The following text is the transcript of a video presentation by Rural Solutions SA Consultant, Olivia Tell.

Roadsides take up a significant part of council land and are a noticeable part of our communities.   Climate change is bringing increasingly high temperatures and reduction in water availability, making maintaining attractive and healthy roadsides a challenge for councils, yet the answer could have possibly been with us for hundreds of years… native grasses. 

Native grass species can replace the grass species that are currently growing on most roadsides.  They are more drought tolerant, and will retain their lush green look for most of the year.  This is effectively drought proofing the roadsides.

By using Native grasses we would also be reducing the fuel loads retained on the roadsides, significantly reducing the risk of fire. 

Native grasses and vegetation also require less maintenance;  In fact -  it is the way they are maintained that supports their survival in the landscape.  

On average native grasses only need to be mowed 1-3 times per year compared to the current species which need to be mowed 6-10 times per year, this is a significant reduction to the cost of maintaining roadsides. 

Rural Solutions SA has co-developed a sculptured mower with John Stafford from Vegetation Management Services who built the first prototype mower.   Rural Solutions SA has trialled the mower and justified the concept successfully with native grasses along the South East Freeway.   This sculptured mower can be used to ensure native grasses can rejuvenate themselves by allowing sections to have longer stems which would hold grass seeds.   This also permits deeper roots to be maintained as native grass roots grow in proportion to the length of their leaves and therefore if they are left longer in sections the deep root system aids in soil stability, reducing erosion and limiting the ability for weeds to infest the area.

The growth of native grasses and plants also favours native fauna species by providing ideal habitat and increasing biodiversity.   

Rural Solutions SA would like to see roadsides revegetated with native grasses, to lower maintenance time and costs, reduce fire fuel loads, increase biodiversity and effectively drought proof the roadsides.