Artificial Intelligence and Bushcare
John Fleming | Published on 10/5/2026
Artificial Intelligence can be a great adjunct to bushcare.
It comes at a cost with energy and water use.
How do we balance the usefulness of the tools available to us and the cost of them?
I have found Artificial Intelligence to be of great value in helping with bushcare work.
The Wildflower Garden project has seen us making great progress on the Watsonia along the park boundary at the end of Addison Avenue.
The gully was being smothered by Watsonia, as they became denser, they excluded all but a few native plants. We have spent several years controlling them at the appropriate time of the year, and have now "broken the back" of the infestation. There are now scattered plants that originally escaped our attention or have since grown as seedlings or re-rooted bulbs. Progress through the site is much faster.
Some other weeds have taken advantage of the space and are spreading. We are seeing cape tulips, and capeweed amongst the native plants.
I was able to discuss with AI the disjunct populations of Watsonia we were finding and determine priorities and strategies for future work.
It also helps as a Project Leader to get the AI giving positive feedback about the work we are doing.
A PDF of the chat can be viewed here.
Another example is working through the Giles Conservation Park species list.
It was suggested to me that this is an opportunity to revise the illustrative photos we have on the website for the various species. There does become an issue though with lesser known species, and finding an appropriate photo where the identification has been positively confirmed and the photo is freely available or can be used under a Creative Commons arrangement. Sometimes there are mismatches between the species names used within South Australia in resources such as Nature Maps and the species names that are used nationally or internationally in resources such as the Atlas of Living Australia and iNaturalist. AI helps to more quickly resolve this confusion and can provide the basis as to whether to omit the record from our listing, omit a photo, or change the name on our listing as the source name is now no longer used, or has been superseded.
Working through the species list remains a long process, which is leaving me to wonder if publishing a preliminary list and subsequently updating it is better than delaying the publication of the list. Something I don't think AI will be able to solve for me!
John Fleming
Secretary