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Commissioners discuss Montezuma County weed policy

New policy requires a no-spray agreement to avoid herbicides
Alexander Rea, with the La Plata County Weed Department, sprays an herbicide on the noxious weed oxeye daisy last year.

A Montezuma County resident criticized part of the county’s weed management policy and called for more public outreach at Monday’s county commissioners meeting.

Laurie Hall, who runs an organic farm, said county staff should make a better effort to exempt people who don’t want their property sprayed with herbicides. Some county residents, including Hall and other organic farmers, created homemade “no-spray” signs to indicate that the property owners did not want the roadsides or other adjacent county rights-of-way sprayed.

Hall said the homemade signs for years were honored by county weed management staff, but recent policy changes now require people to sign a “no-spray agreement” form and pick up official county signs. Hall said she had made an effort to educate people about the change, including putting up informational posters and writing letters to the editor.

Hall said the no-spray policy was aggressive and some of the language should be changed. The policy includes a yearly deadline of April 15, by which time people must sign the agreement to be considered a participant in the program. The agreement also includes a statement absolving Montezuma County of any liability.

“I think deadlines and threats are counter-productive,” Hall said.

County weeds manager Bonnie Loving said the no-spray policy was not new, and had been around for at least the past two years since she has been in the position. She agreed with Hall, saying that the policy could benefit from some changes.

Loving pointed out that Colorado state law requires that noxious weeds be managed, and she said some people who have homemade “no-spray” signs do not manage noxious weeds well. She said she had been making an effort to provide the public with information on noxious weeds, appearing at the Four Corners Ag Expo and mapping the county’s problem areas for weeds.



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