Education

Local-level awareness campaigns and programs recruit participants and promote the importance of proactive management to protect areas that still remain weed-free. Prevention messages promote the urgency of early intervention (see Figure 1) and entrance signs delineate WPAs (see Figure 2). Proactive weed management is also promoted with field tours, workshops, and on-site ranch visits conducted by county weed leaders and seasonal WPA “weed scouts.” Weed scouts provide monitoring assistance for new weeds and promote consistent communication between private landowners and county weed districts. Personal contact by weed scouts promotes a strong prevention message and may build cooperative, long-term relationships with weed-free landowners to improve the chances of long-term prevention success. Field tours include weed identification, hands-on Global Positioning System (GPS) training to teach landowners how to map new weeds, herbicide selection and application, and sprayer calibration. Through field tours, landowners learn to identify weeds in a natural setting, a better method than identification by photographs. While landowners often hear warnings about weeds, this may not be enough to encourage actions that could limit weed spread. Weed tours to infested sites, however, may influence behavior change. For instance, a WPA rancher in Custer County, Montana, said he heard the warnings about weeds, but he did not change his management until he observed a large-scale leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula) problem on a field tour. Meetings with other landowners that have managed areas with significant weed problems may also help promote the benefits of prevention. Annual prevention symposiums promote prevention and enhance communications among WPAs. A recognition program would formally acknowledge the ecological value of weed-free ranches and enhance landowner pride of ownership.

Figure 1. Messages are placed in local and regional newspapers and magazines to increase landowner awareness of weed spread.

Figure 2. Weed prevention areas in Garfield County, Montana protect over 642,000 acres of weed-free mixed-grass prairie from weed invasion. Photo courtesy of Garfield County.

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Last Modified: 08/02/2007