An ambitious joint project between the NSW OEH and DPI aims to tackle widespread weeds and the destruction they cause to the state's most threatened native species and ecological communities.

More than 340 weed species have been identified in NSW; posing the second greatest threat to biodiversity after land clearing and habitat loss, OEH Executive Director Park Management
Bob Conroy said.

"The project aims to protect threatened species and endangered ecological communities throughout the state from widespread weeds," Mr Conroy said.

"In the Murray CMA area, the project will benefit ecological communities such as box-gum woodland."

"Most of the weeds in NSW which are having the greatest impact on biodiversity are widespread."

"In the past, our approach has been to develop plans to reduce the impact of invasive species on an individual basis, for example, we have well-established plans in place to tackle bitou bush and lantana."

"However, this new project is unique, because for the first time we have developed a threat abatement strategy which addresses widespread weeds throughout the entire state."

As part of the project, OEH and NSW DPI have developed the state-wide Biodiversity priorities for widespread weeds which was published recently.

In addition, 13 tailor-made plans for each of the state's Catchment Management Authority (CMA) regions have also been developed.

The aim of these region-specific plans - which were created following an extensive series of workshops - is to minimise the destructive impact of widespread weeds on biodiversity by outlining:

• which widespread weeds are currently posing the biggest threat to the area's biodiversity;
• which threatened species and ecological communities are most at risk; and
• which sites should be prioritised to achieve the best possible biodiversity outcome.

NSW DPI's Acting Executive Director Biosecurity NSW Bruce Christie said the collaborative initiative would focus a range of resources on the problem of widespread weeds such as African boxthorn, blackberry and lantana.

"The program not only identifies the high impact widespread species for each of the CMAs, it also identifies the biodiversity under greatest risk and therefore allows management practices to be tailored towards biodiversity conservation." Mr Christie said.

The program covers all land tenures and provides land managers and other stakeholders with a practical approach to widespread environmental weed management throughout NSW.