HomeMy WebLinkAbout20003228.tiff WELD STATE OF COLORADO
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULMREf /��oe•c S
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700 Kipling Street,Suite 4000'-' ` i a w
Lakewood,Colorado 80215-5894 rr /
(303)239-4100 ^L \`(
FAX(303)239-4125 RED L_)
Bill Owens
Governor
Don Ament
Comrnesioner
Robert G.McLavey
Depots Commissioner
To: All Colorado political subdivisions and gove ent agencies, agricultural and environmental
non-governmental organizations, and other cerned parties
From: Commissioner of Agriculture Don Ament
Date: December 4, 2000
Re: Colorado's DRAFT Strategic Plan to Stop the Spread of Noxious Weeds
It has long been noted that weeds know no boundaries and that successful and cost-effective weed
management endeavors require an organized and coordinated effort among all affected landowners,
public or private. To carry out the express will of the Colorado General Assembly and continue the
work initiated by Colorado's leaders at the 1998 Colorado Weed Summit. the State of Colorado is
developing a comprehensive strategic plan to stop the spread of noxious weeds in our state.
As outlined in the enclosed draft, our vision for the future is productive agriculture and a healthy
environment, unimpaired by noxious weeds, that continue to provide Coloradans with an exceptional
quality of life. The purpose of the strategic plan is to help our partners in the public and private sector
make this vision a reality. If we are successful in this endeavor, both public and private landowners in
Colorado will have the necessary resources (financial, technical, etc.) to ensure that noxious weeds no
longer:
1. Degrade the value and productivity of the agricultural lands that supply abundant food and fiber
products to the citizens of our state and the world, or
2. Damage Colorado's unique natural heritage that sustains diverse flora and fauna, numerous
recreational opportunities, and extraordinary aesthetic beauty.
Enclosed for your review and comments is a copy of the first draft of Colorado's strategic plan for
noxious weed management. We hope that you will take time to review this document, pass it around
your office or organization, and make suggestions as to how we can improve it before soliciting your
support in a statewide effort to manage noxious weeds successfully.
If you have any questions about the draft strategic plan, please don't hesitate to contact State Weed
Coordinator Eric Lane at (303) 239-4182, (303) 239-4177 (fax), or eric.lane@ag.state.co.us. Please
submit your comments by February 15, 2001 to Eric via email or at the address above. Thank you and
I look forward to working with you and your organization in the future to ensure that Colorado
continues to enjoy productive agriculture and a healthy environment.
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DRAFT
Step 1: Developing an Appropriate Vision and Mission for Colorado's Weed Management
Efforts
Any publicly-funded effort to manage noxious weeds must meet the needs of Colorado's
citizens,protect society's values, and ensure that it is cost-effective, accountable, and successful.
Consequently, Colorado's municipal,county, state, and federal weed management efforts should
share a common vision of how their weed management efforts, singularly and collectively,will
contribute to the advancement and preservation of the values (e.g.,productive and sustainable
agriculture,the state's unique natural heritage, numerous and diverse recreational opportunities,
secure public health)held by Colorado's citizens. Furthermore, if Colorado's numerous local
governing bodies and public agencies are to manage noxious weeds successfully,management
efforts must be coordinated across jurisdictional boundaries to promote cost-effective solutions
to shared concerns and problems. A common vision of the purpose of our endeavors and their
desired results will facilitate such cooperation and enhance opportunities to collaborate and share
resources to meet the needs of the public and protect the values of our society.
With respect to noxious weed management, our vision for Colorado's future is:
Productive agriculture and a healthy environment, unimpaired by noxious weeds,that
continue to provide Coloradans with an exceptional quality of life.
The purpose of this strategic plan is to help our partners in the public and private sectors make
this vision a reality. If we are successful in this endeavor,both public and private landowners in
Colorado will have the necessary resources (financial,technical, etc.)to ensure that noxious
weeds no longer:
1. Degrade the value and productivity of the agricultural lands that supply abundant food
and fiber products to the citizens of our state and the world, or
2. Damage Colorado's unique natural heritage that sustains diverse flora and fauna,
numerous recreational opportunities, and extraordinary aesthetic beauty.
This is the future that we desire for ourselves, our children, and our citizens. But if we are to
make this vision a reality,we must develop an appropriate mission that will guide our efforts to
control noxious weeds, efficiently allocate resources, and set specific and appropriate
goals/objectives for Colorado's public and private landowners, industries, and non-governmental
organizations. Our partners have agreed that the most appropriate mission toward which our
collective noxious weed control efforts will be directed is:
To stop the spread of noxious weed species in Colorado and restore degraded lands of
exceptional agricultural and environmental value during the 2.!"century.
This mission shall be the primary focus and purpose toward which public and private
weed management efforts and resources are directed throughout Colorado for the next 100 years.
As such, it must provide the most cost-effective means to shape a future for our citizens that
protects agricultural productivity and environmental health(see Box 1).
DRAFT
If the mission, or our common aim, is to stop the spread of noxious weeds, then we must
determine how this can best be accomplished. There are undoubtedly numerous paths to the
same outcome. Our challenge is to adopt and implement a strategy, or game plan, that will help
us to:
1. Overcome obstacles that prevent effective and well-coordinated weed management efforts.
Weed management efforts are often confounded by the presence of numerous noxious
weed species that differ in a variety of ways. Species often differ in their distributions across
the state,the impacts they inflict upon agriculture and the environment as well as public health,
and the techniques that are available and effective to manage them. In addition, a lack of
communication and shared weed management priorities often results in uncoordinated and
inconsistent actions, even within the same organization or community. Furthermore, we often
fail to take advantage of short-lived opportunities to prevent or eradicate species, resulting in
the establishment of permanent populations that are costly to control. In fact, many public and
private landowners too frequently devote resources to areas with the greatest infestations
instead of protecting agricultural and natural lands that are still uninfested.
2. Utilize the most cost-effective means to stop the spread of weeds.
Resources for weed management will always be limited to some extent and are often
provided through taxes paid by Colorado citizens. Consequently, allocated resources must
always be used to the greatest effect possible in a variety of ways including prevention, on-the-
ground management, education, and research. Furthermore, all possible weed management
activities should be prioritized so that as new resources become available, they can quickly be
directed to the most effective use in Colorado.
3. Ensure that resources allocated to weed management efforts are used specifically to protect
agricultural productivity, environmental health,and other values held by Colorado's citizens.
Weed management protects our society's values and the productive uses to which we put
both public and private lands. It is imperative that weed management efforts continue to
protect:
a) Agricultural areas of high productivity, for both crops and livestock;
b) Natural areas of high environmental value(e.g.,biodiversity, breeding areas); and
c) Public health, opportunities for recreation, and other factors that contribute to Colorado's
exceptional quality of life.
Most importantly, Colorado's weed management strategy must provide opportunities for every
landowner, local government, organization, and public agency to target their individual efforts
and resources in ways that are complementary to those of others—so that neighbors work with
one another and public interest groups and other non-governmental organizations work together
to carry the same message to a variety of different audiences. Weed management must be
simplified so that every community can set specific expectations for its landowners,both public
and private, regarding noxious weeds; then help each landowner to meet such expectations
whether management requires eradication, containment, or simply suppression. Such efforts will
help to ensure that Colorado anticipates, creates, and takes advantage of opportunities to
eradicate species quickly and efficiently on local,regional, or statewide levels while meeting the
needs of our citizens to address existing and persistent problem species.
Step 2: Developing a Strategy to Accomplish Our Mission—Setting Goals
In recent years,Dr. Steve Dewey, a professor of weed science at Utah State University,
has developed and refined a weed management model based upon the successful and efficient
fire-fighting practices conducted annually in the western United States. In general, fire-fighting
practices in the West emphasize the containment of the"core"area of a blaze combined with
crucial efforts to detect and extinguish spot-fires that spring up outside the containment
perimeter(for additional information, see the enclosed pamphlet or visit www.usu.edu/fakesite—
not included in first draft). Similarly, Dr Dewey proposes that weed management efforts should
focus on containing significant noxious weed infestations while vigorously eradicating newer
"satellite"populations that spring up beyond the boundaries of the original infestations.
Dr. Dewey's weed management model is now well accepted by most professional weed
managers and public land management agencies as well as increasing numbers of private
landowners with substantial landholdings. By incorporating the fundamental concepts of Dr.
Dewey's model into a comprehensive weed management strategy for Colorado, we can achieve
our mission in a cost-effective manner. Therefore, to stop the spread of noxious weeds in
Colorado and restore valuable agricultural and environmental lands, Colorado's strategic noxious
weed management plan outlines four goals, or conditions, that must be met. We must:
1. Curtail the introduction of new noxious weed species into Colorado such as African rue,
medusahead rye, purple starthistle, and lespedeza.
Prevention practices are accepted to be the most cost-effective weed management strategies
available. For example, research suggests that leafy spurge costs the United States
approximately$250 million each year in direct and indirect economic costs. If we could turn
back the hands of time until just before leafy spurge was introduced to our nation, what should
we be willing to pay each year to prevent the introduction and establishment of this species?
Surely it would be worth a considerable sum of money to prevent the tremendous economic
and ecological impacts we now face; and clearly it would have been much less costly to
prevent these losses than to manage them once they are manifested. Numerous species equally
as damaging as leafy spurge have yet to invade Colorado. However, without an active effort to
prevent such invasions, Colorado certainly will be invaded by new species in the near future.
2. Prevent the establishment of rare noxious weed species in Colorado such as yellow
starthistle,Mediterranean sage, and dyer's woad.
Efforts to prevent the introduction of new species will not always be successful. In fact, the
U.S. Department of Agriculture—Animal Plant Health Inspection Service estimates that a very
large number of introduced species have slipped through active interdiction efforts at U.S.
ports of entry. It simply isn't possible to develop and implement a prevention program that will
be 100% effective in barring new noxious weed species from entering Colorado. Consequently,
a number of new species will slip into the state in future years and we must be prepared to:
a) Detect populations of new and rare species as quickly as possible;
b) Establish effective containment barriers that prevent the spread of seeds and other
propagules beyond the boundaries of existing populations; and
c) Eradicate populations of new species before they have an opportunity to establish
permanent populations capable of spreading to nearby lands and communities.
A successful effort to detect, contain, and eradicate newly introduced species will permit
most Colorado landowners to limit their efforts only on those species that currently are well-
established in our state.
3. Stop the spread of noxious weed species that are already so well-established within
Colorado that statewide eradication is no longer possible.
While Colorado now harbors significant infestations of a wide variety of noxious weed
species,many of the most common problem species can be stopped from spreading to
significant portions of the state that presently remain uninfested. For example, although
Russian knapweed is Colorado's third most common noxious weed(approximately 170,000
acres), its populations are located primarily on the West Slope where it causes tremendous
damage to private and public lands. However, on the eastern plains, it is found in relatively
isolated patches. It may be possible to eradicate these patches so that Russian knapweed can
never threaten to inflict the same devastating impacts in eastern Colorado as it already has on
the West Slope. Conversely, diffuse knapweed is found in great concentrations along the Front
Range from Boulder to Douglas Counties. While eradication of this species is no longer
feasible in this area of Colorado, it is a feasible option in western Colorado where diffuse
knapweed populations have not yet expanded to cover any significant area of land.
Stopping the spread of established noxious weed species will require a combination of
eradication, containment, suppression, and revegetation efforts that are carried out in a
coordinated manner across the state. By adapting Dr. Dewey's principles of coordinated
eradication and containment actions to our weed management strategy, Colorado's established
noxious weed species will be managed according to their distribution throughout the state and
the threat they pose to our valued resources. Consequently, for every place in Colorado, we can
determine an appropriate and specific management objective for established noxious weed
species based entirely upon the resources that are threatened (at any given place) and the
known distribution of each targeted weed species. These management objectives are:
a) Eradication: The implementation of a short-term effort (often 3-10 years depending upon
seed longevity of targeted species) to eliminate a species permanently from a given area.
b) Containment: The creation and enforcement of an appropriate containment perimeter via:
i. Eradication on the exterior of the infestation's designated perimeter, and
ii. Eradication along vector corridors (e.g.,roads, streams,trails)within the boundaries
of perimeter that may facilitate spread of the infestation beyond the perimeter.
c) Suppression: The use of a variety of weed management techniques to reduce the density
and severity of infestations within the boundaries of containment perimeters in order to
reduce the harm to agriculture and environment in affected areas.
d) Revegetation: The use and application of a variety of restoration and weed management
techniques as well as land management practices to improve the quality and weed
resistance of desired plant communities.
For example, using the simple example of Russian and diffuse knapweeds presented above,
the management objectives for most lands within Boulder County may be to eradicate Russian
knapweed but simply suppress diffuse knapweed while the northern,western, and eastern
borders of the county are designated for diffuse knapweed containment efforts. Likewise,
landowners in Mesa County may simply suppress Russian knapweed and revegetate affected
rangelands but eradicate any diffuse knapweed that arrives before it can establish permanent
populations that can then spread to neighboring West Slope communities.
If we are successful in accomplishing this specific goal, then the distribution of Colorado's
noxious weed species should not change appreciably in the future. Put another way, the
footprint, or amount and areas of land infested, of noxious weeds will not significantly increase
over any period of time. Consequently, the ability of noxious weeds to threaten agricultural
productivity and environmental health will be sharply curtailed. However, if we fail to realize
this goal, then noxious weed species will continue to spread in Colorado, resulting in
significant impacts to agriculture, the environment, and the quality of life that many
Coloradans have come to enjoy.
4. Restore lands of exceptional agricultural and environmental value.
In Colorado, noxious weeds have already endangered the productivity and viability of many
farms and ranches. By dramatically altering native plant communities,weeds have also
jeopardized the continued existence of many native plant species and the wildlife they support.
Simply stopping the spread of weeds alone will not lead to productive agriculture and a healthy
environment in Colorado. If we hope to ensure the integrity of public and private lands for
agricultural productivity and environmental health during the 2l s`century, we must also
identify lands of exceptional agricultural and environmental value and restore these lands to
their former condition.
Numerous public and private organizations in Colorado have invested substantial time and
effort into identifying Colorado's most important agricultural and environmental lands. By
building upon such existing efforts we can evaluate the economic and ecological potential for
the restoration of such areas and work to reverse some of the significant impacts already
inflicted on Colorado's agriculture and environment by noxious weeds.
A statewide weed management strategy based upon these four goals will offer every
landowner and public land manager in Colorado a common framework with which to prioritize
their weed management efforts so that individual, community, and regional efforts are
compatible and complimentary across jurisdictional and property boundaries rather than
inconsistent and excessively costly.
Our partners agree that these four goals must be met if we hope to stop the spread of
noxious weed species in Colorado and restore degraded lands of exceptional agricultural and
environmental value during the 21$`century. Therefore, Colorado's strategic plan must help us to
identify specific objectives and prioritized actions that can be carried out cost-effectively to
achieve each goal. It should also ensure that every facet of weed management, including
education and research, contributes directly to achieving each of these four goals.
Step 3: Accomplishing Our Goals—Setting Specific Objectives and Action Items
In any weed management endeavor(local or national), there are some facets of weed
management that invariably arise for discussion and subsequent action. For example, common
facets of many integrated weed management programs include education of targeted audiences,
the development of partnerships, implementation of preventative practices,the use of integrated
weed management techniques, and enforcement of community weed management standards. Our
partners have identified the following ten working groups as critical facets of a successful
Colorado strategic plan to stop the spread of noxious weeds.
Each working group has several fundamental operational responsibilities:
1. To identify objectives related to their area of concern that will contribute significantly to
meeting each of the four goals outlined above;
2. To identify specific actions that will achieve each objective and prioritize them according to
available resources and feasibility; and
3. To identify the appropriate partners to carry out each action and objective successfully.
An outline of each working group is provided below. Please note that they are not organized in
any particular order. Every working group will have an important and integral role to play in
helping Colorado and its citizens make our vision of productive agriculture and a healthy
environment, unimpaired by noxious weeds, a reality in the years to come.
1. Leadership, Coordination, and Partnership
Purpose: To facilitate the long-term commitment and participation of organizations and
stakeholders that can help implement this statewide strategic plan successfully.
A. To facilitate cooperation and coordination of actions across jurisdictional and ideological
boundaries in order to achieve common goals and objectives;
B. To identify appropriate roles and tasks for each stakeholder to carry out in the
implementation of the strategic plan; and
C. To facilitate the acquisition of additional financial and technical resources when necessary to
carry out the strategic plan.
Working group composition: Leaders, or their designated representatives, of public and private
natural resource, environmental and agricultural organizations. Examples include but are not
limited to Colorado Counties Inc., Colorado Municipal League, state and federal resource
management and research agencies, Colorado Farm Bureau, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union,
Colorado Cattlemen's Association,National Audubon Society, and The Nature Conservancy.
Priorities:
1. Develop a process by which to identify and involve new stakeholders in the working group;
2. Develop a process for all participating stakeholders to communicate effectively and
apportion responsibilities fairly; and
3. Meet regularly to promote actions necessary to implement the strategic plan successfully.
2. Prevention, Early Detection, and Rapid Response
Purpose: To prevent the introduction and permanent establishment of new noxious weed
species within the State of Colorado.
A. To identify new species that threaten to invade Colorado in the future;
B. To develop and implement practices that prevent their introduction and invasion; and
C. To ensure that newly invading species are rapidly detected and that a rapid response effort is
initiated to eradicate new invasions as quickly as possible.
Working group composition: Experienced weed management and natural resource professionals.
Priorities:
1. Develop and implement a rapid response process which includes exclusion, early detection,
and minimization of spread;
2. Develop and implement"Best Prevention Practices"for diverse users;
3. Increase the active detection of noxious weed species by all stakeholder staff,natural
resource and agricultural professionals, and other individuals in the field; and
4. Conduct an analysis of lands susceptible to weed invasion.
3. Management: Eradication, Containment, Suppression,and Revegetation
Purpose: To promote the active management of noxious weeds across jurisdictional
boundaries through the use of established Integrated Weed Management (1WM)
processes and principles.
A. To educate, train, and facilitate the use of IWM principles at all levels of the stakeholder
organizations involved in noxious weed management;
B. To identify techniques and practices consistent with achieving specific management goals
ranging from eradication to simple suppression; and
C. To enhance stakeholder capacity to conduct successful revegetation efforts statewide.
Working group composition: Interagency and private noxious weed management specialists fully
conversant in IWM from the detection and inventory stages, through planning(including legal
requirements for National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act, etc.),
implementation, monitoring, and incorporating adaptive management principles.
Priorities:
1. Ensure that members of the leadership working group are knowledgeable regarding IWM
principles and practices and will work to build capacity and support for IWM within
stakeholder organizations;
2. Promote the development of local and regional cooperative weed management areas; and
3. Identify priority areas within the state that would benefit from restoration actions to
minimize noxious weed problems.
4. Education and Awareness
Purpose: To develop and employ a wide array of educational tools that enhance Colorado's
capacity to:
A. Prevent the introduction and permanent establishment of new noxious weed species within
the state;
B. To promote the active management of widespread noxious weed species across jurisdictional
boundaries through the use of established Integrated Weed Management (IWM) processes
and principles; and
C. Involve public and private landowners, decision-makers, public interest groups in the
development and implementation of successful and cost-effective weed management
programs across Colorado.
Working group composition: Experienced weed management and natural resource professionals
as well as educational and communication specialists and members of the media.
Priorities:
1. Work with both the "Prevention, Early Detection, and Rapid Response" and "Management:
Eradication, Containment, and Suppression" working groups to identify critical educational
needs related to on-the-ground efforts; and
2. Develop an educational campaign (similar the litter education campaign of the 1970s) that
engages the public and specific audiences to affect positive behavior change.
5. Financial and Technical Resources
Purpose: To ensure the timely acquisition of sufficient financial and technical resources to
implement Colorado's strategic in a coordinated and effective manner.
Working group composition: Staff from a diverse array of stakeholder organizations as well as
foundations and organizations that successfully attract and utilize outside financial resources.
Priorities:
1. Compile a list of available resources (financial and others);
2. Identify cooperative opportunities and new interpretations to use existing funds;
3. Coordinate with the"Leadership, Coordination, and Partnership"to acquire additional
financial resources from outside sources including legislative bodies and foundations; and
4. Seek ways to develop and secure long-term funding for local and regional efforts.
6. Inventory and Mapping Technology
Purpose: To utilize inventory and mapping technology to develop sufficiently accurate
information regarding the distribution of targeted noxious weeds species that
enhances the capacity of public and private landowners to manage weeds.
Priorities:
1. To assist community leaders and decision-makers in adopting fair yet rigorous weed
management plans that protects the interests of their communities and reflects the standards
set forth by the state strategic plan; and
2. To review local, state, and federal legislation that may impede effective weed management
practices on public and private lands.
10. Community Involvement
Purpose: To promote community-based weed management efforts and facilitate
communication and the resolution of conflict that threatens to impede community-
led efforts.
Working group composition: Communication specialists, social scientists, community leaders,
and local weed management professionals.
Priorities:
1. To support the development and long-term success of local weed management efforts
across Colorado; and
2. To provide information and support to communities that face difficulties in implementing
or pursuing sound weed management efforts.
These ten working groups will work to identify and carry out specific objectives and
actions that will ensure Colorado meets each of these four goals:
1. To curtail the introduction of new noxious weed species into Colorado such as African rue,
medusahead rye,purple starthistle, and lespedeza.
2. To prevent the establishment of rare noxious weed species in Colorado such as yellow
starthistle, Mediterranean sage, and dyer's woad.
3. To stop the spread of noxious weed species that are already so well-established within
Colorado that statewide eradication is no longer possible.
4. To restore lands of exceptional agricultural and environmental value.
Each working group will address each goal to the greatest extent possible. By their nature, some
working groups will focus most of their attention on just one goal while others such as
"Education and Awareness" may contribute equally to meeting each of the four goals.
Working group composition: Experienced weed management staff complemented by individuals
from the public and private sectors related to mapping and remote sensing technologies. In
addition, the Colorado Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service, and Bureau of Land
Management should provide leadership in this working group.
Priorities:
1. Disseminate a statewide weed inventory and mapping protocol;
2. Facilitate the regular exchange of data across jurisdictional boundaries; and
3. Identify trends in noxious weed invasions and recommend appropriate management action.
7. Monitoring and Assessment
Purpose: To assess the effect of coordinated weed management efforts and determine the
degree to which the objectives and goals of the strategic plan are being met.
Working group composition: Experienced weed management and natural resource professionals.
Priorities:
1. Define success and develop measures to determine success for a variety of weed
management objectives including eradication, containment, suppression, and revegetation;
2. Provide ongoing analysis regarding the cost-effectiveness of weed management efforts; and
3. Communicate findings to local, state, and federal leaders regularly.
8. Integrated Pest Management, Research, and Technology
Purpose: To apply natural and social sciences to address short and long-term weed
management and restoration needs throughout Colorado.
Working group composition: Experienced weed management and natural resource professionals,
state/federal/private natural and social scientists, and education specialists.
Priorities:
1. To conduct research in both the natural and social science fields that provides weed
management and natural resource specialists with information required to make informed
management decisions;
2. To ensure that everyone conducting weed management practices can apply the principles of
integrated weed management successfully; and
3. To assist with the transfer of technology that enhances Colorado weed management efforts.
9. Community Standards and Implementation/Enforcement
Purpose: To facilitate local input and decision-making that promotes participation in
Colorado's strategic plan.
Working group composition: Decision-makers at the local, state, and federal level, community
leaders, and public interest groups that can help represent the interests of Coloradans.
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