Bitou bush  (Chrysanthemoides monilifera ssp rotundata) has been identified as a Weed of National Significance (WONS), a Key Threatening Process under the Threatened Species Conservation Act, 1995, and the number one priority weed in the SMCMA region. It is causing significant environmental impacts on threatened plant species and endangered ecological communities in the region such as the Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub and Themeda Grassland headlands. It also has the potential to spread much more widely along the coastline than it currently occurs.

This project concentrates on managing and reducing the extent and spread of this weed on council land, private land and National Parks & Wildlife-managed land. These efforts will greatly assist in protecting the catchment?s environmental resources.

Grant funding will be used to employ contractors to control and eradicate infestations of bitou bush, using best practice management techniques, and to conduct new and ongoing survey and mapping in some areas.

This project is one of a number of coastal projects that is being undertaken by the Sydney Metropolitan CMA, designed to assist in the strategic and coordinated management of bitou bush along the coastal zone and in the implementation of the Sydney Weeds Committees? Sydney Bitou Bush / Boneseed Regional Management Plan (2004-09).