Noxious and invasive weeds cause big-dollar damage in Idaho, which is continuing an awareness effort the state Legislature passed into law in 2014.
Idaho loses thousands of acres annually to many varieties of noxious weeds that have been identified across the state even as landowners and others spend some $30 million each year to control and manage them, Idaho Weed Awareness Campaign spokesman Roger Batt said in a statement.
Noxious and invasive plants, which often spread faster than they’re identified and controlled, threaten Idaho’s economy. Batt said they cause an estimated $300 million annually in direct damages — including the cost of fighting fires on rangelands and forests due to proliferation of species such as cheat grass, which fuels range fires that in turn destroy sage grouse habitat and productive grazing lands.
Learning to identify noxious and invasive weeds, and reporting them, can help reduce their impact, he said. Land and wildlife managers, county weed-control departments, and university agricultural extension offices receive and track these reports.
Batt also recommends that people avoid picking and transporting flowers or plants they cannot identify; check boats, trailers and watercraft for invasive aquatic plants; pump boat bilges; and avoid traveling through weed-invested areas with off-road vehicles, which can pick up and spread weeds and seeds into new areas.
The Idaho Weed Awareness Campaign posted reference material at http://www.idahoweedawareness.com/netcenter/library/library.html, where people can order a book about Idaho noxious weeds.
The Idaho State Department of Agriculture posts information about invasive species at http://invasivespecies.idaho.gov/.
An ISDA online overview says noxious weeds and invasive plants are among the largest disruptors of ecosystem function because they can colonize a variety of habitats, reproduce rapidly using various mechanisms and aggressively out-compete native species. A plant is designated as noxious in Idaho when it is deemed to injure public health, agriculture, recreation, wildlife or property.
Batt of the Idaho Weed Awareness Campaign said many people mistakenly believe it’s a county’s responsibility to control noxious weeds. But Idaho’s noxious weed law requires noxious weeds to be controlled on public and private land by the individual, company or agency that owns the land, he said.
Idaho Noxious and Invasive Weed Awareness Week was the last full week of May.
Credit: capitalpress.com
