Joshua Burgoyne has written to the federal government seeking funding to support buffel management.

But the federal government is in the final stages of assessing if buffel will be declared a weed of national significance.

In late July, the National Biosecurity Committee found the invasive grass met the criteria but cited "a need to undertake further work".

A statement through Weeds Australia said consensus was not reached as: "Buffel grass presents a unique and complex case that requires further consideration. It is a highly valued pasture for the cattle industry. Conversely, buffel grass has significant negative impacts."

A committee working group has been holding stakeholder meetings in every affected state, but a meeting hasn't been scheduled in the NT.

The Department of Agriculture said the committee will refer to the Territory government's buffel grass strategy and plan as it makes a final decision, which is expected by the end of the year.