{"id":99592,"date":"2018-05-18T21:37:12","date_gmt":"2018-05-19T03:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/county-asserts-control-of-noxious-weeds\/"},"modified":"2018-05-18T21:37:12","modified_gmt":"2018-05-19T03:37:12","slug":"county-asserts-control-of-noxious-weeds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/county-asserts-control-of-noxious-weeds\/","title":{"rendered":"County asserts control of noxious weeds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Noxious
Noxious weed infestations, left, blow seeds and spread onto healthy neighboring farmland. The weeds drive down yields and prevent the farmer from producing weed-certified hay.<\/span>Montezuma County Weed Department<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

For a second year, the Montezuma County Board of Commissioners is using its enforcement authority to control unattended noxious weeds on private lands.<\/p>\n

The commissioners have made weed control a higher priority in recent years to prevent their spread and protect crops of neighboring farmland.<\/p>\n

Under the Colorado Noxious Weed Act, if a landowner does not control a significant weed problem, counties may pass a resolution that authorizes contractors to enter private land and conduct weed mitigation measures.<\/p>\n

In 2017, at the request of weed manager Bonnie Loving, the county used its enforcement authority to treat weeds on properties on County Roads 21, M, CC, 38 and J.<\/p>\n

Last week, county commissioners approved treated of five properties on Colorado Highway 145 and County Roads 38.5 and 10.<\/p>\n

Property owners are sent a bill for the treatment, and they have been paying, county officials said. Under the Noxious Weed Act, the county may place a lien on a property until the bill is paid.<\/p>\n

Noxious weed infestations receiving county treatment include hoary cress, Russian knapweed, musk thistle, Canada thistle, Russian thistle, hound\u2019s-tongue and oxeye daisy.<\/p>\n

Enforcement procedures are a last resort, Loving said, that \u201ctarget extensive noxious weed populations that are affecting adjacent lands.\u201d<\/p>\n

First, landowners are sent notification letters informing them of the noxious weeds, how to manage them, as hot to get cost-share programs.<\/p>\n

The landowner then is requested to submit a weed management plan. If the weed problem does not improve in a year or two and continues to pose a threat to neighboring land, a certified enforcement letter is sent out.<\/p>\n

The letter gives the landowner 10 days to submit a management plan. If the property owner doesn\u2019t comply, county commissioners are asked to approve a resolution allowing right-of-entry onto the property and contract treatment.<\/p>\n

Noxious weeds cause significant problems for neighboring farms that do control weeds, Loving said. Blowing seeds infest nearby crops, reduce yields, increase weed control costs, and can result in a farmer not getting weed-certified hay. Farmers bordering infestations are also forced to rotate crops in a way that is not desirable.<\/p>\n

Russian knapweed is becoming more a problem in the county, Loving said. Based on a recent survey, she estimates that one out of 20 properties has it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is fatally toxic to the horse family, not palatable to most grazing animals, and puts zinc into the soil to kill off native species,\u201d Loving said.<\/p>\n

Overgrazing is a leading cause of Russian knapweed, because it easily moves into damaged native grass populations, then emits zinc into the soil, suppressing native plants.<\/p>\n

Reclaiming land with a large area of Russian knapweed can take years to reclaim, Loving said, and will require using multiple management methods.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope we all make it a priority to take care of our land,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen you disturb an area, you need to reseed and manage it correctly.\u201d<\/p>\n

jmimiaga@ the-journal.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Problematic properties targeted for treatment<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":99593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[281,94,21,193,60,109],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-99592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-agriculture","tag-colorado-state-government","tag-cortez","tag-land-use","tag-montezuma-county","tag-montezuma-county-commissioner"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99592"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=99592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}