Gallatin County Weed District
Regular Monthly Meeting
October 4, 2007
Board members present were Fred Bell (acting Chair), Craig Morgan, Bob Hofman and Bob Urich. Jeff Littlefield and Commissioner Skinner were excused.
Others present were Jen Mohler (Small Acreage Specialist Conservation District), Keith Mainwaring, Dennis Hengel (Weed Coordinator), John Ansley (Education/Enforcement Coordinator), and Rosemary Perry (Administrative Secretary).
Introductions. Jen Mohler introduced herself as the small acreage specialist who was contracted by the Conservation District to take care of onsite small acreage inspections for the county and also to hold educational workshops.
Minutes. The Minutes of the September meeting had been mailed to the Board and were approved as read.
Claims. There were no Claims presented as current invoices were being held back for data entry as Perry and Hengel will be training on the county Eden network program and need invoices to learn the process. Fred Bell asked if there were any updates on the water bill status. Sue Shockley (Fairgrounds Manager) is looking into this.
OLD BUSINESS
1. Wells. Commissioner Skinner had asked if there were any wells on the Fairgrounds that could be used to provide water to fill water trucks and spray trucks. Perry stated that there are two (2) low output wells. At this point it is too expensive to adapt them to fill high quantity water or spray trucks. Skinner suggested that the Departments research this as a Capital Improvement project for the next budget year.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Public Comment/Other.
o Jennifer Mohler – Small Acreage Specialist. Hengel informed the Board that at the Weed Summit in January one (1) of the discussion groups had addressed issues with education and assistance for small acreage landowners. Bill Skinner was part of that group and is also on the Conservation District Board. Under Bill Skinner’s direction the Conservation District contracted Jennifer Mohler as a Small Acreage Specialist. Mohler handed out a summary of her program and gave a review of her first season. The program, consisting of a Lecture series and site visits, was very successful. There are a lot of subdivisions with 1 to 5 acre lots with horses. People are looking for assistance and advice and there are not many educational resources available that focus on the small acreage landowner. Mohler
felt that two (2) important target audiences would be Homeowners Associations and Realtors. Fred Bell gave Mohler some contact information for follow up. Hengel asked Mohler to let him know when she is going to give her presentation to the Conservation District as he would like to attend and give supportive comments.
o Keith Mainwaring expressed appreciation of Commissioner Skinner for the information rack in the Courthouse. Mainwaring is keeping it stocked for the Weed District. He also brought up the picnic that Margie Edsall (Madison County Weed District Coordinator) gave a presentation on at the Weed Summit. Hengel stated that the picnic is actually a fundraiser that is conducted by the Madison Valley Ranchlands Group (MVRG). The MVRG is a private organization that is independent but works with the Madison County Weed District. The MVRG raised over $10,000 this at year’s fundraiser.
o Hengel asked Mainwaring for details regarding the radio show on Saturday 6th. The radio show is from 9am to 10am. Mainwaring, Hengel and Ansley will be present at the radio show.
2. State Agency – Biennial Reports. Hengel informed the Board that there are four (4) state entities that are required to submit Biennial Reports in Gallatin County. They are Fish, Wildlife and Parks, DNRC, Montana Department of Transportation and MSU. We were able to submit reports from the first three agencies. However, at MSU there have been staffing changes and confusion as to who was responsible for submitting the report.
3. 2008 Weed Summit. Hengel informed the Board that it is time to start thinking about the next Weed Summit. He felt that February would be a better time to hold the meeting than January due to the annual MWCA meeting being held in January. After much discussion, February 12th, 2008 was selected as the date for the Weed Summit. Hengel had some ideas regarding reformatting the meeting. He would like to include representatives from municipalities and also suggested that outside presenters be brought in so that agency people in Gallatin County can get an idea of what is going on in surrounding areas. A couple of suggestions were Kevin Suzuki (Forest Service, Ennis) and Jen Johnson of WY who is the mapping coordinator of the GYCC. Hengel also posed the suggestion of opening the Summit up to
the public, but the Board felt that at this time it was a better tool as an interagency workshop. The Board also felt that providing lunch for a small fee would be worthwhile.
4. Commissioner Report. Commissioner Skinner was at another meeting and had been excused.
5. Chairperson Report. Jeff Littlefield was returning from another meeting and had been excused. Fred Bell as Acting Chair reported that a piece of property (Cantrell’s with Canada thistle) he has listed on Springhill Road belongs to an out of state landowner who received a letter from Ansley regarding noxious weeds on the property. Upon inspection Bell discovered a serious infestation and he has since had the property mowed. Bell took pictures of the property and emailed them to Ansley. Bell stated that the Weed District’s process of communication worked well with this enforcement action.
6. Coordinator Report.
o Herbicide Safety Meeting – This was a cooperative training session for small acreage landowners conducted by the Weed District (Ansley and Hengel) and the Conservation District (Jen Mohler). The meeting was very well attended (approx 20 landowners) and held at Building #4 at the Fairgrounds. The meeting was scheduled from 6:30pm to 8pm. There were so many questions from the landowners that the training session went until 9:45pm. Due to the high interest additional training sessions will be conducted next spring.
o Fall Coordinator Training – Big Timber. Hengel and Ansley attended this meeting that was held earlier than normal to include the Governor’s Tour. Two interesting topics addressed were revegetation after fires and a tour of successful Leafy spurge treatment sites.
o MACo Conference. At the Fall Coordinator session Hengel was selected as the MWCA Rep on the MACO land use and development committee. Hengel attended the annual MACO conference. The land use committee, while not specifically addressing noxious weed issues, discussed issues relating to subdivisions and growth.
o GYCC Meeting In West Yellowstone. The focus of the meeting was revegetation as a control measure. Hengel also participated on a committee addressing gravel pit certification. The group wants to set regional standards for gravel pits certification. Hengel will assist in determining standards for the group.
o Hengel would like to apply for three (3) NWTF grants this year. They will address Frog Rock WMA and Upper Madison /West Yellowstone WMA’s and if possible a Tall Buttercup grant.
o There have been a number of subdivisions that Hengel has not approved the Memorandum of Understanding for final plat. Developers are not doing their weed control and revegetation as required. Hengel is requiring the developers to provide a guarantee that the weed control and revegetation will be completed.
7. Enforcement. Ansley reported that he has had good response to the program in the majority of cases. The following enforcement actions required a Notice of Noncompliance for results.
o Harrington Pepsi property has been mowed and will be sprayed in the spring. Ansley showed the Board before and after pictures of the property.
o Maxey Properties was mowed this morning, October 4th, under an enforcement action by Dynamecc Property Services and SIU Property Management. Ansley showed the Board pictures of the property after the Weed District crews had sprayed the property and during the mowing process today. Maxey properties will be billed for the treatment and mowing of the noxious weeds located on the property.
o Oma and Littlefield have signed an Enforcement Agreement for the management of the spotted knapweed located on Oma’s property. At the fall inspection the property looks fine.
o Marburger has sprayed his property in Three Forks after receiving correspondence from Hengel regarding his requirement to control the spotted knapweed.
o There was discussion regarding the Grand View Heights situation with Despain. The leafy spurge situation needs to be addressed.
o Regarding leafy spurge (LS) control, Hengel brought up the option of providing Cost Share for grazing of LS by domestic sheep. Currently the Weed District offers Cost Share for certain herbicides, biological control (insects) in appropriate situations. Hengel asked the Board if they felt it was appropriate to apply the Cost Share towards sheep or goat grazing. Bob Urich recommended that Hengel check with the county attorney regarding liability issues before going any further on this topic.
o Fred Bell recommended sending thank you letters to those who have been contacted regarding weed infestations and complied with control measures.
Dates for the Great Rockies Sports Show are Feb 8th, 9th and 10th, 2008. The event is being held at the Fairgrounds for the first time.
Hengel attended a workshop presented by the Auditor Department on Fraud Prevention. He had a discussion with the facilitator regarding the opening of Herbicide Cost Quotes from local dealers. The facilitator stated that the best process is for bids to come in sealed and then to be opened at a Weed Board meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 3.20PM. The next meeting is November 1st, 2007.
Respectfully submitted,
Rosemary Perry, Secretary
| 
