Across the Margaret River region, wineries, businesses and community groups are joining forces with landholders to combat one of the South West’s most invasive weeds – the arum lily.
Leading the way are Edwards Wines and Passel Estate, neighbours on Ellenbrook Rd near Cowaramup, who are showing how local enterprises – including the region’s world-renowned wineries – also have a powerful role to play in protecting the environment.
“We’ve had arum lily pockets in our bushland that have flared up in recent years,” says Christo Edwards, viticulturalist at Edwards Wines. “When Nature Conservation Margaret River Region’s Arum Lily Blitz team contacted me, we jumped at the chance to cost-share control efforts. It’s important to chip away at the problem, not just for this property but to stop spread into coastal areas and waterways nearby.”
Next door, Passel Estate owners Barry and Wendy Stimpson – with estate gardener David Chadwick – are also committed to long-term control on their 100-acre property, of which a third is covered by high quality bushland. Together, the two wineries are demonstrating the impact of neighbours working side-by-side to protect remnant bushland and prevent weeds escaping into surrounding natural areas.
“We’ve been controlling arum lilies here for over a decade and have eradicated them from our bush,” Barry says. “Now it’s about maintaining that success and replanting other areas with natives to create new habitat. But it only works if neighbours work together. Teamwork is essential – we won’t achieve what’s needed otherwise.”
Now in its seventh year, Nature Conservation Margaret River Region’s Arum Lily Blitz is coordinating a landscape-scale response across more than 26,000 hectares. Over 2,200 landholders receive support with free resources, workshops, herbicide, and cost-sharing. Local volunteers, community groups, businesses and government agencies are all playing a role in restoring habitat and protecting wildlife.
An arum lily infestation
Arum lilies are highly destructive: they outcompete native plants, smother orchids and wildflowers, and form dense, toxic monocultures. Large-scale control is only possible with targeted herbicide.
Eloise Jarvis, Sustainability and Industry Project Manager at Wines of Western Australia, said the Blitz was an “outstanding program that has strategically brought landholders together targeting this very invasive noxious weed”.
“The results have been profound with regeneration of previously overwhelmed areas to their natural state. The ongoing collaborative efforts by Nature Conservation and the broader community of the Margaret River wine region… is a great example of how bringing people together in a common cause has such a positive outcome for the environment and community. It’s brilliant!”
That was backed by Margaret River Wine Association CEO Amanda Whiteland, who said it’s “inspiring to see our local wineries working together with Nature Conservation and their neighbours to protect the natural beauty of Margaret River”. Programs like the Arum Lily Blitz show what’s possible when our community unites to care for country and preserve the landscapes that make this region so unique,” she said.
Christo Edwards, viticulturalist at Edwards Wines, with Passell Estate owner Barry Stimpson
Obelia Walker, Nature Conservation’s biodiversity officer and Blitz coordinator, said collaboration is at the heart of the program’s success.
“The ripple effect of neighbours working together on this issue is huge” she said. “Arum lily doesn’t recognise boundary lines and control must be coordinated to be effective and sustained. By working together, Edwards Wines and Passel Estate are not only caring for the bush on their own land but also safeguarding biodiversity at a wider landscape scale.”
“It’s great to see this commitment to environmental stewardship from an industry that represents a significant portion of privately owned land. We want to see every winery in the region, including organic wineries, registering with the Arum Lily Blitz.”
For landholders unable to manage arum lily infestations on their own, Nature Conservation’s Bush Regeneration Team is available for hire.
The Arum Lily Blitz is funded by the WA Government’s State Natural Resources Management Program. Find out more or join the Blitz at www.natureconservation.org.au.