Vera Kurz – Friends of Tuggeranong Hill ParkCare Group
October 2023 saw the launch of the ACT Weeds Manual, a resource by and for environmental volunteers in the ACT.
The manual was around a year in the making, and is designed to be a hands on practical one-stop resource for identifying and treating weeds in the reserves and urban open spaces of Canberra. There is a strong community of environmental volunteers in the ACT, and we want to ensure that our work is evidence based, best practice as approved by the land manager and making the absolute most efficient use of our efforts. This is a manual which new and existing volunteers can turn to for the latest and most reliable information, to identify, prioritise and treat weeds in their patch.
A group of about 20 volunteers contributed to the manual, as did the Volunteer Programs team within the Parks and Conservation Service (PCS), as well as Southern ACT Catchment Group (SACTCG), who were both very supportive of the project. Weed ratings and priorities were also taken from the PCS Invasive Plants Control Plan 2020-25. This process did not just contribute to making the manual relevant and informative, I also found it very rewarding. It is lovely to work together on a project with such enthusiasm. I cannot thank this group enough for their efforts in creating this manual.
Once we had a pretty good draft we went to the Biosecurity Team within ACT Government, Transport Canberra and City Services (TCCS), to representatives from Friends of Grasslands (FoG) and other experts for fact checking on all aspects.
Online Access
From the start I was always clear that this should be a digital publication, so that it could be updated regularly to reflect changing priorities and remain accurate. SACTCG have hosted the manual on their website with the assistance of grants from Friends of Grasslands the ACT Environment Grants Program 2022-2023. Online access from:
Volunteer Portal for TCCS volunteers
ACT Invasive Plants Control Plan will access the latest plan, previous plans, and other useful info on reporting and identifying weeds go to
PDF Format
It is in PDF format (see photo), with the intention that volunteers can easily download and print individual weed profiles as they wish. The preference is for users to access the latest version via the website rather than printing out the whole document, both to save paper and so that they are using the most up to date version. In terms of review, the plan is to undertake formal updates every two years, and to gather comments and feedback via an online form on the SACTCG website attached to the Weeds Manual.
Thanks to all the people who contributed to this project so generously, and to FoG for their support. I hope it will be a useful resource to assist the fabulous work which so many volunteers undertake right across ACT’s precious natural estate and possibly in surrounding areas of NSW.
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