Montana Weed Control Association

Why Should You Care?

Invasive weeds are the greatest threat to Montana’s environment. When these invaders are allowed to invade and spread, they cause a reduction in wildlife forage, degrade fisheries through erosion and sediment buildup, reduce property values, and erode our beautiful viewsheds in Montana. Currently, Montana has approximately 7.6 million precious acres infested with state-listed noxious weeds, and several new and potentially devastating invaders knocking on the door at our borders.

News Highlights

Blueweed Oh So Pretty

Blueweed is biennial, that means it is a two-year plant. The first year it is a rosette. The second year a stalk grows out of the rosette and produces blue flowers flowers. Learn what this plant looks like the first year and prevent the chance of flowers. Visit our Blueweed ID page. If you are not sure if you have contact your weed coordinator.

Every County Has a Weed Coordinator

Every county in Montana has a weed coordinator! What this means is that no matter where you are there is a resource out there to help you find out about what noxious weeds you need help identifying and how you might manage them. Visit the Find My Weed Coordinator page and find out the name of the contact in your county.

From the Director's Desk

While I live in the SW portion of this huge state, I’m always interested in seeing other parts of Montana. A couple weeks ago I traveled to Miles City for spring coordinator training and was not only able to see a lot greener grass and tree foliage, but also a different mindset. While we never want to promote division of the state, the reality is that the eastern and western halves of the state do operate differently. The western part of the state is dealing with an influx of nearly every weed on the state list; they are dealing with more people and more scrutiny of their programs. The eastern part of Montana is dealing with more salt cedar and Russian olive on the river ways, but less of the variety and populations of weeds that western Montana deals with. They have less people as a rule, but are now dealing with the influx of the oil and gas markets and all the good and bad that those industries bring. All across the state, there are a few common denominators, some counties have bigger and better budgets and some are dirt poor. Some counties engage in the noncompliance process and some don’t. Some counties have commissioners and weed board members who are active and interested in the weed program and some have those same entities who may not know what noxious weeds are or why they should even be a part of county budgets. To quote Oprah, one thing I know for sure: every single county in Montana deals with its own unique set of issues and successes.

I am looking forward to heading out to Glasgow this week to engage in a little weed ID and Fight 5 action with Valley County 5th graders. I’ve never really seen Fort Peck Reservoir, so I’m looking forward to staying in an area I’ve only previously passed through. I love traveling through Montana, we have such a huge and great state! Let’s all work to keep it that way. -Becky