Beryl declares war on environmental weeds

BERYL Marquette is ready to get tough on weeds.

Beryl, of Winston Road South, has made it her mission to rid her road of environmental weeds which she says are killing many local species, including Maroochy Shire's floral emblem, the Blackbean.

Beryl said environmental weeds were anything which posed a threat to Palmwoods' natural plant species.

"We've got a perfect example here with the Maroochy Shire's floral emblem, being slowly killed by a bougainvillea," she said. "Really, it's a disgrace," she said.

Beryl has rallied the Maroochy Shire Council to take action on the Winston Road South weed problem, and the council has come to the party.

"The council has shown their support, and agree that we have a problem," she said. "Barry Sullivan, the council's weed officer and Chris Jonkers have been fantastic, and have even volunteered to work in their own time to help."

She has also received support from her neighbours who are ready to declare war on weeds.

"Our neighbours in the road have been very supportive," she said. "We have beautiful natural rainforest and many native creatures in this area and we want to preserve that. We don't want to see it destroyed by environmental weeds."

Last month, Beryl and her neighbours got together and spent some time tackling the problem.

She said the allotments on Winston Road South were 10 acre blocks, giving people the chance to regrow native rainforest and plant native Palmwoods species on their properties.

"When we bought the block of land here, I said that replanting and getting rid of the weeds would be 10 years work," she said. "And here I am five years down the track, still working on it."

Beryl said Winston Road South had a grand history, and the beautiful piccabeen palm forest nearby was just a touch of what the area would have been like hundreds of years ago.

"This was the original Old Gympie Road, where the Cobb and Co used to travel," she said. "This is how people used to come up to Gympie from down south- what a history.

"This is something we really want to preserve."