A $100,000 investment from the Victorian Government enabled North Central CMA and Goulburn-Murray Water to test drone-spraying alongside traditional boat-based methods to tackle the pale-yellow water lily over summer.
The invasive weed reduces creek capacity for irrigation, environmental water delivery and recreational activities such as boating, fishing and kayaking.
It also threatens native plant and fish species, including the critically endangered silver perch and the threatened golden perch and Murray cod.
The spray used is fish- and frog-friendly.
The summer spraying program targeted a 80km stretch of the creek between the National Channel and Koondrook Weir, primarily using boat-based spray rigs. Drone-spraying was trialled in a smaller section at Jumbo’s Cut.
“We wanted to find a way to treat sections of the creek we couldn’t access by boat, and test whether it could be done successfully,” North Central CMA project manager Amy Russell said.
“It is early days, but we couldn’t be happier with the results so far.”
The drone allowed access to hard-to-reach areas and helped prevent the ‘umbrella effect’, where top leaves protect those below.
The North Central CMA hopes to use the trial results for further studies.
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