Stopping Salvinia
After 12 years as a commodities trader in Sydney, Steve Travers literally traded it all in to become a Conservation Volunteers team leader. These days he’s helping eradicate a potentially devastating weed from the waterways of the Hunter Valley as part of the Coal & Allied Community Trust River Paramedics programme.
Steve Travers explains that he reached a point where he just didn’t want to work indoors anymore.
“I even had a ceremonial burning of my suits and ties when I quit the corporate world!
“I’ve been with Conservation Volunteers for three years now and one of my projects is coordinating teams of volunteers on the Salvinia weed project.
“Salvinia is one of the top weeds on the Government’s noxious weeds list. It can double in size in five days and it only takes one little piece to get into a water body.
“Imagine a thick green carpet lying across the top of the river, blocking off light and oxygen which kills off all life in the water – that’s what Salvinia does.
“It has infested the Wollombi Brook which is usually teaming with life, containing everything from shrimps to platypus, but the Salvinia weed is threatening to kill everything that lives in these waters.
“It is crucial the weed doesn’t escape from the Wollombi Brook into the Hunter River where it could quickly get out of control and would be near impossible to eradicate - a true environmental disaster.
“Our job is to remove the bulk of the weed from the river as part of the River Paramedics programme.
“We get everybody into big rubber pants with boots (waders) so that they can enter the water and we place a floating plastic pipe into the river that behaves like a boom to trap a section of the affected area.
“We then use giant rakes to agitate the weed so it’s not so thick, sweep it into one area and feed it into a giant vacuum cleaner that can be used in water.
“Sometimes people get stuck in the mud when suction is created around their boots and we have to pull them out! This business of getting into the water and wading knee high into mud is a totally unusual activity. Volunteers love it!
“The partnership with the Coal & Allied Community Trust helps us to be able to commit to long term priority projects like this and really make a difference.
“Without the support of the River Paramedic volunteer teams the local councils’ only option would be to use poisons to kill the weed, which can be equally detrimental to the environment and the water supply.
“Without the partnership it would be a lot tougher, if not impossible, to achieve real results. The Coal & Allied Community Trust supports us for years at a time and that allows us to achieve what we otherwise couldn’t.”