Noxious Weed Listing

Noxious Weed Listing

Noxious Weed Listing

I'm Lacy Gray with Washington Ag Today.

In its recently released current biennial report the Washington State Noxious Weed Control Board showcased weed control projects and activities between July 2011 and June 2013. During this time the weed control board added seven new noxious weeds to the state's noxious weed list.

These include oriental clematis as a Class A noxious weed, french broom as a Class A, tall hawkweed as a Class B, tree-of-heaven a Class C, common teasel as a Class C, common barberry a Class C, and Japanese eelgrass as a Class C. Wendy Descamp, education specialist with the Noxious Weed Control Board, explains the class distinction.

DESCAMP: In Washington we have three classes of noxious weeds - A, B, and C. Class A are those that are not native to the state of Washington. They're generally a very limited distribution here or their unrecorded in the state but do pose a threat to invade into the state. Class B noxious weeds are not native to the state of Washington and they're generally of limited distribution in certain parts of the state and then in other parts of the state they're quite common - they do pose a threat to invade areas that have a lesser distribution or they do not occur. Class C noxious weeds are essentially all other noxious weeds.

Class C noxious weeds are typically already widespread in the state or they meet a special interest to the agriculture industry. Descamp says the board monitors continuously for plants that might pose a problem in the future.

DESCAMP: We have a list called the Monitor List that we use to gather information about plants that could be weeds in the future - we're not sure if they're going to be a problem. We might have seen them in a couple of locations in Washington or they're in a neighboring state and something we want to be on the lookout for here.

Tomorrow Descamp will explain how information is gathered on plants that might prove to be a problem in the state.

That's Washington Ag Today.

I'm Lacy Gray on the Ag Information Network.

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