Welcome back to another episode of Particle.

Word for Word.

Today's story is the battle against buffelgrass, written and read by Katt Williams.

Picture a vast red desert, still quiet, ancient.

Now imagine it blanketed in grass that doesn't belong there.

Grass that chokes the land, fuels hotter, deadlier fires, pushes out native plants and animals, drowns out the sounds of country, the footsteps, the stories, the ceremonies.

Introduced over a century ago and still spreading quietly, relentlessly.

It's hardy, fast growing and dangerously flammable.

And now it's threatening the heart of Australia's ecosystems, its biodiversity, its cultural heritage, its future.

But can science stop it?

Can we actually fight a plant this tough?

Or has the invasion already gone too far?

And maybe, more importantly, why aren't more people talking about it?

In today's episode, we follow the trail of buffelgrass from camel tracks to cultural destruction, from marine parks to fire zones, and into the hands of rangers, scientists and traditional owners who are all asking the same question.

What do we do now?

The battle against buffelgrass.

Buffelgrass is destroying Aussie landscapes and Aboriginal culture.

Can we kill it with science?

Invasive species have been decimating Australian ecosystems for hundreds of years.

The introduction of feral cats, foxes, rats and grazing animals like sheep and goats has caused the extinction of many native animals.

But there's a worse threat to biodiversity to equal feral cat and fox predation.

That's rarely spoken of.

And it's getting worse.

Cat killer grass, Buffelgrass, Centra ciliaris, is native to northern Africa, the Middle east, southern Asia, including India and Indonesia.

Brought to Australia in the late 19th century by cameleers, it has spread across much of Australia's arid regions, including the Pilbara.

It's also deliberately spread to improve the production of pasture on rangelands.

Buffelgrass now has the potential to occupy 70% of the continent.

The ultimate invader, buffelgrass can live for a long time, has very deep roots and produces a large amount of seed.

It's also highly tolerant to drought and thrives in nutrient poor soil.

These features enable it to spread incredibly quickly.

A 2020 study found that the threat buffelgrass poses to biodiversity equals that of feral cats and foxes.

As well as threatening native species, it increases Australia's risk of fire and impacts Aboriginal culture.

Under threat, buffelgrass directly threatens 27 endangered Australian species.

This includes animals living at sea and in the air.

At the Ashmore reef Marine Park, 630 km north of Broome, buffelgrass is threatening turtle and seabird populations.

The marine park consists of a large Oceanic Reef and three islands west, Middle and East.

It is Commonwealth Heritage listed and a Ramsar listed wetland.

Darren Phillips is the Senior Marine Parks Officer at Parks Australia.

His first trip to Ashmore Reef was in early 2024.

The biggest thing that struck me was the sound of the birds.

The noise was intense, says Darren.

There's well over a hundred thousand seabirds on West Island.

In the five years between research visits, buffelgrass on west island doubled, says Darren.

This fast growing grass is reducing the ability of turtles and seabirds to nest, threatening their population.

Birds like tinder.

Buffelgrass is generating a greater fire risk in Australia too.

Lyle Greave is biosecurity and conservation analyst at the Invasive Species Council.

Once a fire gets to buffelgrass, it burns like tinder, says Lyle.

It's an incredibly flammable grass.

It means that there are more regular hot fires and more frequent fires as well.

While WA hasn't had any major fires caused by buffelgrass, Alice Springs, Port Augusta and Coober Pedy have.

Buffelgrass has been declared a weed in the Northern Territory and South Australia, where devastating buffelgrass fires have occurred.

A really significant environmental problem.

Buffelgrass also drastically impacts Aboriginal communities.

It's been identified as a really significant environmental problem for a long time in Indigenous communities, says Lyle.

For decades, the Aboriginal communities in remote areas have been speaking out and demanding action.

Laos says indigenous people in desert regions have labelled buffelgrass the thing that is killing culture.

They mean that in every sense of the word, says Lau.

It's removing their ability to connect to country.

It's removing their ability to access and use their sacred sites and removing access to their food and medicine plants.

The South Australian government reiterates this sentiment.

It says buffelgrass will damage cultural sites and reduce the ability to pass on cultural knowledge to the next generation.

That spiritual connection is broken, says Lyle.

To restore the landscapes and connection to country, teams are trialling eradication methods.

How hard can it be?

Buffalo has only spread dramatically in the last few decades.

This means its full scale of destruction is yet to be seen.

Lyle says the negative impacts of this weed are so drastic, the Threatened Species Commissioner says it's a no brainer to list it as a weed.

At Ashmore Reef, a team from Parks Australia, CSIRO and Monash University are researching how to eradicate it from the marine park.

Darren says they're applying three treatments for the buffelgrass to find the most effective removal technique.

The results are yet to be published, but anecdotally, Darren says digging up buffelgrass roots and spraying flu propionate, the herbicide, has been the most effective treatment so far.

Aboriginal ranger teams across wa, the Northern Territory and South Australia are hard at work to protect their country and culture in Wa.

The Spinifex ranger team is the last line of defence to keep buffelgrass out of the Great Victoria Desert.

The team has mapped buffelgrass infestations across thousands of kilometres and spray herbicides to combat the invasion.

Other ranger teams, particularly in the Northern Territory, are using traditional burning practices to remove buffalo.

Lau says getting buffelgrass listed as a weed of national significance is critical.

Weed management is not consistent across Australia, says Lau.

Once it's listed as a weed of national significance, then the government has to support the control effort.

BATTLING buffalo to make matters more complicated, buffelgrass is an important food source for cattle during drought periods.

Buffalo doesn't need to be eradicated from areas where it is valued, such as pastoral stations.

However, its management is crucial to the survival of our native ecosystems and traditional Aboriginal knowledge.

Early research is promising.

Native plants and animals in the Northern Territory have bounced back in areas where buffalo has been removed.

Lyle says, securing funding, listing the grass is a weed of national significance and supporting farmers to adapt to find an alternative food source, AKA to beading buffalo.

If I was a betting person, I'd say right now it's heading into the not so good chances, says Lyle.

But I'm an optimist, so I think if we take it seriously, get some funding and commitments from government, I think we can do it.

This is where we can make a difference.

If it feels like this story is only just beginning, that's because it is.

Buffel grass has only really exploded across the landscape in the last few decades, which means the damage we're seeing now, it might just be the start.

But that's also why there's hope.

The sooner we act, the more we can save traditional owners.

Scientists and rangers are already out there, spraying, burning, mapping, digging, using both science and culture to push back.

Some places are seeing native plants return, animals coming back, country healing.

But the clock's ticking and there are big questions ahead.

Will governments act fast enough to support these efforts?

Will buffel grass finally be listed as a weed of national significance?

Will we choose to value cultural survival over short term cattle feed?

Buffelgrass isn't just a weed, it's a warning.

It shows us how fragile our ecosystems really are, how easily fire can reshape a landscape, how colonization and agriculture continue to echo through the present day in the soil itself.

It reminds us that Conservation isn't just about protecting animals.

It's about protecting connections between people, land, language, and memory.

Because when a plant threatens culture, it threatens everything.

And while science can't turn back time, it might just give us the tools to tip the balance.

For more science stories like this, visit particle wa@particle.scitech.org au.