• News
• Sports
• Opinion
• A&E
• Multimedia
• Features
• Obituaries
• Blogs

  Home Page » News » County Keeps Fighting Weeds

County keeps fighting weeds

Tour shows successes of eradication

by Katie Burford
Herald Staff Writer La Plata County has a lot to offer, but it's not very often that people pile into a bus to look at weeds here.

Actually, the so-called "weed tour" was an opportunity for the county's weeds department to showcase some of its eradication successes for representatives of various agencies.

In the morning, the group visited Redtail subdivision in the north Animas Valley near Missionary Ridge to see the results of the gated community's three-year battle against weeds.

Kenny Smith, whose company, Premier Weed, was hired by the 800-acre subdivision to address the invaders, signaled out the bus window.

"This field out here was pretty much solid yellow clover," he said.

A little down the road, he said, "This whole pile was covered with Canada thistle."

Another intruder pointed out: cheatgrass, which looks innocuous enough, but Rod Cook, who heads the weed department, said that when it dries out, it's like "tissue paper soaked in gasoline" - not the kind of vegetation landowners want after nearly losing their homes in the 2002 Missionary Ridge Fire.

Soil disturbance, fire and overgrazing can open the door to infestation. Noxious weeds hurt ranchers by poisoning their livestock and farmers by choking out their crops. They can carry diseases and destructive insects and push out native species, both plant and animal.

In recent years, the county has stepped up its weed-fighting efforts, allowing the department to get a court order to go after weeds on private property then send the owner the bill. If an owner fails to pay, a lien is put on the property.

This is a last resort, however. Cook said the department aims to educate landowners and work with them to resolve the problem. Often they live out-of-state and are unaware their vegetation is noxious. The county has a cost-sharing program that covers up to $500 of the cost for landowners and $2,000 of the cost for subdivisions.

Action starts with a complaint by a neighbor. Cook said, though, that the county inspects the complainer's yard, too, to ensure it's not in violation.

Currently, 15 weeds are listed as "enforceable" on the county's Web site. Cook said several more are expected to be added soon.

The city also goes after weed scofflaws but does not have a cost-share program because lot sizes are a fraction of those in the county.

Smith, with Premier Weed, said the technology behind today's herbicides has minimized their toxicity. He said a brand he frequently uses, Milestone, requires only 5 to 7 ounces per acre and is labeled for use right up to water's edge.

He said the herbicide leaves native plants unscathed and isn't harmful for wildlife and grazing animals.

"They're more like a surgical tool," he said.

Members of the county's Undesirable Plant and Rodent Commission, which advises Cook, attended the tour, which in the afternoon visited a formerly infested farm.

Bob Volger, a member of the commission, said the county's exclusive subdivisions have deep pockets to fight weeds that more modest neighborhoods lack, making mass eradication more difficult.

Member Lynn Poland said she has focused on ways of quantifying the department's effectiveness, such as the number of acres treated.

"That's an easy beginning point to begin to measure our progress," she said.

Bayfield resident Mike Attebery recently wrote county commissioners and the Herald complaining about a lack of action on weed infestations near his property.

County Manager Shawn Nau said the complaint was going through the steps.

Nau said he would rank weeds as fifth on the list of top five complaints he hears from residents.

kburford@durangoherald.com