A Message from NWCA President Todd Boller The Nebraska Weed

NWCA Times - Fall 2016
The Nebraska Weed Control Association , 2807 West 2nd St. Grand Island, NE 68803
A Message from NWCA President, Todd Boller, Fillmore County
Good day to you all. I hope you have made it through this tough weed year unscathed. It was truly one of the
most frustrating years that I can remember in the 17 years I have been involved with county weed control
programs. It started off with a bang. Weeds seem to have moved along in growth a lot quicker in my area of
the state. They were also persistent… it seemed as though you would do control work and then come back
and find a new patch growing. That is the nature of our profession I guess. Always something new to try and
figure out. Kudos to those that won the battle this year.
This being the first year as the NWCA President, I have had to learn to manage my time a little more than I
have in the past. It has also been great to learn the ins and outs in how this Association works. I now realize
how important it is for us all to work together, not only in the Association but also learning from each other
on new control measures and new plants to watch for. I encourage you all to share information that has
worked in your counties, and always ask about what your neighbor might have found works for them.
The work never seems to end. As we are finishing up this spray season we are just on to the next project
which compiling the information we have collected this year and using it in our year end reports. Also we
need to be thinking about what our plans will be for the next years growing season. Meet with your county
boards and let them know how things are going. Also let them know how they can help you to keep your
counties weed free. Communication goes a long way into building or keeping a strong program. Fall training
is fast approaching and this will be recertification to get your commercial applicators license renewed. In December the NACO conference will be held, and we will have the chance to hear from several State and Federal
agencies about their invasive weed management programs. The Education Committee has worked hard and
put together great programs for both. Anybody that has ideas for Education is welcome to join the committee, so that we can always keep our education moving forward.
Finally I want to thank you all for allowing me to represent
the Association at the 24th Annual NAISMA Conference in
Salt Lake City. This organization is so committed to education and awareness, and the people that have been leaders
and are still leaders are passionate about moving NAISMA
into new areas of the US and Canada. The education received by attending will not only help you, but also your
county and state. A big THANK YOU to Rob Schultz for doing
an amazing job as President of NAISMA for the last year.
#PlayCleanGo
Your president… Todd Boller
NWCA Fall Training and Recertification
Ramada Inn, Kearney, Nebraska 308-237-3141
Wednesday November 2, 2016
8:45
Welcome, Announcements and Roll Call
9:00 – 10:00 Non Target Risk, Craig Romary
10 – 10:15
BREAK
10:15 – 11:15 Equipment: Application Techniques, Calibration and Calculation, Todd Whitney
11:15 – 12:00 Nebraska Biological Control Program Update, Shayne Galford USDA APHIS
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch
1:00 Roll Call
1:10 – 1:45 Pesticide Laws and Regulations, Eric Fuentes-Ruiz, Dept. of Ag
1:45 – 2:00 BREAK
2:00 – 3:00 Ag Plant Pest Control, Todd Whitney
3:00 – 4:00 Pest Identification and Biology, Kristi Paul
4:00
EXAM
Thursday November 3, 2016
7:55 Roll Call
8:00 -9:00
Pesticide Properties and Selection, Ted Bethell
9:00 – 9:30 Labels and Label Comprehension, Rob Schultz
9:30 – 9:45 BREAK
9:45 – 10:30 Safety and Personal Protection, Mike Reed
10:30 – 11:30 Ornamental and Turf Pest Control, Nicole Stoner
11:30 – 12:00 Nebraska Invasive Species Council Update, Allison Zach
12:00 LUNCH
12:55 Roll Call
1:00 – 2:00 Aquatic Pest Control, Kent and Jamion Aden
2:00 – 2:15 BREAK
2:15 – 2:45 Right of Way Pest Control, Mitch Coffin
2:45 – 3:15 Recertification
3:15
EXAM
Update from the NWCA Region Directors:
Region I, John Bebout - Director
Hello from region 1. Fall is here, and everything is still really green. Harvest is in full swing, so be careful out there. We have
been working a lot with our cost share program from the Nebraska Environmental Trust grant and it looks like we used all of
our funds for this year, which means it was a big hit for our land owners. Thank you to the 5 Rivers Weed Management Area
for doing a great job.
Fall spraying is still going on until we get a killing frost, which might not be too far away. Our next region meeting will be in
Lancaster County on the 20th of Oct. Thank you Brent for hosting. I will be out of commission for a while for I am having a left
knee replacement on Nov. 1st. I look forward to seeing everyone when I get back.
Region II, Bill Babutzke-Director
Hello to all from Region 2. Well it’s that time of year again when the leaves start to change, temperatures are cooler, and
Husker football is back and off to a great start. Not sure where summer has gone, it went by so quick.
Fall spraying is under way in Region 2 some superintendents may already be finished, or close to it. Now is the time to encourage land owners to pasture spray, it’s always nice to get a jump start on next springs weed problems. Doug Mulligan has
found some Absinth Wormwood in Brown County and possibly Terri Krysl has found Absinth Wormwood in Boyd County. Holt
County has a new arrival Vipers-Bugloss, and two new spots of Scotch Thistle to keep in check.
Everyone who applied for the LB1038 grant should be hearing the news of whether they receive the grant by October 12,
2016. Northeast Nebraska WMA applied for $5000 with matching funds from the Upper Elkhorn NRD. The money would allow
Bruce Ofe and me to do work on the Elkhorn River. Bruce has found Purple Loosestrife, Saltcedar, and Yellow Flag Iris in Antelope County. I have found Purple Loosestrife and Yellow Flag Iris thus far.
Fall training is coming up this November the 2nd and 3rd; it will be recertification training for weed superintendents, so I encourage all to attend. The educational committee has a nice line up of topics and speakers and will prove to be educational for
all.
It’s starting to slow down some in the weed world with additional meetings happening. Region 2 will hold a meeting October
17th. Terri Krysl will host the meeting in Body County. We may get a chance to take a look at some Absinth Wormwood as a
refresher and that’s always helpful to see invasive plants in person. That’s it from Region 2 for now. I look forward to seeing
everyone at fall training.
Region III, Doug Smith - Director
Wow where did the summer go? It sure seems like to me that spring and summer are getting shorter every year! Or maybe it’s
just seems that way as I’m getting older.
Mark Heckenliable of Thurston County and Tory Penny of Burt County will be hosting our next Region III meeting in October at
Decatur.
Towards the end of August Northeast Nebraska WMA held two Saltcedar Search and Destroy efforts on the Missouri River the
areas searched were located in the delta region around Niobrara. We had a lot of brave volunteers that walked the sandbars
and islands looking for Saltcedar. Participants were Weed Superintendents from Nebraska, Weed & Pest Supervisors from
South Dakota, Nebraska Game& Parks, Nebraska Dept. of Ag. , National Park Service and six people from Minnesota and Iowa
Conservation Corp in Ames, Iowa. The good thing is we only found approximately 25 plants in two days of searching.
Burt, Thurston Dakota & Dixon Counties sprayed their portion of the Missouri River. All of the Counties are reporting a lot
more infestations of Purple Loosestrife were found this year. Dixon County also found and treated 5 Saltcedar Plants.
Bruce Ofe and his crew from Antelope County have been working on the Elkhorn River. They have inspected and treated infestations of mainly Purple Loosestrife, some Yellow Flag Iris, and they even found a couple of Saltcedar plants. They navigated the Elkhorn river by using kayaks.
With the ample moisture this year in Northeast Nebraska it has most of us working on fall control of noxious weeds. Spraying
pastures or roadsides, or following up and visiting with landowners that didn’t achieve the best control measures earlier this
year. It sure seems to keeps us busy.
Rob Schultz – Hall/Howard Co Weed Control, NE
Past-President of NAISMA
The 24th Annual North American Invasive Species Management Association Conference and Trade Show was held in Historic Salt
Lake City Utah on September 26-29, 2016. There were 162 attendees with 4 countries represented, 3 Provinces from Canada, and 20
states represented from the United States.
The conference organizers put together an exciting agenda full of presentations focusing on Federal Agency updates, biological
weed control, invasive species marketing and outreach, and invasive species prevention and management. They also lined up an invasive
species tour of the Wasatch Mountain Range, Provo Canyon, Sundance Mountain Resort, and Utah Lake State Park. There we saw leafy
spurge control efforts, weed control efforts from the Heber Valley Railroad, and phragmites control efforts at Utah Lake. The tour focused on project specifics including: working in a wetland environment, specific equipment needed when working in aquatic situations,
impact to water quality through restoration efforts, and the impacts to riparian species.
The NAISMA committees are the gears of the association and are hard at work keeping important invasive species issues in the
forefront. Monday at the Marketing and Outreach Committee meeting, the PlayCleanGo education awareness campaign was discussed
and the consensus was to start integrating the PlayCleanGo campaign into NAISMA. The Weed Free Forage Committee has a new coordinator, it is Marsha Watland from Minnesota. Also, that day a Weed Free Forage Train the Trainer session was held to provide training on
the Weed Free Forage Program. The Professional Development Committee met to discuss the Certified Manager of Invasive Plants
(CMIP) certification program. It was agreed upon by the committee and the NAISMA Board to move forward with Randy Westbrooks and
his invasive species training program. The board will be working with Randy in the next few months to get the program and classes up
and going. They should be available in January of 2017.
On Thursday morning, there was a North American Bio Control Consortia Update. CABI and BBCA(Biotechnology and Biological
Control Agency) gave updates on the status of weed biological control agents in the works for North America.
Our organizers deserve a big “Thank You” for dedicating their time to developing a conference which provides value for NAISMA
membership. I also want to recognize sustaining members and conference sponsors. Their support of NAISMA’s mission to promote
and empower invasive species management in North America is greatly appreciated and these meetings could not take place without
them.
NAISMA exists to provide opportunity for invasive species managers to network and learn from other mangers across North
America and the world. For those not from Salt Lake City or Utah, learning about the challenges and unique conditions found here gave
us a valuable perspective to take home.
Thank you for your continued support of this valuable association of local level, “on the ground” invasive species managers.
Your membership, sponsorship, and participation are vital in achieving our mission, ‘to promote and empower invasive species management in North America’.
Make plans to attend the 25th Annual NAISMA Conference and Trade Show in Sparks/Reno, NV on October 23-26, 2017 at the
Nugget Hotel.
NAISMA Conference attendees from Nebraska were: Becky Paulsen-Seward Co,
Todd Boller-Fillmore Co, Rob Schultz-Hall Co, & Mitch Coffin-NDA
Region IV, Mark Goebel - Director
Region 4 has had a busy past few months. A lot of spraying had been done during the summer but plans are being made for fall
control. Region 4 has the Nebraska State Fair and Husker Harvest days to set up for and to recruit man power to answer questions
that attendees have for the Noxious Weed professionals. Approximately 1000 people had questions to be answered at the State
Fair and around 500 at Husker Harvest Days. At State Fair a new booth location helped to bring in more interested people, which
increased this year’s numbers.
Also in Region 4 a lot has been going on in the Weed Management Area’s this fall. Several acres of river were sprayed on the Platte
River by helicopter along with work being done by air boat. In the Republican Valley a lot of spraying was done on Harlan County
Lake this fall. Phragmites and Saltcedar were the 2 noxious weeds that were targeted. The Corps of Engineers along with the Twin
Valley WMA shares the cost of the spraying on the lake with grant money and in-kind services. Several larger patches of Phragmites
were spray east of the lake. A 13 mile stretch was sprayed near Red Cloud where several islands were infested with phragmites
mixed with cattails.
All of the Region 4 guys are now getting ready for fall. I’m sure that everyone had their fall General Notice in the papers before Oct
1. Now we are looking at fall control since the frost has hit most of the trees and the leaves are falling. All of us know that fall is the
time to control those weeds in the sensitive areas. The rule of thumb is that fall is the best time to control your noxious weeds.
In closing, all of the Region 4 guys are getting ready to attend fall training in Kearney, Ne. the first part of November. This is an important session because we will all get our commercial applicator’s card renewed for the next three years. I hope everyone is having a great fall.
Region V, Dan Wordekemper – Director
Another Summer is almost in the books. I hope everybody had a productive
Summer against the war on weeds. The weather this Fall has been very mild,
which has allowed spraying to continue.
We recently got a new NDA inspector, which turns out to be Jeff Lampmann,
our past inspector! Welcome back Jeff. Cris Burks and Dick McGowan hosted a Region 5 meeting in Banner County August 23rd. Mitch Coffin of NDA
was making the rounds in the Panhandle, so he brought bindweed mites that
had arrived at APHIS in Lincoln, and attended the meeting. We all got to see
some of the bindweed mites get relocated in Banner County. Thank you Cris
and Dick for the yummy brisket lunch!
Releasing bindweed mites in Banner County
This year a couple of weeds have popped up that may be a problem in the future. Originally reported by Kristi Paul last year, Absinth Wormwood is one that we are finding in new areas, and it seems it has spread throughout the northern panhandle at an
alarming rate. Another weed that we just confirmed recently with CSC professor Steve Rolfsmeier, is Bugloss, Professor Rolfsmeier
found one in a canyon a couple of years ago, which was the first confirmed find in the state of Nebraska. This Fall we have found it
on county ROW’s in Dawes County.
Region 5 superintendents attended Panhandle NACO in Gering, and after the meeting we all met at Scotts Bluff County Weed Control to load Weed Watch bundles that were delivered that morning. It didn’t take long with all the help.
Next two meetings will be Fall Training in Kearney the first week of November, which will also be recertification, so topics straight
from the Noxious Weed Act. Nebraska Assn. of County Officials (NACO) Conference will be in Kearney, December 14 th and 15th.
NACO is your opportunity to obtain continuing education hours, in addition to making personal contact with many of the different
state and federal entities that we all work with, such as Dept. of Roads, Game and Parks, Farm Services, etc.
Region 5 was sad to hear of the passing of Hugh Uglow, past Kimball County Highway and Weed Superintendent. Region 5 extends
our sympathy to Hugh’s wife Gwen, and family.
Unloading The Weed Watch in Scotts Bluff County
2016 NACO CONFERENCE AGENDA
NEBRASKA WEED CONTROL ASSOCIATION
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
8:10
8:15
8:45
9:15
9:45
10:15
10:45
11:15
11:45
12:45
12:50
1:20
1:50
2:00-5:00
Roll Call
Nebraska Forest Service---John Erixson-Deputy Director
Natural Resource and Conservation Service---Rich Torpin
Pheasants Forever---Kelsi Wehrman
Platte River Recovery Implementation Program
Break
Nebraska Environmental Trust---Mark Brohman, Executive Director
Nebraska Department of Roads---Carol Wienhold
Lunch
Roll Call
US Fish and Wildlife Service---Damon Taylor
Nebraska Invasive Species Council---Allison Zach
Exam
Opening Session (Attendance Required)
Thursday, December 15, 2016
8:25
8:30
9:15
9:45
10:15
10:45
11:15
11:45
1:10
1:15
2:15
2:45
Roll Call
NWCA Legislative Update---Charles Brooks
NAISMA Update---Rob Schultz, Past President NAISMA
Break
Nebraska Association of Resource Districts---Dean Edison
Nebraska Game and Parks--Farm Service Agency---Greg Reisdorff
Lunch
Roll Call
National Park Service-- Brennan Hauk, Northern Great Plains EPTM Liaison
NACO Executive Director---Larry Dix
Exam
NACO Conference is held at Younes Convention Center in Kearney.
Region VI, Randy Bartlett – Director
It’s already Fall again, the years seem to go faster as you get older! Frost and a killing freeze are just around the corner or already here by the time you read this. The cold weather gives our noxious perennials that signal to translocate nutrients to their root systems, so it is a perfect time to apply herbicide like Milestone or Tordon, and receive
successful control. Many times musk and Canada thistle rosettes are the only thing green in the county ditches
(maybe some bindweed also). Now is a great time to locate and spray those fall rosettes.
Tim Smith, coordinator for the Southwest Weed Management Area has been busy on the Republican River system
this summer. I was able to witness one of his final spray days using Sky Copters out of Ulysses, Kansas. They were
spraying phragmites on the Republican River corridor south of Benkelman, NE., before a hard freeze occurred. Tim
explained that day had just had a few patches near Trenton Dam to spray, and needed to map the invasive weeds on
Swanson Lake before he was done with Sky Copters, and done with fall control. Southwest WMA had received
$307,500 from Nebraska Environmental Trust for his Western Republican River Healthy Habitat Project. SWMA has
also applied for another grant to complete phase 2 of the project. This would continue work on the Frenchman River
in Western Chase County and continue efforts on the invasive vegetation in the Republican River Flood Plain. SWMA
covered over 30 miles of river, plus a dozen spots off the river. Tree cutters will begin now to remove Russian olive
trees, and SWMA will spray regrowth.
Region 6 superintendents are busy finishing their spraying season as the colder weather returns. Excellent control
can be obtained from spraying perennial noxious weeds late into the Fall.
From the NDA newsletter the Department of Agriculture publishes, the Summer 2016 Issue has an article on a computer-based testing service called Pearson Vue, started July, 2016, for those needing their initial certification. I hope
to see everyone at Fall Training in Kearney, for New Superintendents on the 1st, and NWCA Fall Training on the 2nd
and 3rd.
Continue to pray for our United Sates and for our upcoming elections! God Bless All.
Sky Copters spraying in the Southwest Weed Management Area, in
Furnas, Hitchcock, Red Willow and Dundy Counties.
Congratulations to NWCA Scolarship Award Winners!
Lane Baxter, Grandson of Doug Mulligan, Brown County
Megan Jaeger, Granddaughter of Randy Bartlett, Chase County
Chad Pies, Grandson of Leon Pies, Dakota County
Bugloss
Bugloss is typically found in wastelands or disturbed
areas, along roadsides and watercourses, and in
overgrazed pastures.
Bugloss can infest pasture and rangeland, causing
potential impact to livestock. Several members of the
borage family contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids, which
can be toxic to horses and cattle when ingested.
Absinth wormwood Toxic to horses. Showing up
where hay has occurred. Spreads
quickly on roadsides, corrals,
pastures, hay storage areas.