The Department (of Agriculture) has the authority to designate noxious weeds under Administrative Rules 4.5.201 and have used the following procedure to designate noxious weeds:
Petitions to add a new weed to the statewide noxious weed list are received by the Montana Department of Agriculture (MDA) from individuals or organizations.
The petitions are reviewed first by a technical core committee using ecological, distribution, impact, and legal status criteria within the State of Montana and for the adjoining states and provinces, followed by a general economic and practicability assessment.
The core committee then makes a recommendation to the Montana Weed List Advisory Committee [comprised of individuals representing the western, central and eastern weed districts, the Montana Weed Control Association (MWCA), agriculture groups, federal agencies, Montana State University (MSU) extension service, University of Montana (U of M), MDA representative, state agencies, tribes and other interest groups who make a recommendation to the director of the Department of Agriculture.
If the director accepts the recommendations, the MDA proposes a rule change, holds public hearings if necessary, and the rules are adopted, published and distributed.