Working together to strengthen and support noxious weed management efforts in Montana.

News & Updates

Battling the Bad Seeds

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation sent us a copy of an article focused on noxious weeds published  in their July/August issue of Bugle magazine, Battling the Bad Seeds.    The article  had previously been published as a booklet in 1998.   It is a great article and the message unfortunately is as true today as it was when first published.   The RMEF publication will help reach and educate more people across the country about the impact of noxious weeds.  Our hats are off to RMEF.

Download a copy of the article here.

Montana FWP Adds 7 Noxious Weeds to Its Aquatic Nuisance Species Priority List

Monday, August 22nd, 2011

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has developed a new priority system for aquatic nuisance species.   Seven of the state listed noxious weeds are found on that list.  There are as follows with their assigned priority

  • Hydrilla – priority class 1
  • Eurasian Water Milfoil – priority class 3
  • Curly Leaf Pondweed – priority class 4
  • Flowering Rush – priority class 4
  • Purple Loosestife – priority class 4
  • Saltcedar – priority class 4
  • Yellowflag Iris – priority class 4

For more information about the priority classes  for FWP’s  Aquatic Nuisance Species visit their website.

Montana Department of Transportation Looking for Input

Tuesday, August 16th, 2011

The Montana Department of Transportation’s Statewide Roadside Vegetation Management Plan expires at the end of 2011. We are in the process of updating the plan for 2012 – 2017 and would like your input and ideas. If any of you have questions or concerns regarding the present plan or if you have ideas that will improve our roadside vegetation management program contact me directly by either phone or email.  Please submit any comments/suggestions by Tuesday September 26, 2011.

Download a copy of  the current plan.

Thanks.

Mike Miller
Roadside and Winter Maintenance Specialist
406-444-6991
(406-444-7684 fax)
mikmiller@mt.gov

DuPont is implementing a voluntary suspension of sale of Imprelis® herbicide

Monday, August 8th, 2011

The following information is all from the DuPont website.   We encourage you to visit their site for the latest information about Imprelis.

DuPont is implementing a voluntary suspension of sale of Imprelis® herbicide, and will soon be conducting a product return and refund program for the product. This action is consistent with our ongoing discussions with, and response to, the Environmental Protection Agency.

If you are an Imprelis® distributor or customer, please do not take any action regarding this product return and refund program until we contact you with additional information.

DuPont ™ Imprelis® Hotline 866-796-4783

If you are a lawn care professional, property owner or manager, or golf course manager or owner, we encourage you to call our hotline to report damage to trees that may be related to Imprelis®.

If you are a homeowner, please call with questions or concerns.

This letter was posted on the DuPont website:

Dear Turf Management Professional:

I am writing to update you on the situation with Imprelis® herbicide.

First and foremost, I want to underscore DuPont’s commitment to our customers’ satisfaction and to responsible stewardship of our products. We sincerely regret any tree injuries that Imprelis® may have caused, and will work with you to promptly and fairly resolve problems associated with our product.

Since we sent you our original letter, we have reached out to those of you who have reported concerns, both to gather information and to determine how best to work with them to address those concerns.

Based on our ongoing review, we have observed tree injuries associated with Imprelis® primarily on Norway spruce and white pine trees. The reports of problems are concentrated in a geographic band that includes Minnesota, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Wisconsin. While most properties treated have had successful weed control, we are committed to continuing to work with every customer who has experienced Imprelis-related problems.

If you have concerns or issues with our product, we would like to hear from you. To make it easier to report problems and have them resolved as quickly as possible, we are:

  • Engaging 20 independent, certified arborist companies to work with you and evaluate your claim.

  • Launching a website, imprelis-facts.com, to carry the latest information about Imprelis® and make it easier for you to report problems. We urge you to go to the website for more information and to check back frequently for updates.

  • Establishing a toll free hotline to take all reports of problems from lawn care professionals, property managers and owners, and golf courses, and to handle any questions and concerns.

  • The hotline will go live on Monday, August 1. The number will be made available on the imprelis-facts.com website.

  • Continuing to work on this issue with the Environmental Protection Agency, state regulators and university extension specialists.

We ask for your cooperation while we work to rapidly address this matter and institute processes and procedures to remedy your situation. It is our goal to have a claims process set up as soon as possible.

Thank you for your patience and ongoing support of DuPont Professional Products as we work through this together.

With regards,

Michael McDermott
Global Business Leader
DuPont Professional Products

EWM Quarantine Announced

Monday, July 18th, 2011

A quarantine order for Eurasian watermilfoil encompassing the Missouri River Basin and associated roads and transportation corridors was signed June 29, 2011 by Ron deYong, Director Montana Department of Agriculture (download).Dave Burch, MDA will be coordinating two public meetings to discuss the quarantine.  We will post those meeting dates when they are announced.

Recycle Empty Pesticide Containers

Friday, July 15th, 2011
Recycling Containers in Beaverhead County

Recycling Containers in Beaverhead County

The Montana Department of Agriculture has a recycling program for pesticide containers. This program is designed to keep these containers out of the landfills and find a new use for these containers.

Download a copy of this year’s recycling schedule.  Contact your local weed coordinator for information about recycling in your community.

NPDES Legislation HR 872 on the Move

Friday, June 24th, 2011

US HR.872 Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act of 2011 is active again.  We know that many of you are closely watching this.

In a nutshell a 2009 court ruling required pesticide applicators get a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide & Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) is legislation already in place that is effective and comprehensive  and currently regulates pesticides.  This proposed legislation will reduce redundancy of regulation caused by this court ruling.

The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture has put out a single page  informational document for your reference on HR 872.  It contains information that you may use to write to your legislatures letting them know how you want to them to vote on this legislation. Download it here.

Scholarship Winners Announced

Friday, June 17th, 2011

Congratulations to the 2011 MWCA scholarship winners.  Thanks to all the students who submitted applications.   Students came from very broad fields of study and submitted top notch applications.    We appreciate your efforts and interests in our program.

Thanks to the members of the committee who spent a great deal of time reviewing the applications.  There was a lot of thought evaluation on their part and it  was difficult to select just four winners.

This year’s $1,000 scholarship winners are:

Krista Ehlert a graduate student majoring in Land Resources & Environmental Sciences at MSU.
Amanda Riter a sophomore majoring in Agricultural Education-Relations option, Animal Science Minor at MSU.

This year’s $500 scholarship winners are:

Anthony Smith a junior majoring in Resource Conservation at the University of Montana.
Chase Younkin a future sophomore majoring in Agriculture Business at MSU.

Thanks to the members of MWCA for making these scholarships possible.

Invasive Species Managers Tool Kit

Friday, June 17th, 2011

The USDA National Invasive Species Information Center has provided a page dedicated to providing tools to invasive species managers.   They have divided it into two sections: federal and non-federal.   Here you can find something about everything:

  • Prevention
  • EDRR – Early Detection Rapid Response
  • Education
  • Databases
  • Grants & Funding
  • Monitoring
  • Outreach
  • Prevention
  • Research
  • Restoration and more

Visit their website for more details on this tool kit.

A Decision-making Guide for Invasive Species Program Managers

Monday, June 13th, 2011

The idea for the guide was conceived at the 2010 annual meeting of the Continental Dialogue on Non‐Native Forest Insects and Diseases. Michael Buck, from the National Association of State Foresters led the effort, assisted by many members of the Dialogue.

Note to Readers: This guide was prepared to assist senior level program managers and policy makers in establishing priorities and making choices for invasive species management programs. While recognizing the critical and primary importance of prevention programs, the focus of the guide is the management of invasive species once they have arrived, which is an uncomfortable, but increasingly familiar role for many program managers and policy makers.

Download the complete guide.

PDF is the standard format for MWCA documents. Please, download the latest version of Adobe Reader to access the PDFs found throughout this site.