Rapid assessment of priority sites where weeds threaten biodiversity across the South East Local Land Services region

In 2020 a Rapid Appraisal Tool to evaluate sites containing environmental assets at risk from weed species was developed for the South East Local Land Services. In addition to the Rapid Appraisal Tool a map of likely priority sites to assessed was developed (in ArcGIS) based on numerous data sources of differing quality and age (i.e. date of the original data collection), as well as being collected for differing management purposes which resulted in the collection of differing attributes. The next phase of the project is to rapidly assess these sites to determine priorities for management based on an actual assessment of the current situation at the site in terms of the status of the biodiversity threatened by weeds and the actual current weed threat. The 2020 bush fires also burnt many sites, so a current assessment is critical for such sites to determine priorities relative to the added threat from the fires to the biodiversity and any resultant changes to the weed population and relative impact at the site.