BCCA arranged for funding of two workers employed by the Monto Shire Council to remove exotic plant species smothering native trees in the Monal Creek riparian zone.

The exotic plants had made the riparian zone more prone to erosion by killing some trees and suppressing the regeneration of native species.

The team made multiple passes of the project area treating the cats claw creeper plants, mainly through cut-stump application of glyphosate and overall spraying where required.

In the first two years there was a concentrated effort to remove the competing exotic pests and in the third year of the project 700 trees were planted in different land-use area including ungrazed, rotationally grazed and continually grazed plots. A parallel series of plots to monitor natural regeneration was also marked out.

A significant learning from this project was realising the need for repeated treatment of vines due to the propensity of cats claw to shoot from tubers under the ground following a cut-stump treatment.

The planting of trees was not as successful as expected due to very dry conditions.