What’s with cleaning and sterilising your boots before a bushwalk?

What’s with cleaning and sterilising your boots before a bushwalk?

Often at the start or end of a bushwalk you may have to clean and sterilise your boots. What’s that about? It’s all about biosecurity.

 

On a bushwalk we can also unintentionally carry some tiny hitchhikers into the area that we’re visiting, or even pick them up on our boots and other gear as we walk through and then accidentally transport them somewhere else.

These tiny hitchhikers can include micro-organisms like Phytophthora cinnamomi, fungal spores such as myrtle rust, and a large variety of weed seeds – all of which have the potential to completely change a landscape and its ecology by killing off or outcompeting the native species.

Prevention is better than a cure and there are many ways for bushwalkers to help prevent the spread of these pests and diseases, from cleaning our equipment to reporting any sightings, and lots of information to help us do so. First, let’s take a closer look at some of these hitchhikers…

Phytophthora

Phytophthora dieback is a deadly plant disease that’s caused by a micro-organism (Phytophthora cinnamomi) that attacks the roots of a susceptible plant. This causes the roots to rot, preventing the plants from taking the water and nutrients they need from the soil and causing ‘dieback’ symptoms (it looks like the plant is dying of drought, so it’s tough to detect the disease), which can eventually lead to the plant’s death. Thousands of native Australian plants, including banksias, boronias, grevilleas, eucalyptus and xanthorrhoea, are susceptible to this disease – it thrives in moist, warm conditions and is capable of destroying entire vegetation communities.

Myrtle rust

Myrtle rust (Puccinia psidii, also known as eucalypt rust or guava rust) is a serious fungal disease that can affect and even kill many of the plants in the family Myrtaceae, which includes eucalypts, bottlebrushes, tea trees, lillypillies and paperbarks.

This disease was first detected in New South Wales in 2010 and can now also be found in Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and on the Tiwi Islands in the Northern Territory – it isn’t known to be in South Australia or Western Australia yet and it’s critical to keep it from spreading any further, so take extra care when travelling between states.

Myrtle rust can be recognised from the bright orange to yellow clumps of powdery spores or pustules (however, the appearance can vary slightly, depending on its host plant). It spreads via spores naturally via wind, water, insects and other animals; however, it can also travel even further if the spores are carried on contaminated clothing, other equipment or infected plant material.

Weeds

Another risk while walking is having weed seeds latch on to your socks or stick to the mud on your boots so they can use your equipment as a way of hitchhiking from one area to another. Weeds often have a lot of methods that can help them colonise an area quickly, including producing plenty of seeds (and therefore potential offspring) with barbs, hooks or sticky surfaces that can latch on to animal fur (or our clothing and packs). They can outcompete native plants, destroy native habitats and choke creeks and other waterways, so they need to be kept under control… or out of areas altogether.

So when your Life’s An Adventure guide asks you to clean your boots before or after a walk you’ll now understand why. Cheers!

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