Montana Weed Control Association

by James S. Jacobs, Michael F. Carpinelli and Roger L. Sheley*

URRENT weed management efforts often focus on controlling weeds, with limited regard to the existing or resulting plant community. Because of environmental, ecological and economic concerns, the appropriateness and effectiveness of rangeland weed management practices are being questioned. It has become clear that weed management decisions must consider these concerns. The development of future weed management practices must be based on our understanding of the biology and ecology of rangeland ecosystems.

Land use objectives must be developed before rangeland weed management plans can be designed. This implies that strictly killing weeds is an inadequate objective, especially for large-scale infestations. Instead, a generalized objective could be to develop a healthy plant community that is relatively weed-resistant while meeting other land-use objectives such as forage production, wildlife habitat development or recreational land maintenance.

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Major portions of western Montana’s landscape become degraded and disturbed every day. Disturbances can be natural, such as floods and fires, or strictly human-induced, such as roads and construction sites, utility line trenches, or improper grazing. These disturbed areas may recover naturally, but in some cases it may be many years before desired plants become established or recover. Conversely, some areas may never naturally recover because invasive weeds may establish first and prevent native plants from establishing, growing, and reseeding. Furthermore, invasive weeds can potentially spread into adjacent, healthy landscapes where they threaten local biodiversity, alter nutrient and water cycling, diminish wildlife and livestock forage, and increase soil erosion and stream sedimentation.

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