Community & Business
3 April, 2026
Talk on invasive grasses
HOW do introduced invasive grasses destroy wildlife habitat? This is the question that John Clarkson will be addressing at a joint TKMG and BirdLife northern Queensland presentation on 9 April.
TKMG president Peter Valentine said Australia was truly the land of introduced plants, with more introduced plant species than native species, which was an “astonishing fact”.
“Many were brought here for frivolous reasons without any awareness of their potential to harms the natural environment of Australia,” he said.
“Some were introduced as part of a deliberate decision to try them out for gardens or for farm products or as potential grazing fodder. Others simply made their way with imported goods and then escaped, like so many other plants and animals that have created major and expensive issues for our society.
“One large group of invasive plants are the grasses and John Clarkson has been working on these across northern Queensland for many decades.”
Now retired from paid employment, John spends much of his time as president of Trees for the Evelyn and Atherton Tablelands (TREAT), helping to revegetate parts of the Tablelands.
The talk on 9 April, which is free to attend at the Malanda Big Pub from 7.30pm, is expected to provide much needed information about how invasive grasses can transform our environments and what we might be able to do about the situation. All are welcome.
