This team is responsible for the controlling of aquatic and terrestrial noxious and invasive weeds.

Controlling noxious weeds and undesirable vegetation is critical for the successful re-establishment of desirable native vegetation and delta wetland habitats on the project sites.  It will be important to map out current weed locations and define issues on the project site to be able to develop appropriate control strategies.  A large restoration project, such as the Clark Fork River Delta Restoration Project, provides many opportunities to reduce the threat of noxious weeds through pre-project treatments and physical changes in the soil landscapes during project construction.  During the critical establishment period (usually 3 to 5 years) following construction and planting, it will be important to keep the pressure on noxious weeds so that undesirable plants do not gain a foot hold and allow the preferred vegetation to become well established and competitive.  In the long-term, weeds will continue to be an issue as seed sources remain viable in the soil and new weed seeds are introduced.  It will be important to incorporate the Weed Management Plan into the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Pend Oreille Wildlife Management Area’s management plan to control weeds in perpetuity.  Noxious weed prevention and control can seem to be a daunting task.  However, a well devised and thought out management plan developed by a creative weed team and commitment from all stakeholders will lead to the successful re-establishment of important delta wetland habitats with a low and controllable presence of noxious weeds.

Weed Team Objectives and Work Load

1. Pre-project weed mapping:  May-June 2014.  The Weed Team will complete noxious weed GIS mapping and identification of potential weed threats to the Delta.
2. Development of Weed Management Plan: Summer 2014.  The Weed Team will develop a comprehensive Weed Management Plan for the project.  All ideas and creative solutions are on the table.
3. Pre-project weed treatments:  Pre-construction 2014.  As time permits it will be important to begin weed and undesirable plant treatments.  There are a variety of mechanical (burning, tilling) and chemical treatments to consider, however timing will be critical.
4. Post-project establishment weed treatments:  A very persistent and careful weed treatments will be required following the project construction and the vegetation planting phases to allow the successful re-establishment of preferred vegetation.
5. Long-term Weed Management planning:  Following the successful establishment of the new Delta habitats, long-term weed management will be the responsibility of Idaho Fish and Game under the Pend Oreille WMA Management Plan.  It will be important for the Weed Team to provide direction and strategies to the IDFG as this transition occurs.

Participation

If weeds are your passion and you have experience and creative ideas, please consider joining the Clark Fork Delta Weed Team.  A greater diversity of team members will allow for better project success.  There will be plenty of opportunities for additional weed training, brainstorming sessions, field trips, and to get your hands dirty on the Delta project as a Weed Team member.  So please volunteer for the Weed Team or contact the Weed Team Leader JJ Teare.

The Current Weed Offenders (List to grow)