Weed project called 'right thing to do'
Source: McCook Daily Gazette, by Connie Jo Discoe
July 24, 2007
One McCook-area land-owner who signed a contract Monday to cooperate with the South West Weed Management Area Repub-lican River vegetation control project sees it simply as the "right thing to do."
The project offers -- at no cost to landowners -- the opportunity to control water-hogging saltcedar, phragmites, eastern red cedar and Russian olive on the Republican River channel and within 100 feet of both banks.
Larry Swanson, who owns nearly 1,000 acres of land on the Republican between McCook and Culbertson, said, following a landowners' meeting Monday evening, "If we don't cooperate as landowners, there will be no progress made," to rid the river of thirsty invasive plants.
Swanson said he hasn't seen any saltcedar on his land, but has seen plenty of Russian olive, and in some areas, red cedar.
"Whether projects like this work or not, it does show that landowners are not standing in the way of progress," Swanson said this morning. As a landowner concerned with proper stewardship of the land and water, Swanson said, "It's just the right thing to do."
Ron Friehe echoed that thought. Friehe, who owns land on the Republican south of McCook, said the SWWMA project is a "good opportunity to find and work on noxious weeds," and other invasive species that hog water and choke out native plants.
With the cost of one spray chemical at approximately $260 a gallon, the project is also a good cost-saving opportunity for landowners, Friehe said.
Roger Stockton, coordinator of Southwest Nebraska Resource Conservation and Development, admitted there may be pieces of land skipped in the case of landowners who decide not to cooperate with the project. He reminded landowners, however, "This year and next may be your only chance to use state funds for this project, at no cost to landowners."
The first year of the two-year $1.3 million SWWMA project was funded July 20 with an $814,617 grant from the Nebraska Department of Agriculture. The project is designed to improve the flow of water down the Republican, ultimately increasing the amount of water flowing into Kansas, in an effort to comply with terms of the 1943 water compact between Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado.
"It's all about water going to Kansas," Stockton said.
If this project doesn't help or work, he foresees more taxes paid to Nebraska and more water sent to Kansas.
"This is a free project," Stockton said, "if you want to work with us."
Vegetation control efforts will focus on the river channel, within 100 feet of each bank, and, if enough money stretches in the second year, to Republican tributaries.
Work done on private land will be done only with cooperation from the landowner. "Nothing happens on your land without your permission," Stockton said. The exception, he said, would be control of saltcedar, which, in Nebraska, is a noxious weed, giving weed superintendents the authority to treat it.
Saltcedar will be treated with "Habitat," an aquatic-labeled herbicide that costs about $260 a gallon.
The trees will be treated and left standing for two years while the herbicide translocates throughout the tree for complete control, Stockton said. Landowners may then cut down or burn the dead trees.
Control and maintenance beyond the two-year project will be the responsibility of the landowner.
Stockton said application of the chemical must be done according to terms of the grant and to application regulations, which require that the chemical be applied by state-licensed applicators only.
He told one Hitchcock County landowner, however, that the SWWMA board would discuss his request that he be given the herbicide and he will apply it himself.
The best time to begin chemical control of saltcedar and phragmites, Stockton said, is mid-August through mid-September.
Applicator/contractors will work through March and April, he said, and begin the second year in August 2008.
Stockton and Hitchcock County weed superintendent Rick Hedke explained that saltcedar control on Swanson Lake is the responsibility of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.
Stockton told Larry Peterson, an engineer with the Nebraska Department of Roads, that SWWMA will gladly cooperate with the DOR on invasive species growing under state bridges.
Stockton said, "It doesn't make sense to treat the rest of the land and leave a nest under a river bridge."
Peterson said the contract has been sent to the state attorney general for his examination and signature.
"We're not going to hold a gun to anyone's back," he said, but he encouraged landowners to take advantage of the cost-savings and the opportunity to mitigate weeds and invasive trees.
Landowners may contract their county weed superintendents or the RC&D office in Cambridge, (308) 697-3477.
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