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News
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Early detection, rapid response is key to battling noxious weeds
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5/11/2011
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Article Content It's Oregon Invasive Weed Awareness Week
"Governor Kitzhaber recognizes that this is an important natural resources issue for Oregon and hopes to heighten public awareness," says Tim Butler, supervisor of the Oregon Department of Agriculture's Noxious Weed Control Program. "His proclamation dovetails with ODA's mission to protect the state's natural resources and agriculture from invasion and proliferation of noxious weeds."
This year's theme of early detection, rapid response is a new twist on the old idea of find weed, kill weed. The strategy is to find newly introduced weeds in Oregon and control them before they are widespread. It will take the eyes of all Oregonians to successfully keep out these unwanted invaders.
"We want to find these invasive weeds early before they become the next Scotch broom, the next tansy ragwort, or the next Himalayan blackberry that is covering thousands and thousands of acres in Oregon," says Butler. "We want to find them when their population is small and control them before they become significant problems."
Conservatively, annual damage caused by noxious weeds in Oregon exceeds $100 million. When a noxious weed is in abundance, Oregonians have to learn to live with it. A combination of strategies keeps invasive noxious weeds from becoming an even greater threat to Oregon. But it's clear that a successful response to invasive weeds takes more than one agency or one landowner.
"Noxious weeds do not respect ownership boundaries or natural resource boundaries," says Butler. "To be successful, we all need to work together."
The problem of weeds goes far beyond dandelions and other common undesirable plants in lawns and gardens. The plants that make the so called "A" and "B" list of noxious weeds in Oregon could have extreme impacts to the state's natural resources as well as the economy. Some of these plants may look pretty, but have nasty characteristics- reproducing prolifically and crowding out desirable native plant species. In some cases, they can change an entire habitat important to wildlife.
"At times, there can be some confusion on the definition of early detection, rapid response," says Butler. "We don't want to send the public a mixed message. People may find a common noxious weed that is relatively widespread, report it, and expect some action to be taken. We want to focus on invasive weeds that we can actively and aggressively attack. That doesn't mean we have given up on the common noxious weeds, but we need to look at focusing our resources to get the biggest bang for the buck."
Scotch broom is an example of an invasive noxious weed that is so prevalent in Oregon that eradication is out of the question. ODA and other cooperators will try to control these common weeds through such techniques as biological control. But at this point, the most cost effective way to handle the list of invaders is to go after species that are new arrivals, where the opportunity is good to keep them from establishing in Oregon.
The practice of early detection and rapid response has kept some nasty noxious weeds from gaining a toehold in Oregon. An ODA weed specialist discovered kudzu along US Highway 99E in Clackamas County in 2000. A very aggressive, ivy-like plant that covers more than 7 million acres in the southern states, kudzu was not expected to show up in Oregon. However, immediate and repeated treatment of the site has been successful. The media attention surrounding kudzu led to the discovery of two small Multnomah County sites that were also quickly treated. Only a bit of minor growth at one of those sites was reported last year.
Another example of success was the early detection of purple starthistle in 2009 by a county weed supervisor in Wheeler County. An immediate call to ODA was placed to confirm the sighting and the area was treated within 24 hours. The outbreak is under control and still being monitored.
Sometimes the early detection is made by an ordinary but observant member of the public.
"In August of 2003, I got a call from an Australian gentleman visiting Oregon who recognized a plant in Linn County called Paterson's curse and knew it was an invasive noxious weed back in his native land," says Shannon Brubaker of ODA's Noxious Weed Control Program. "He gave me a description and I looked it up. It was confirmed as Paterson's curse and had been introduced locally as part of a wildflower seed mix."
On the flip side, there has been no early detection, rapid response when it comes to just about every well established invasive noxious weed in Oregon. These weeds are not new invaders and have spread to the point where control is the best and only option.
With Oregon's weather finally beginning to warm up, weed activity will awaken. Hopefully, that means detection of high priority noxious weeds will also take place. The public can keep an eye out for noxious weeds and report them to the Invasive Species Hotline at 1-866-INVADER.
"We start receiving a lot more phone calls in May from people hiking, fishing, or simply traveling outdoors throughout Oregon who see what they believe are invasive noxious weeds," says Brubaker.
While there is some organized survey and detection work taking place, it is common for people to stumble upon these targeted invasive weeds. In many cases, the public may simply notice a plant species they've never seen before that looks out of place. It never hurts to report those sightings.
"Since the first governor's proclamation was made seven years ago, there is a better public understanding of invasive species in general and of noxious weeds specifically" says Butler. "People are more aware that these invaders are not just an agricultural problem, but impact everybody from a natural resource perspective."
It is also clear that everyone can be part of the solution through early detection, rapid response.
For more information, contact Tim Butler or Shannon Brubaker at (503) 986-4621.
Story of the Week pdf version
http://oregon.gov/ODA/docs/pdf/news/110511weeds.pdf
Audio Story of the Week
http://oregon.gov/ODA/news/110511weeds_audio.shtml
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