10/17/2006: "Where We Are: The Weed Board"

The volunteer members of the San Juan County Noxious Weed Board (WB for short) wanted to give county residents a brief overview of our successes from the last four years. Our WB coordinator, Rich Lee and assistant coordinator, Judy Jackson has been working diligently year-round to accomplish some great milestones. They average seventy citizen contacts per month, year round and have helped many land owners with their skills and knowledge.

So, what species have been effectively eliminated? Giant hogweed, Eggleaf spurge, Spanish broom, Bighead knapweed, (Class A), diffuse knapweed, Gorse from SJI and Scotch thistle (Class B designates).

There has been a reduction of spotted knapweed in Friday Harbor, sulfur cinquefoil along the roadways and all known Spartina are gone! Thanks to cooperation with WA State Dept. of Agriculture, the Land Bank, State Parks, Master Gardeners and local citizens, six separate outbreaks of Spartina have been eliminated leaving only site monitoring into the foreseeable future.

Along with managing these weed infestations the coordinators have helped identify potential weed threats including getting statewide listings of several species. There has also been a large increase in community awareness of weed problems on private lands and public right-of-ways maintained by SJC Public Works. A far cry from the years past when noxious weeds were pretty much ignored!

Also of note is an on going bio-control program in cooperation with WSU that uses specific insects that eat several species of noxious weeds including meadow knapweed, tansy ragwort and purple loosestrife.

Finally, research and development of county specific and readily available printed materials and articles has enabled WB staff to effectively reach an ever increasing number of citizens through personal contact to assist them in the efforts to identify, control and prevent the spread of noxious weeds in San Juan County.

There is still much to do. A continuing push to increase public visibility of our efforts to control noxious weeds on the county roadsides by working with County Public Works is a high priority. Concurrently, we are actively assisting citizens in identifying and eliminating noxious weeds from private lands. Continued support from the citizens of the county both in volunteer labor, personal property responsibility and the continuing dedication of WB staff will increase the effectiveness of control efforts in the years to come.

As volunteer members of the SJC Noxious Weed Board we want to let the citizens of this county know that there has been real progress and the tax dollars you support this program with are well spent by two hard working staff members who need all of our support for a sometimes tiresome and seemingly hopeless job.
Maintaining the ecological diversity of the San Juan Islands requires a private public partnership and with your help we have and will continue to make progress.

Regards,
SJCNWCB members,

Bill Agosta, San Juan Is., South
Amanda Azous, Orcas Is. East
R. Bruce Gregory, San Is., North Joyce Nigretto, Orcas Is. West,
Scott Rozenbaum, Lopez Is.,