Weed board at battle

A new force has enlisted in the war on noxious weeds in Central Oregon with the recent formation of a Deschutes County Weed Board.

Up until the appointment of the 19-member board by Deschutes County Commissioners, work to halt the explosion of noxious weeds has been piece-meal at best, and far from effective.

"It was way past time to get something more effective going in Deschutes County to arrest the spread of weeds," said Deschutes County Commissioner Linda Swearingen, "an organization that will coordinate weed-control activities in the county and provide leadership."

According to Swearingen, "Sunriver is ready to start a weed reduction program, the USFS had a successful season this summer reducing the weed menace to forest lands; the state has been reducing weeds along highways, and the county road department has been tying to stop the spread of these obnoxious weeds for several years -- it's time we all pulled together."

Jefferson County, its agricultural base threatened by the growing infestation of noxious weeds, has been putting pressure on their neighboring county to take action.

"With the actions of our weed board, Deschutes County won't be spreading any more weeds to our neighbors." Swearingen said.

In the Sisters area, several varieties of knapweed, cheat grass, mullein plants and other noxious weeds are taking over thousands of acres of native vegetation, ruining prime grazing lands and destroying wildlife habit.

The Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) attempted to stop expanding knapweed infestations in the Indian Ford area with the use of chemicals, but the threat of killing bitterbrush and other non-target species forced the crew to manually pull the weeds, which is expensive and labor-intensive work.

The law states that the responsibilities to eradicate weeds is given to the state and counties: "The state and respective counties shall control weeds designated as noxious... on land under their respective ownership."

But the law doesn't stop with public lands -- once the county weed board establishes a weed control district, it applies to private lands as well.

"Next year the county will be able to pump money into the program and as soon as a weed control district if formed we'll hire a director," Swearingen said. "Then we can go after weeds no matter where we find them and stop the damage to agricultural lands, wildlife habitat and reduction of private land values."

When a private land owner refuses to do anything to control the weeds on his or her property it is a detriment to agricultural lands, wildlife habitat and property values. In that light, the county court will appoint weed inspectors whose duties shall be: "To find out if any noxious weeds or plants are being permitted to bloom or seed within the district or districts..."

Weed inspectors are also charged with the responsibility to enforce the state laws regarding the destruction of noxious weeds. If a land owner refuses to cooperate, the court may place liens on the property.

"All it takes is just one knapweed plant to survive and we're behind the power curve for another eight years," noted Dave Langland, state agriculture weed expert.

Katie Grenier, Forest Botanist for the Deschutes National Forest, and also a member of the newly formed weed control board led a program to reduce weeds on Forest Lands this past summer.

"This was a learning year," Grenier stated. "For example, we contracted with the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) to treat several sites throughout the forest, and we discovered it was necessary to travel over and inspect 271 acres in order to treat 115 acres."

Grenier emphasized the care that much go into choosing which chemicals are used and to insure that no ecological damage is left behind.

Grenier and Dave Langland, weed control expert for ODA, tried to use the herbicide Garlon 3A, because it was the safest chemical used to control knapweed on the Mt. Hood National Forest.

"Unfortunately, what works on the Mt. Hood doesn't work on the Deschutes," Grenier said.

Hand-pulling is a major component of any attack on weeds.

According to Grenier and others who have carried out field work on weeds, it is absolutely necessary to go back over treated ground again after a short time, to make sure all of the plants treated have actually been killed.