Box Elder County 2022
Introduction
Each year weed supervisors from counties throughout Utah, their crew members, and other agency weed managers gather for classroom training and hands-on training while touring the local area. This year they met Aug. 23, 2022 in Brigham City, in northern Utah.
Classroom Instruction
Aquatic weeds were the focus of the classroom instruction which included the following presentations:
- Utah Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (UPDES)
- Herbicides, How to Chose and Use Them – Bayer and Corteva Representatives
- Herbicide Trials and Results – USU Extension Service
- Aquatic Weeds, Habitats, Growth Habits, Mechanical and Chemical Treatments — USU Extension Service
- Update on Pesticides; Existing /Upcoming Biological Control Agents – USDA Forest Service
- EDDMapS Data: Group discussion of new dashboard function to extract data and how it can be used; some of the new functions available on the EDDMapS Pro app and the eddmaps.org website.
Tour
Instruction was followed by a tour of Cache, Box Elder and Rich counties, where weed workers from throughout the state learned about aquatic weeds, saw them in their habitats and learned about best methods for controlling them. At Bear Lake, instructors from the Utah Department of Natural Resources, USU Extension Service, and Utah Department of Agriculture introduced the group to Eurasian milfoil, native northern milfoil and the hybrid version of milfoil. They discussed identification treatment and monitoring options.
Upon returning to Logan, the group stopped to look at a semi-aquatic weed, goatsrue, also known as professor weed. They also observed another aquatic weed, parrot feather, and wild licorice, which looks like goatsrue. At lunch, the group learned about how a biocontrol agent for Canada thistle works inside the stem of the plant, then moved onto Sardine Canyon, where they observed blooming rush skeleton weed, and small amounts of medusa head and dyers woad.
