For well over a decade, San Miguel County has supported a Weed Management Program that not only controls noxious weeds on county roadsides, parks and other lands but, under agreement, works on municipal, state and federal lands in an effort to ensure consistent efforts across the county. (Noxious weeds don’t seem to understand fence lines!) We recognize a responsibility to every acre within the county and attempt to assure that each acre, regardless of ownership, can receive attention for noxious weed issues before the problem spreads to adjacent landowners.

The county doesn’t stop with public lands, but has a very active program to encourage private landowners in their efforts through a number of outreach programs.

Programs include:

• An identification program for noxious weeds through site visits or photographs submitted to this office.
• The EDRR (early detection/rapid response) program to assist landowners in identifying and eliminating non native plants that are rare in the county and for which no tolerable level of infestation is allowed – especially plants designated by the state for eradication.
• Creation of management plans to assist landowners in understanding their responsibilities and identify the steps needed to prevent disturbances such as construction from becoming serious problems.
• Insect releases where appropriate. Currently this includes tamarisk leaf beatles and bindweed mites.
• Control recommendations that may range from seed distribution prevention to cultivation, insect releases, hand digging or pulling, to the use of the appropriate herbicide for the particular plant. Herbicide recommendations, when appropriate, take into consideration the target species, location, native or desirable plant community, the appropriate timing for the application, and the maximum safety for the location.
• The San Miguel County Weed Advisory Board, which meets quarterly and recommends to the County Commissioners.
• An equipment loaner program to allow county landowners to work with high quality spray equipment on their herbicide application projects. (Three 25-gallon sprayers and eight backpack sprayers)
• A cost share program, covering 50 percent of the expense of appropriate insects and recommended herbicides, and a whitetop program, offering 75 percent cost share for landowners on Wright’s Mesa. Both important, popular programs have been offered for several years.

The Weed Management Program makes recommendations to assure that landowners are utilizing the safest, most effective control measures to tackle a given problem and, just as important, urges landowners to avoid control efforts that are destined to fail.

Private landowner assistance is available to all landowners within the county with at least one acre. Landowners must be county property tax payers. Subdivisions, in particular, are encouraged to seek assistance as a group.

Landowners of all kinds are encouraged to contact the San Miguel County Weed Control Program for information and assistance in identifying controlling or eliminating noxious weeds from their property. You can reach the San Miguel county Weed Control Program at 327-0399, Ouray County WCP at 626-5391 or Montrose County WCP at 249-5216 for assistance.