War on Weeds

"I am Roger Batt with the Idaho weed awareness campaign and the war on noxious weeds here in the state of Idaho continues." Noxious is defined as physically harmful or destructive to human beings. "Currently Idaho has 67 listed noxious weeds. Noxious is a designation given to an invasive plant species by the Idaho Legislature. These plans are so bad they are put on a special list and there is a reason they are on there. It is estimated that noxious weeds create $300 million in economic damage to Idaho's economy every year and it's been a statistic that we have used for about 10 years. This includes any wildfires, range fires or anything that might occur as a result. Folks are spending $25-$30 million a year just in weed control itself, whether it's using herbicides or other control methods so we are trying to do our part to manage the 67 species that are listed here in the state." Batt says Idaho is winning the war with some of the not wanted weeds. "We are actually winning the war in some of the noxious weeds like Eurasian water milfoil which is an aquatic noxious weed. With various products we have wiped it out across the state of Idaho. One of the terrestrial weeds we have gotten a hold of is purple loosestrife. Best control method is a biological control method called Gallo Ursula which is a beetle that they actually put onto the plant and it literally wipes the plant and the infestations away.