Taranaki Regional Council media release
20 March 2008
For immediate release

Now’s The Time To Hit Pampas

The pampas is starting to flower so let the spraying begin.

That’s the message from the Taranaki Regional Council, which is urging land owners and occupiers to destroy the declared pest plant as it flowers and before seeds become viable.

Glyphosate or glyphosate powder is the recommended treatment.

Common pampas and purple pampas are among the targets in the Council’s Pest Plant Management Strategy because of the way they threaten biodiversity by suppressing native plants along forest and streambank margins, in scrub and secondary forests, and wetlands and coastal areas.

Pampas also hinders agricultural production, particularly by strangling forestry seedlings in planted forests. The plant can also be a nuisance on roadside verges.

Under the Strategy, all common or purple pampas must be destroyed unless the plants are being used as hedges or shelterbelts and are prevented from flowering or seeding – but even these must be destroyed by 2012.

The Taranaki Regional Council Compliance Manager, Bruce Pope, says pampas hedgerows and shelterbelts should be progressively destroyed to meet the 2012 deadline.

He says alternatives for shelter can include trees, flaxes, native toetoe and karo. These not only provide shelter but enhance landscape values and biodiversity values.

“Pampas should not be confused with native toetoe, which is smaller with a waxy surface on the leaf base and droopy flower heads,” says Mr Pope.

For more information, call the Taranaki Regional Council on 0800 736 222 and ask to speak to a Pest Plant Investigating Officer.

ENDS

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