Refining the environmental weed risk assessment for non-indigenous plants which may have agricultural potential

Traditionally, in the rangelands of Western Australia (WA), the pastoral industry has relied on grazing of native vegetation. However, in recent years there has been considerable interest in mosaic agriculture based on irrigated forages. There is also a potential role for improved dryland pastures in medium to high rainfall areas of the Kimberley.
Under these conditions there is increased interest in the introduction of non-indigenous species which may improve the productivity and sustainability of
agricultural systems. However, there is also clear evidence that a number of introduced non-indigenous plant species have become established in non-target
areas and some have become environmental weeds.
An Environmental Risk Framework and weed risk assessment (WRA) protocol to assess species with agricultural potential in southern Australia was developed for the Future Farm Industries Co-operative Research Centre (FFI CRC) (Stone et al. 2012). This protocol has been adapted for use in the rangelands of northern Western Australia. The refined methodology introduces the concept of ‘Inherent weed risk’. The potential distribution or land capability is considered as a separate, but integral step in the process to provide a flexible system which can assess the risk at the regional scale and also take account of the operational context.
This environmental WRA system is designed to improve the access, transparency, rigour and consistency of information available to policy makers and those considering the use of non-indigenous species and their introduction to novel environments in the WA rangelands.