Upper Snake River CWMA

Mapping

In the USRCWMA inventory and mapping noxious weeds  is a critical step to

 planning actions that result in containment and control.

 Bingham County hired Weed Mapping Teams.  These teams were able to

 document 7030.8 acres of weed infestation data using GPS units. Beyond this,

 the teams were able to inventory an area once found to contain bugloss. This

 project totaled 92.2 acres of on foot inventory and resulted in a success of

 finding no new infestations.  They also inventoried 533.5 acres of land in

 search of Rush Skeleton weed and found two new points and one area of

 infestation.  In addition to mapping the teams collected over 1,500

 Cyphocleonus, made five bio-control releases in Bingham County, collected

  monitoring data of established insectaries, and assisted BLM in out of area collections.  Licensed team members assisted

  Bingham County in treating 60 acres of weed infestations with herbicide.  Mapping teams also assisted in weed

  education by working at the Eastern Idaho State Fair.

  Jefferson County Weed Control hired high school students in the spring and trained the

  teams to use the Juno GPS units purchased using cost share dollars from ISDA this year.

  One of Jefferson County’s Weed Employees was designated field supervisor for the

  mapping team and worked with them through the season. Training on weed identification,

  mapping procedures, and equipment operation was completed prior to any field work. The

  mapping team was involved in bio release projects and spray work using backpacks on

  local railroads and water ways. There were significant finds by the team in the field, such

  as Rush Skeleton weed and Salt Cedar in our gravel pits and on the river banks. These

  infestations could have gone undiscovered until they were of significant size, but were

  discovered as single plants or only a few in numbers. Approximately 382 acres were

  mapped during the season and hundreds of acres were surveyed. The team was also

  involved in a variety of public awareness events and a Milfoil project with Bonneville,

  Jefferson, Madison, and Fremont Counties, that surveyed several water bodies in our

  region. The interest and cooperation in this program from our private and public

  landowners is exciting and fostered a great relationship.

Bonneville County Weed (BCW) teams successfully inventoried

 nearly 35,000 acres of land in 2009.  With the use of a Trimble

 3E’s, Trimble XT’S, and Archer GPS units there was at least one

 employee out mapping almost every day.  Some 10% of the lands

  mapped were infested with the following weeds: Spotted 

 knapweed in Swan Valley; Hoary cress west of Ririe;

  Houndstongue in Dehlin, and thistles in Bone. With this data

 BCW sent out close to 100 enforcement letters and was able to

 build better relationships with many landowners.  It is important

 to BCW that they know where they can protect the non-infested

 lands and can continue to protect them from future weed

 invasions.