7-5 IAN Noxious Weeds
Idaho has about 800 of the nations 2,000 weed species, most of which are alien to the state and have been introduced from other regions. Noxious weeds overwhelm native plant communities spreading steadily year by year. Experts say once they’re established, expect to spend $30 to $70 per acre for management on your land or in higher taxes for their management on public land. Farmers are painfully aware of vegetative pests and Roger Batt, Statewide Coordinator for the Idaho Weed Awareness Campaign is on top of the problem.
“As far as plants that might impact agriculture, we’re looking at several including Puncture Vine, White Top, Canada Thistle and some others and we’re making some headway on those through different pest management programs. The Idaho Weed Awareness Program over the last 8 years has created public awareness and outreach on the severe impacts of noxious weeds to Idaho’s lands, waters and economy and we’ve educated about 1.5 million people through this program about the problem so what we’re going to start doing this year is talking more about the solution to the problem. Is it chemical, biological, mechanical control, what might those integrated pest management approaches be and that’s what we’re going to educate the public on. There are a lot of things people can do to not spread noxious weeds. # 1 if you have an ATV or a boat or trailer or watercraft, make sure when you’re in an area that you try to get the weeds and the weed seeds off of those pieces of equipment
