Gallatin County Weed District
Regular Monthly Meeting
October 13, 2005
Board members present were Fred Bell, Chairman, Bob Hofman, Jeff Littlefield, Craig Morgan, Linda Vrooman and John Vincent (Commissioner). Others present were Josh Kellar (RC&D), Fred Tubb (Farm Bureau), Ron Carlstrom (Ag Extension Agent), Kara Schile (Extension Ag Assistant), Joe Nowakowski (Coordinator Big Sky Project), Keith Mainwaring, and Dennis Hengel, Coordinator.
Minutes. Linda Vrooman had two (2) corrections to the September minutes. Item 2 on the second page should read "county" not "state". The second correction was that Linda Vrooman had walked the Langhor Trail and asked who was responsible for weed control on the trail. Hengel replied that the GVLT was responsible. John Vincent moved to approve the September minutes as corrected, Linda Vrooman seconded and the Minutes were approved as corrected.
Claims. The Claims were reviewed and approved as presented.
OLD BUSINESS
Hengel announced that the Purdy WMA Grant had been extended until May 14, 2006. Vrooman asked if people could only participate once, Hengel informed her that people could apply each year.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Public Comment/Other. Fred Tubb reported that although he has sold his property he would finish out the year with the Farm Bureau Weed Committee and the County Weed Board meetings. He thanked the Board for all the help and information he has been able to gather over the years. Fred Bell thanked Fred Tubb for his support and participation in weed education. Keith Mainwaring mentioned that the Cameron Bridge fishing access is a disaster, with a severe noxious weed problem. Hengel informed him that he would contact FWP about the problem. Hengel thanked Mainwaring for the letter he had written to the Chronicle regarding noxious weed issues within Gallatin County. Copies of the letter were passed out to those present. Hengel felt that the letter was very
supportive of the Weed District and to the point.
2. Gallatin/Big Sky WMA Report. Joe Nowakowski was introduced as the coordinator that was hired for the Gallatin/Big Sky project. Nowakowski reported that so far he has about 90 landowners involved in the program at Big Sky and they have collectively treated noxious weeds on approximately 200 acres. A noxious weed awareness sign has been installed on Highway 191 and he has been receiving phone calls in response to the sign. He has a cost share program through the Conservation District for property owners in the Beckman Flats/Castle Rock area. Hengel also noted that residents in the Beckman Flats and Castle Rock area are eligible for Cost Share through the Purdy Grant. The homeowners have been very responsive to the "we are here to help you" approach and there is a good
weed management program building. Kara Schile and Nowakowski have been mapping canyon sites, and the Conservation Corp has partnered to inventory some trailheads. RC&D had an educational booth at the Big Sky Country Fair and have had a lot of positive feedback. Carlstrom noted that he and Kellar wrote the grant for the project and Kellar wrote the grant for Nowakowski's salary. The efforts this year were a good start with more work to follow in 2006.
3. Sixteenmile Coop Report. Ron Carlstrom passed around a progress report on this grant. The program was an "After the Fires" grant for three (3 years) then Carlstrom extended the program, which is now in the 6th year with a NWTF grant. The Gallatin Beef Producers sponsor an annual tour of the area. Carlstrom intends to extend the area next year to include properties in Meagher and Broadwater counties as more property owners become interested in participating. He also reported that there are new chemicals available enabling aerial spraying closer to water. Larkspur research plots have also been set up in response to cattle losses, although these are not part of the NWTF grant.
4. Lower Jefferson WMA Report. This weed management area covers approximately 5400 acres. Carlstrom passed out a report on the work progress to date. This is a sensitive riparian area and the participants are battling leafy spurge along the gravel bars in the Jefferson River. Producers outside the current grant area are interested in participating in the program next year. Carlstrom stated that he will apply for both the Jefferson and Sixteenmile grants again for the upcoming budget year, but will put the funds through the Extension budget next year. Carlstrom introduced Kara Schile as his Agriculture/Horticultural assistant.
5. Weed Summit. The Gallatin County Commissioners, RC&D, and the Gallatin County Extension Service are hosting a Noxious Weed Summit on December 1st at the Comfort Inn in Bozeman. Josh Kellar passed out a statement of purpose and a draft agenda. The purpose is to encourage coordination between individuals, organizations, and agencies on noxious weed outreach, education, and eradication efforts. There is a lot of overlapping of agencies all performing the same programs e.g. weed mapping/inventory is being performed by many agencies but the data is not being shared. Programs need to be coordinated so that data can be shared and thus save man-hours and
money. Linda Vrooman asked if the public was going to be involved, however Kellar stated that at this time coordinating organizations is the main goal. A survey has been sent out to 17 organizations and numerous private landowners and Carlstrom noted that it will be interesting to see the results on how much funding is being spent on fighting noxious weeds in Gallatin County.
6. Calendars. One of the Claims presented was for $200 for 150 copies of the 2006 calendars.
7. Subdivision Reviews. Hengel has reviewed 8 WMP's and 2 MOU's since the September Board meeting.
· Claire Major WMP
· Four Corners Minor MOU
· Montana Avenue Partners Commercial WMP
· Jones Minor Lot 3 of K3 WMP
· Cattail Creek Phase III WMP
· Meadowlark Major WMP
· Meadow Creek Major WMP
· Baxter Meadows West WMP
· Litle 2 Lot Minor WMP & MOU
All WMP’s were satisfactory and investigation showed weed control in progress. Hengel approved all plans.
8. Meetings/Seminars/Field Inspections.
Hengel gave a presentation at a Pasture Management Class at the NRCS office.
Fall Coordinator Training – Miles City. This meeting was interrupted by a major storm that left part of Miles City without power. One of the interesting items that was discussed was that noxious weed control within cities is the responsibility of the County Weed Districts. The Department of Agriculture Attorney verified the statement. There is a legislative committee being formed to address this issue and also to address changes in the weed law. The fine system of enforcement was discussed but not resolved.
GYCC Meeting – West Yellowstone. Jeff Littlefield gave a presentation on biological control at this meeting. The program is interesting from the collection of insects in Europe, research trials in a controlled environment, to their eventual release on problem sites in the USA. Hengel is on the Gravel Pit sub-committee. The Federal agencies have left the certification program up to the counties. There are two (2) systems currently under discussion.
1. Pass/Fail 2. Levels of grading.
There was a lot of discussion regarding the pros and cons of both methods. Topics discussed were education of gravel pit owners and customers, could the Weed District impose requirements for subdivisions to use clean gravel etc? Linda Vrooman asked who would do the inspections. Hengel remarked that he would need to do two (2) inspections a year per gravel pit
Keith Mainwaring stated that Rep. John Sinrud has informed him that he will carry any legislation we want him to address regarding weed control. Mainwaring also brought up the subject of the weed days that take place in Beaverhead and Madison Counties, as these are big fundraisers for those two (2) counties. He questioned if this would be a program that would work in Gallatin County.
Fred Bell reminded the Board that they need to go to executive session to do Hengel's performance evaluation.
The meeting was adjourned at 2.40PM. The next meeting will be on November 3rd.
Respectfully submitted,
Rosemary Perry, Secretary
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