Weed wars: Noxious invader concerns controllers

By Jenna Cederberg of The Montana Standard - 06/12/2007

Noxious weeds to look for

Let the yellow star thistle be warned.

A $50 bounty has been placed on its head, and country weed controllers are determined to keep it out.

Resembling a dandelion sporting a spiked collar and longer stem, the thistle, which could slowly be making its way from California to Montana, is just one noxious weed causing weed controllers concern.

The weed is palatable to horses, but causes their livers to shut down after digestion, said Toby Day, Montana State University-Bozeman extension agent in Butte.

“The biggest thing we’ve got to look at is keeping other weeds that are coming our way out,” Day said.

If allowed to grow, the thistle would join ranks with the leafy spurge and spotted knapweed, two of the area’s most destructive non-native weeds.

The problems created by these noxious plants aren’t a new, but experts are worried that not enough landowners know when to be concerned. This makes the task of educating the public about their appearance and negative effects key to containing them.

“Prevention is the least expensive way to manage weeds,” county weed supervisor John Moodry said. “Education and awareness are huge. Everything we do has an educational component.

“Until everybody is on board and trying to talk care of their own problem, we’re not going to make headway,” Moodry said.

Currently, chemical, biocontrol and grazing methods are all used to control noxious weeds in the county, Moodry said.

Identification is one step, learning how to stop them is another, and an even larger concern is spreading the weeds.

Weeds are a “very huge problem” in local urban areas, Moodry said.

Spotted knapweed growing in city sidewalks and vacant lots make it easy for See INVADER, Back Page Invader ...

Continued from Page A1 vehicles — the most likely seed-spreading culprit — to pick up and transplant weeds from the city to more rural areas.

“If you drive your vehicle through noxious weeds, you will spread them,” said Larry Burton, president of Pioneer Weed Control in Butte.

— Reporter Jenna Cederberg may be reached via e-mail at jennacederberg@hotmail.com.

For more information The following weed control resources are among those available in Butte: