Weed abatement district seeks to educate public on noxious plant effects

While local agencies know all about the effects of noxious weeds on the Churchill County area, they would also like its residents to know as much as they can.

That is why the Churchill County Cooperative Weed Management Area is pushing for an educative approach to inform people of the dangers of letting large numbers of weeds grow.

Nancy Upham, the district manager for Churchill County Mosquito and Weed Abatement, said the district would establish a hotline before the end of the year to field any questions or concerns that people have about potential weed-related problems. The hotline number, which is not yet in effect, will be available for anyone interested to talk directly to a representative.

The district is also pushing people's education of spotting the actual damaging weeds by handing out key chains with photo cards of 13 noxious weeds found in Churchill County.

"We're going to do a big push at the beginning of the year," Upham said. "The hotline, weed identification and probably giving out some welcome packets to anyone new."

According to reports done by the CWMA, numerous ill effects of noxious weed growth have caused problems in areas including plant and animal habitats, recreation, real estate value and the state's economy.

The Stillwater area and spots along the lower Carson River have both been identified as trouble spots for noxious weeds by county officials. Russian knapweed, which reduces production of various species, is plentiful in Stillwater, while bank erosion has spread along the Carson River due to tall whitetop overabundance.

According to the CWMA, the economic impacts from reduced recreation due to noxious weeds in Nevada range from $6 million to $12 million per year.

The group reported that fires in Nevada on cheatgrass-infested ranges in 1999 resulted in a loss of $13 million alone.

With all these potential troubles still lying in Nevada lands, Upham said there is definitely a need for increased awareness and education.

She cited the effects noxious weeds have had on agriculture in Churchill County and how many of them can make animals sick and jeopardize the livelihood of ranchers.

Upham is hopeful that revegetative efforts like the project in the Swingle Bench area are also coupled with any rehabilitative measures to protect the land. In other words, she would like to see the land with moisture, but not enough to grow massive amounts of noxious weeds.

"In areas where people pull water from, what grows back happens to be weeds," Upham said. "It's a catch-22. At some times, you can get a dust pool. There's got to be a better way to do revegetation and in a way that rehabilitation works."

For now, she said what she and much of the weed abatement district would do to advise people is simply open their eyes to prevention measures they might not have known before - like in moving buildings.

"With a lot of buildings, a lot of people moving soil move the weeds around and don't even know it," Upham said.

She said the district plans to expand its weed abatement program next year and continue working on roadside weeds.

As for actually removing weeds from people's yards, Upham said the district would not do that but would visit any property on request to help.

"Though we don't actually go on private sites, we can give advice," Upham said. "If people don't want to use herbicide, we can show them how to remove the weeds before they go to seed and prevent dexterous growth."

Burke Wasson can be contacted at bwasson@lahontanvalleynews.com