4-4 IAN Weed Warrior

 Tim Prather uses high tech to help weed warriors streamline battles against noxious weeds. IDAHO WEED WARRIORS, when shown photos of new weed threats to Idaho, rarely ace Tim Prather’s test to identify Idaho’s newest noxious weeds. But, recently his well-attended weed-photo-quiz at the Idaho Weed Conference in Boise proved again to be a popular way to learn of Idaho’s newest and most worrisome noxious weed threats.

Professor of weed ecology at the University of Idaho, Prather doubles as the UI Extension scientist responsible for sharing the newest weed-fighting strategies statewide with weed associations and public agencies that spend some $300 million a year fighting Idaho’s invasive weeds. More than 60 noxious weeds degrade Idaho’s wildlife habitat and agricultural and recreational lands.  Prather’s design of computer models to strategically battle invaders recently won him induction to the Idaho Weed Control Association’s Hall of Fame. “ It’s an interesting project that when people are going to go out and survey and find new locations, you’ve got this huge new landscape to look at and what we are doing is providing them with tools to show them how to focus their efforts.” The Idaho Weed Control Association’s Hall of Fame credits Prather’s technology with “showing us all how to think about weed inventory in a new way.