From Green Mountain to Togwotee Pass,
from Sinks Canyon to Wind River Canyon,
Fremont County Weed and Pest is working
to protect our lands from invasive species.
2015 End of Year Report
Inside Page 2
Supervisor’s Page
Page 3
County Maps & Tracks
Page 4
Roads & Highways
Page 5
Irrigation Districts
Page 6
Biological Controls
Page 7
Reservation Work
Page 8
Oxeye Daisy: Forest Invader
Page 9
Designated & Declared Species
Page 10-11
Weed Management Areas
Pages 12-13
Early Detection Rapid Response
Pages 14-15
Agency Contracts
Page 16
Weed-Free Forage www.fcwp.com Fremont County Weed and Pest — Lander office 307-332-1052 — Riverton office 307-856-2192 — [email protected]
Dear Reader:
I am pleased to present the Fremont County Weed and Pest District’s 2015 year-end report. The year came with some unique challenges,
as well as new opportunities.
In 2015, Fremont County Weed and Pest continued to offer valuable services to our stakeholders while updating our Special Management
Program, was challenged with the retirement of our Lander Assistant Supervisor, and added two new invasive plants to our declared species list.
As allowed by Wyoming law, Fremont County’s Special Management Program provides additional cost shares for
In April, Lander’s Assistant Supervisor Tom Massey retired from the District after supervising since 1999 and working with the District since
1978. During his time, Tom motivated many crews of weed warriors — teaching them about the harm invasive species cause to the economy and
environment — while providing valuable services to Fremont County. I’d like to thank Tom for his dedication to the District and for setting
an example of effective weed and pest management.
In June, FCWP hired Paul Cohen as Lander’s new Assistant Supervisor. Paul’s education in Rangeland Management from the University of
Wyoming gives him the foundation for understanding the ecosystem dynamics that are important to weed management. Paul’s previous experi-
ences with land management and weed management consulting are an asset for the District in both prescribing weed management plans and
communicating with landowners. We are looking forward to Paul’s innovative ideas in the years to come.
State-designated noxious weeds and pests are species that have a statewide impact. Every county Weed and Pest District must have an
effective program for their management. Counties have the option to declare species with local impacts. Fremont County currently has four
species declared noxious. In 2015, the county Weed and Pest Board approved a resolution to add two additional species to the county declared
list: baby’s breath and cheatgrass. With Wyoming Department of Agriculture approval, the action will go into effect in 2016. Baby’s breath is an
escaped ornamental which invades sandy soils and competes for water and resources with desirable plants. Its tumbleweed nature improves its
spread potential and creates hazards for landowners when dead dried plants drift into shelter belts and fence rows. In Fremont County, baby’s
breath is limited to just a few locations and has limited impact: We intend to keep it that way. Cheatgrass poses significantly more management
challenges. It is likely our most severe and widespread invasive plant in the county, yet much of our landscape is not yet or only moderately
affected. In addition to decreased grazing value and increased fire hazard, cheatgrass has the potential to change ecosystem structure and
function. Its effects can be seen firsthand in the Great Basin states of Utah, Nevada and Idaho, where over the past 100 years millions of acres
have gone from diverse sagebrush steppe to unproductive annual grasslands. Fremont County has thousands of acres infested with cheatgrass,
however, we still have an opportunity to limit its effect on the landscape. An effective program for cheatgrass in Fremont County will limit the
effects of cheatgrass and preserve the valuable intact sagebrush steppe habitat found here.
Thank you for your interest in our programs. This 2015 year-end report highlights our accomplishments and the benefits they provide to the
county. We continually review our programs to adapt to challenges while also seeking innovative opportunities to improve the services we
provide. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have questions or want to learn more about Fremont County Weed and Pest.
Sincerely,
Aaron Foster, supervisor
Page 2 Supervisor’s Introduction
Infestation Sites & Coverages Page 3
Where we mapped or treated weeds in 2015.
Where our crews went in 2015.
Roadside weed work
Knapweed control on Green Mountain
Can you spot the musk thistle in this photo?
Roadside spraying can be considered the front line in the war on weeds. Roads are major vectors for
spreading infestations, so treating roadsides helps to prevent weeds from invading other lands around
the county and beyond.
Highways & County Roads
The FCWP highway crew treated annual
weeds on 1,000 lane-miles of roadsides from
mid-May to July 1, including bare-ground
spraying 22,000 delineator posts, in a
contract with WYDOT.
From July to September, the road crew
controlled noxious species within highway
right-of-ways in a contract with the Wyoming
Department of Agriculture.
FCWP crews controlled nearly 2,000 acres of noxious weeds on county
roads in 2015. Whitetop was the most common species, accounting for
more than half of the treatments.
2015 fall and winter work included clearing sagebrush and other
vegetation from highway right-of-ways with the FCWP skid steer. The crew
also uses the skid steer to restore riparian areas infested with Russian
olive and salt cedar on U.S. Bureau of Reclamation lands and other areas.
Page 4
Page 5
Like roadways, irrigation systems are major vectors for spreading invasive plants. FCWP treats weeds
along the waterways of the LeClair, BIA and Midvale Irrigation Districts.
The weed control strategy for the extensive Midvale Irrigation District is to manage annual weeds
in the spring, then control noxious weeds throughout the summer. FCWP also treated canals that
had become overgrown with cattails to improve water delivery to users.
Leafy spurge was detected for the
first time on the LeClair Irrigation
District last summer.
Puncturevine is a noxious weed
of growing concern on
the Leclair District.
Irrigation Districts
A crew uses a pair of UTVs to control noxious weeds
along the canal systems of the BIA Irrigation District.
The BIA system is divided into three contract areas:
Crowheart Water Users Association, Lower BIA and Ray
Canal Water Users Association.
Russian knapweed, whitetop and Canada thistle are the
most common invasive plants on the systems.
Page 6 Biological Controls
Spraying for mosquitoes is conducted by
cities and tribes. Total cost for the Fremont
County Municipal and Tribal Mosquito
Abatement Program was $121,780. A grant
from the Wyoming Department of
Agriculture paid for $48,851 of the total,
while five municipalities together contributed
$55,421, and FCWP provided $17,508.
Mosquitoes & Grasshoppers
FCWP monitored mosquito populations from June 3 to
September 9, trapping roughly 35,000. Of 194 trap nights,
77 pools of adult Culex tarsalis were tested for West Nile
virus. Only three of those pools tested positive: two from
Riverton in July and one from Arapahoe in August.
FCWP conducts grasshopper field surveys in the spring
to detect outbreaks and in the summer for the Wyoming
Department of Agriculture.
2015 surveys did not yield any
significant findings. Populations
have not reached damaging levels
in Fremont County since 2012.
FCWP has a long history of success in using biological agents for the control of invasive plants.
Biological controls are, in most cases, insects which suppress the growth and spread of specific species
of noxious weeds, either by feeding on them directly or other means.
Fremont County has more than a dozen types of well established bio-control agents, including the first
time trial of a natural soil amendment used to suppress cheatgrass.
One of FCWP’s successful bio-control programs is the Russian knapweed gall midge,
Jaapiella ivannikavi. The insect lays its eggs on the growing tip of a plant, galling that
growing point, which reduces seed production and plant height.
First released in Fremont County in 2009, Jaapiella is now well established and spreading
to new areas on its own. FCWP collects hundreds of galls each summer for redistribution
to other county weed and pest districts and to establish new sites within Fremont County.
Damage from Russian knapweed gall wasp
Aerial release for cheatgrass control
Red-headed leafy spurge stem borer
Oberea erythrocephala
Reservation Work Page 7
BIA projects of 2015 included:
FCWP worked in some remote
reaches of the WRIR in 2015
controlling leafy spurge, Russian
knapweed and other invasive
weed species.
FCWP controlled more
than 4,000 acres of
weed infestations on
the Wind River Indian
Reservation in 2015.
Russian knapweed is
the most common
noxious species on
tribal lands.
Mapping on the WRIR focused on tribal
lands north of Lander as part of FCWP’s
weed inventory program.
At Crow Creek, crews continued treatments of
Russian knapweed and began work in some
new areas.
9
407
49
10
925
60
125
15
1982
14
23
391
1
109
14
Black henbane
Canada thistle
Field bindweed
Houndstongue
Leafy spurge
Musk thistle
Perennial pepperweed
Perennial sowthistle
Russian knapweed
Russian olive
Saltcedar
Spotted knapweed
Swainsonpea
Whitetop
Other
ACRES TREATED BY SPECIES - BIA
Russian knapweed
At Burgess,
crews continued
treatments of
in Morrison
Canyon in the
Owl Creek
Mountains.
Page 8 Oxeye Daisy: Forest Invader
FCWP crews based in Dubois have been battling oxeye daisy in the
mountainous terrain of the Absarokas for over a decade.
Almost all known infestations are on the Shoshone National Forest
and on Wyoming Department of Game and Fish properties along the
Wiggins Fork and East Fork of the Wind River.
A native of Eurasia, oxeye daisy is a flowering perennial that spreads
by seed and a creeping root system.
Because so much of the terrain is in a roadless and
remote area, most of the work is done by a horse pack
crew. Chemical treatments of Milestone have been
effective in containing its spread.
Black henbane
Canada thistle
Common burdock
Common St. Johnswort
Common tansy
Dalmatian toadflax
Diffuse knapweed
Dyers woad
Field bindweed
Houndstongue
Leafy spurge
Musk thistle
Oxeye daisy
Perennial pepperweed
Perennial sowthistle
Plumeless thistle
Purple loosestrife
Quackgrass
Designated and Declared Species Page 9
Fremont County has four
declared noxious weeds: baby’s
breath, cheatgrass, puncturevine
and swainsonpea.
Baby’s breath and cheatgrass
were added to the declared list in
2015.
Wyoming State Designated Noxious Weeds
The state of Wyoming has six designated pest species: grasshoppers, Mormon crickets, prairie
dogs, ground squirrels, mountain pine beetles and beet leafhoppers. Fremont County also has two
declared pests: mosquitoes (Culex tarsalis) and oystershell scale.
Cheatgrass is an annual that thrives on
disturbed sites and can outcompete
more desirable perennial range grasses.
Baby’s breath is an escaped ornamental
that forms dense stands and is difficult to
control.
Wyoming has 26 plants listed as designated noxious weeds — which is a legal classification of plant
species that are considered detrimental, destructive, injurious or poisonous to humans. The list is
formed by joint resolution of the Wyoming Board of Agriculture and the Wyoming Weed and Pest
Council. The designation provides statewide legal authority to regulate and manage those species,
an action that is carried out by county weed and pest districts.
species called declared noxious weeds that are consid-
ered “detrimental to the general welfare of persons residing
Page 10 Weed Management Areas
Fremont County has three Weed Management Areas, each with its own unique management challenges,
characteristics and priorities.
Dubois-Crowheart Weed Management Area
Weed control work in northern Fremont County was primarily on
county roads, Wyoming Game and Fish Department properties and
U.S. Forest Service lands. FCWP staff in Dubois also spends many
hours consulting with private landowners on weed control.
A FCWP mapping crew surveyed more than 15 miles
of the East Fork of the Wind River. The mappers
daisy, as well as
. The surveys of
state and private lands are paid for by a federal grant
that is administered by the Wyoming Department of
Agriculture.
New infestations that were found and treated
in 2015 included spotted knapweed, pictured
above, a perennial that is important to detect
as soon as possible.
Horse pack crews continued treatments of
oxeye daisy on USFS and Wyoming Game
and Fish Department lands.
Knapweed work
Lower Wind WMA
Clearing beetle-killed blowdowns
Dubois-Crowheart WMA
Spurge in pasture
Popo Agie WMA
A forest infestation of musk thistle
Page 11 Weed Management Areas
Popo Agie Weed Management Area
FCWP contracted an aerial applicator to treat hundreds of acres for cheatgrass.
An airplane was used at the Weiser Knoll and V-1 Road areas, and a helicopter
in Sinks Canyon.
Lander crews and a contractor sprayed infestations of leafy spurge
on BLM lands south of Hudson with Panoramic, an herbicide that
can give extended control of leafy spurge and is considered safer
for desirable forbs and shrubs than some alternatives.
FCWP also treated high-priority infestations of Dalmatian toadflax
and Scotch thistle south of Hudson.
About 20 workers from FCWP and other agencies pulled together
to treat leafy spurge and musk thistle at the annual PAWMA Work
Day on June 28. FCWP also treated spotted knapweed and other
noxious species in Sinks Canyon last summer.
There is growing interest from small-acreage landowners of
the Riverton area to become cooperators in FCWP’s
Special Management Program for Russian knapweed.
Lower Wind River Weed Management Area
The Riverton office added a crew of backpackers
to its seasonal staff last summer. The new crew
can get into places that trucks and UTVs can’t
reach.
Riverton crews treated all known sites
of leafy spurge along Badwater Creek
from Lysite to the county line. They
also worked on thousands of acres of
BIA, state, Bureau of Reclamation and
private lands. Working to control Russian knapweed
Roadside leafy spurge
Page 12 EDRR-Mapping
GIS Online
New for 2015 was the addition of a Web-
based interactive Geographical Information
System (GIS) where certain customers can
view FCWP spray crews’ progress of their
projects online. Maps showing track logs and
waypoints are updated weekly during spray
seasons.
Go to our Web site at www.fcwp.org for
links to our GIS Online pages.
GPS track logs are a vital part of FCWP’s Integrated
Pest Management strategy.
FCWP crews keep GPS track logs running while they
work to record coverage of the work area. While the
crews mark waypoints and polygons to show the sizes
and locations of noxious weed infestations for the FCWP
mapping database, it is also important for the maps to
reflect where crews have looked for but not found weeds.
Keeping track logs gives us a clearer picture of the
extent of a weed infestation, which helps with treatment
planning and monitoring efforts.
Mapping by GPS is a key component of Early Detection Rapid Response (EDRR).
Surveying and inventory mapping help to detect new infestations early.
In addition to spray crews recording their work on GPS units, mappers surveyed for
noxious weeds from spring to fall, recording their findings with a GPS or ESRI GIS
software on a laptop computer.
Special mapping projects of 2015 included:
WRIR tribal and private lands west of Arapahoe
South Hudson-Government Draw BLM and private lands
Leafy Spurge Special Management Program cooperators
Crowheart perennial pepperweed
Oil Springs Road-Ore Road saltcedar
The Early Detection Rapid Response (EDRR) program is designed to find new unknown infestations.
The strategy is to locate infestations before they become large and more expensive to control. We are
also on the lookout for new invaders from surrounding counties and states.
Monitoring is another aspect of the EDRR program. Past treatments are evaluated to determine their
effectiveness. Below, before and after photos illustrate a successful treatment of Scotch thistle with
Milestone at a rate of 5 ounces per acre.
EDRR-Treatment Page 13
The EDRR program consists of two teams. One is tasked with mapping
and finding weed infestations, while the other is focused on controlling
infestations that are found.
Perennial pepperweed Scotch thistle
Page 14 Agency Contracts
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4
1
63
83
1286
12
493
27
60
307
50
Canada thistle
Field bindweed
Houndstongue
Leafy spurge
Perennial pepperweed
Russian knapweed
Russian olive
Saltcedar
Spotted knapweed
Swainsonpea
Whitetop
Other
TREATED ACRES BY SPECIES - BOR
FCWP treated 2,616 acres of
BOR lands in 2015, including
505 acres of saltcedar and
Russian olive.
Restored cottonwood-willow
habitat at Boysen State Park
Cheatgrass treatments at
Sinks Canyon State Park
FCWP controlled nearly 4,500 acres of weed
infestations on State Land leases. Whitetop,
pictured below, accounted for more than half.
FCWP works to control
noxious weeds in Red
Canyon and other
Game and Fish habitat
and access areas.
A combination of chemical treat-
ments and bio-agent releases for
cheatgrass control were applied
aerially for the first time in Sinks
Canyon, while the FCWP skid
steer crew continued work along
the shore of Boysen Reservoir.
1282062
14550
5123
392288
3113
2013000
Babys BreathCanada thistle
CheatgrassField bindweed
Leafy spurgeMusk thistleOxeye daisy
Perennial pepperweedRussian knapweed
Russian oliveSaltcedar
Scotch thistleSpotted knapweed
SwainsonpeaWhitetop
TREATED ACRES BY SPECIES - GAME & FISH
686
75
4
51
1
489
5
78
587
29
47
12
2336
Canada thistle
Cheatgrass
Dalmatian toadflax
Field bindweed
Houndstongue
Leafy spurge
Musk thistle
Perennial pepperweed
Russian knapweed
Saltcedar
Spotted knapweed
Swainsonpea
Whitetop
TREATED ACRES BY SPECIES - STATE LANDS
FCWP treated more than 1,000 acres of noxious
weed infestations on BLM lands in 2015.
FCWP and the BLM continued
collaboration on a long term
noxious weed treatment and
survey project south of Hudson.
The area is prime sage grouse
habitat and a portion of funding
for the project comes from a
grant from the Wind River-
Sweetwater River Sage Grouse
Working Group.
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15
2
45
107
1
4
296
178
94
98
2
8
Black henbane
Canada thistle
Dalmatian toadflax
Field bindweed
Houndstongue
Leafy spurge
Musk thistle
Perennial pepperweed
Russian knapweed
Saltcedar
Scotch thistle
Spotted knapweed
Swainsonpea
Whitetop
TREATED ACRES BY SPECIES - BLM
In 2015, FCWP recognized Jeremie Artery,
Natural Resource Specialist (Range/Weeds) of
the BLM-Lander Field
Office with an
Appreciation Award
for his outstanding
contribution to the
management of
invasive plants.
FCWP controlled more than 1,800 acres of
infestations on USFS lands in 2015. 1498
8
7
1
19
202
13
4
22
13
2
38
Canada thistle
Cheatgrass
Common tansy
Houndstongue
Leafy spurge
Musk thistle
Oxeye daisy
Russian knapweed
Spotted knapweed
Whitetop
Yellow toadflax
Other
TREATED ACRES BY SPECIES - USFS
While Canada thistle is the most prevalent noxious weed on the Shoshone National Forest, oxeye
daisy is the species of most concern in the Dubois area. Lander personnel are keeping a watchful
eye out for spotted knapweed along Louis Lake Road and forest recreational sites.
Agency Contracts Page 15
Page 16 Weed-Free Forage
FCWP has three locations where chemical inventory is stored: Dubois, Lander, and Riverton. Each
location supplies its spray crews with herbicides. FCWP also sells chemicals to the public for use on
designated and declared noxious weeds and pests.
Backpack sprayers are
available for rent for $1
per day.
Chemical Inventory, Sales and Rentals
To qualify a field as certified,
the inspector searches for
any prohibited weeds and
marks any findings with a
GPS. An inventory map is
then provided to the
cooperator along with a
Weed Management Plan to
assist in bringing the field
into compliance.
FCWP does not charge for this service with the belief
that certified hay is a value-added product that helps
improve weed awareness and control in the county
and prevent spread.
FCWP completed 127 field inspections during
the 2015 growing season — certifying 11,589
tons of alfalfa, grass and oat hay, and 630 tons
of barley, oat and wheat straw as weed-free,
following North American Invasive Species
Management Association standards. That’s
more than 6,600 acres of weed-free fields.
Last year, FCWP-certified Weed Free Forage from a Fremont County producer was fed to
horse racing’s 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah.
FCWP rents out vehicle-mounted and tow-
behind sprayers, as well as grasshopper bait
spreaders and sprayers, and live traps.
Demand for sprayer rentals is high. Often
two weeks’ notice is needed to reserve one.
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