Integrated Weed
Management
Potential Exotic Plant
Species Invading the Blackfoot Drainage
Peter Rice, Chris
Toney and Bob Sacco, December 1997
Preface and Goals:
The Blackfoot Challenge is developing and implementing integrated management plans
for several well known weeds, declared noxious by the State of
Montana, that are currently problem plants in the Blackfoot River
drainage, west-central Montana. These wide-spread noxious weeds include leafy
spurge, Dalmatian toadflax, spotted knapweed, sulfur cinquefoil, and Saint
Johnswort.
The task of the INVADERS work group was to identify additional exotic plant species
that have the potential to become significant problem weeds over the next five
decades in the Blackfoot drainage. Professional awareness of new invaders and
early detection are the essential prerequisites for any successful eradication
or containment action. The cost-benefit ratio is optimized by intervention
during the initial phases of spread of a weed species.
New Invaders Alert List, Risk Ratings, & Identification
Information
Dirty Dozen (Old Weeds), including identification information
Species
selection and assessment of weed potential
Specific
objectives for the 1997 project year
Download
the 1997 project report
Suggested multi-year efforts:
The
principal multi-year goal of the early detection and prevention components of an
integrated weed management plan is to empower land managers to eradicate or
contain new invaders before they can become widespread and permanent
members of the local plant communities. Obtaining this goal would involve seven
overlapping steps:
1. The
creation of an alert list.
2.
Determination of environments susceptible to invasion.
3.
Determine characteristics necessary to identify these new invaders in the field,
prepare training materials (herbarium mounts, photos, key field character
tables) and conduct short courses to teach local land managers how to
recognize these less well known weed species.
4. Conduct
cooperative surveys of the Blackfoot River Basin and surrounding areas to locate
example colonies for training, determine the current magnitude of the problem,
and provide the mapping information necessary to implement control action if
deemed prudent.
5. Provide
managers with tactics and methods for eradication or containment of these
species.
6.
Implement the control actions.
7. Monitor
the response of these target colonies.
Annual schedule for an early
detection and prevention program
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1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
| Alert list |
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| Susceptible
environments |
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| ID training |
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| Recon and map |
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| Tactics |
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| Control |
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| Monitor |
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revised: January 27, 2000
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