Meet the doggy detective tracking one of the greatest plant disease threats to Australia’s natural environment. 

Alice, the springer spaniel, likes to use her nose to pick up a microscopic pathogen scent that she has been trained to track – Phytophthora dieback. 

Blue Mountains MP, Trish Doyle made a special visit to Blackheath Cemetery recently to see Alice in action. Together with about 30 staff from a range of agencies including the National Parks and Wildlife Service and Blue Mountains City Council, they witnessed the detection dog go through her paces and heard from representatives from the Dieback Working Group from Western Australia. 

National Parks has been using dogs like Alice since 2022. The Western Australian Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) is leading the project to develop Dieback Detection Dog capacity nationwide. The project aims to prevent the spread of Phytophthora dieback through mapping, detection and management.  

Dieback Working Group CEO Mia Hunt said the West Australian Jarrah forests have been affected by the plant disease, which has led to the state’s leadership role. 

Member for Blue Mountains, Trish Doyle MP and Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment said: “It was so interesting to see science in action. Seeing a dog like Alice working in the field ... and hearing from National Parks and the Dieback group on what they are doing to minimise this threat ... was very valuable information”. 

National Parks and Wildlife Service project officer, Julia Rayment, said the training “increases the capacity of NSW agencies” to detect this microscopic pathogen that can have “devastating ecosystem consequences”. 

“Dogs have this incredible sense of smell to be able to detect it and find it before we ever could and in quantities that we never could,” Ms Rayment said. 

“The Blue Mountains is a world-heritage area and it's a priority place, it’s got all these beautiful ecosystems, parks, threatened species that we want to protect, and WA has some great resources to train people about Phytophthora and biosecurity and hygiene that we can use, and it’s a great opportunity to have them here to train us up,” she added. 

Handler Dave Wilkin said Alice was very devoted and did it all for the love of a ball and some cuddles. He said as Alice tracked the threat, it could be GPS pinned.  

Plans are afoot to expand the independent section of the Blue Mountains council-run cemetery, which is why Alice was brought in to track issues around the plant threat.