A HAND-WEEDING trial at Griffiths Park in Hilton has been formally recognised by the City of Fremantle after months of volunteer work by local residents concerned about the spraying of glyphosate herbicides.
Hilton Garden Verges Trees Committee member Maxine Tomlin said the idea grew out of community frustration after her group offered to help with a council planting day and met some other volunteers.
A 35-year resident of Hilton, Ms Tomlin said word soon got around about the committee’s interest in Griffiths.
“A number of people have come up to me… complaining about the use of glyphosate and what we could do about it,” she said.
“There’s been quite a lot of spraying and there’s a number of people including myself who were concerned about the health effects of that.”
Ms Tomlin said she approached council staff after building a relationship through verge projects.
• Freo mayor Ben Lawver with Maxine Tomlin (centre) and the VGarden Verges Trees committee. Photo by Steve Grant
“I said ‘would you be prepared to trial a project whereby if I can get the community to weed that we won’t need to use glyphosate’ and he said ‘sure, I’m happy to give that a crack’,” she said.
“But it’s taken a long time to get to this point… it’s only recently been formalised, and the signs only went up two weeks ago.”
She said volunteers had already made a visible impact. “From say six months ago up until now the council gave us recyclable, very big, bags if people would collect their own weeds,” she said. “The garden trees committee, and some community members… we filled up 62 bags — and these are big bags.
“We’ve got an agreement with the council that they’re just placed upright near a tree and every fortnight when the team comes through they pick him up empty them and leave the empty bags,” she said.
The trial currently focuses on the area around the playground, but Ms Tomlin says if they can get enough interest the park could be spray-free, and points to a section she’s adopted as an example.
She said the project had become about more than just weeds. “Yes, it’s community building… You know it’s just building connections and relationships in the community,” she said.
A community meeting is planned to gauge support for the next stage tomorrow (Sunday) in the park.
“There’s a meeting in the park down near the kids playground just to get a sense of who’s around,” Ms Tomlin said. “It’s to see who’s in the community that’s willing to help.”
Fremantle mayor Ben Lawver is a regular in the park and welcomed the initiative.
“The use of glyphosate has been a long-standing concern among residents of Hilton, and I’m glad the City has been willing to partner with the community for this trial,” he said.
“I’ll certainly continue pulling the weeds I see while walking my dog through the park several times a week.”
by STEVE GRANT