| Weed management goals
It is helpful to think of weed management as promoting beneficial plants rather than as killing weeds. The goal is to protect and enhance native, or desirable, plant communities by preventing the establishment and spread of noxious weeds.
Landowners are responsible for stopping noxious weeds before they spread to their neighbors' properties.
Weeds are expert competitors
Non-native plants are a problem when they interfere with native plants and animals. Noxious weeds are those non-natives identified by a federal or state agency as being highly invasive and warranting control or eradication. When they invade, noxious weeds can destroy native plant communities, reducing biological diversity and disrupting ecosystem function. One result is the loss of forage for the many wildlife species that rely on native plants for their survival. Another result may be reduced property value.
Protecting the soil
Noxious weeds invade and out-compete native plants after soils are disturbed. Minimizing ground disturbance and compaction is critical. Non-essential use of off-road vehicles should be restricted to roads. Logging equipment and other vehicles should be thoroughly washed before transport.
Identify weeds early
It is essential to identify noxious weeds before they become well established. If caught early, weed invasions can often be controlled with simple non-toxic methods, such as hand-pulling. As invasions spread, treatment options become more costly and problematic.
Employ multiple tactics
Weed seeds are spread by animals, humans, machinery, wind and water. Several noxious weeds form mats through their root systems. More than one method is usually required to control, reduce or eradicate noxious weeds. An effective weed plan might include hand pulling, seed clipping, spraying, biological controls, reseeding and prevention.
Replace with natives
Weed treatments should always include re-vegetation with native plants suited to the site where they will be grown.
Stopping new invaders
New noxious weeds are lurking on our borders that we should learn to identify and be ready to control. Weeds to watch out for: purple loosestrife, tansy ragwort, yellow flag iris.
For more information visit Missoula County Weed District.
Please visit Swan Ecosystem Center for a free color booklet on Invasive Plants of the Crown of the Continent by Belt, LaFleur and Sladek.
Also read It's Weed Season Again, Promote Native Plants (PDF), by Anne Dahl for The Eye on the Environment column, The Seeley-Swan Pathfinder, May 28, 2009.
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Map of the Swan Valley Cooperative Weed Management Area
 You can help find new invaders.
Together let's map the orange and yellow hawkweeds, and other noxious weeds new to the Swan Valley, before they are widespread.
Please let Swan Ecosystem Center
know when and where you find new invaders. We will add to the map
provided by the Missoula County
Weed District, which includes locations
in Missoula and Lake Counties.
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