'Devil's' weed sparks fiery debate

July 3, 2005

JOEL DAVIDSON\Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU -- As the world grows increasingly more connected, so do its biological problems. Thanks to high-speed travel, people are more mobile than ever before. As these travelers criss-cross the globe, by the millions, they bring mixed bags -- bags that sometimes include parasitic bugs, diseases and invasive destructive plants.

Traditionally, Alaskans were somewhat geographically isolated from these problems, but recently that's changed. From bark beetles to noxious weeds, biological threats have landed in The Last Frontier.

The community of Talkeetna, with tourists pouring in all summer from around the world, recently experienced one example of the problems associated with a global village.

A beautiful, invasive European weed is threatening to take over and destroy natural vegetation in Talkeetna and possibly elsewhere in the state.

The concern has touched off a firestorm of controversy between invasive weed management agencies and local residents on whether spraying herbicides is a viable way to eradicate the problematic but colorful orange hawkweed.

Hawkweed is currently spreading over vast portions of the Talkeetna state airport, with its bright-orange flowers now dominating an estimated 80 percent of the airport's more than five acres of surface area.

Christine Claus of the Upper Susitna Soil and Water Conservation District is the project leader for the orange hawkweed eradication effort.

"We are getting invasive species up here," Claus said. "For years we thought we were safe and now they're starting to show up."

Orange hawkweed was first introduced to the United States from Europe as a decorative flower with attractive red-orange petals. The problem is that the little weed competes aggressively with pastures and range plants, choking out native plants and quickly forming dense, matted stands that colonize and dominate vast tracks of land.

The weed thrives best in disturbed areas such as roadsides, gravel pits and pastures but can also invade lawns and gardens.

Orange hawkweed is officially designated as noxious in British Columbia, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Quebec, Minnesota and Washington. In addition, Australia and New Zealand have the plant on their national "alert lists."

Once the plant takes off, it can be difficult to root out.

"We have reports of them in people's fields," Claus said. "It's a pretty orange flower and people have planted it in their yards, but farmers are trying to get rid of it because it's taking over fields."

The main area of concern, though, is the Talkeetna airport, where Claus fears the barb-like seeds could be transported through clothing, shoes and animal hair to areas statewide.

Many Talkeetna residents, however, are concerned about the effects herbicide spraying at the airport could have on the long-term safety of local soil, water and wildlife habitats. These concerns have been expressed during the last few weeks in community council meetings, flyers and in letters to the local newspaper.

Jamie Snyder of the UAF Cooperative Extension Service and the USDA Forest Service recently wrote a response to one flyer entitled "Hawkweed Manifesto," which has circulated around Talkeetna in recent weeks.

The manifesto charged weed management agencies with threatening local wildlife and groundwater with their plans to spray herbicide.

In addition, the flyer praises orange hawkweed for its medicinal powers and general tenacity, and calls on Talkeetna residents to "join forces" and fight the "herbicide forces" and their "hysterical reaction" to the colorful weed.

"Call the herbicide forces and let them know that, between the tenacity of the hawkweed and the work of the defense league, their eradication plans are doomed to fail," the flyer states. "The more they spray, the more we will propagate."

The flyer goes on to tell people how to buy orange hawkweed seeds so they can plant more of the weeds.

Snyder's rebuttal, however, argues that spraying herbicides is only part of a larger plan to eradicate the invasive weed. Other efforts include manually digging the weeds out, public education and mapping infested areas.

"Also, the vast majority of this project is geared towards public outreach, education, and hand pulling," Snyder wrote. "Only one dense patch/mat is being considered for spot treatment with herbicide."

Claus said the herbicide (Transline) is nontoxic to animals but she did acknowledge it would likely have some effect on the environment.

"Any herbicide, no matter how nontoxic, will have some effect. We are concerned about the waterways and we are not going to spray in any sensitive areas."

Currently, the Upper Susitna Soil and Water Conservation District has scheduled four upcoming community weed pull events at the airport.

The weeding sessions take place July 16 and 23 and Aug. 13 and 20. Each session runs four hours. Due to safety, only 10 people can participate each day. Interested people may call the USSWCD at 733-7923.

For now, Claus said the district has suspended any plans to spray herbicides until members can evaluate the effectiveness of hand-pulling weeds this summer.

With the hawkweed's notorious hardiness, however, Claus said it could prove difficult to eradicate without using some herbicide in select areas.

"This particular plant is so aggressive that it's hard to use any other methods," she said.

Ultimately, though, Claus said eradicating the feisty weed will have to be a community effort, and without everyone on board, it will be difficult if not impossible to keep the weed from spreading.

"We look at this as a community effort," she said. "If we eradicate but neighboring properties don't, then it's not really effective."

In the future, the USSWCD plans to do community outreach to let people know what to look for so they can pull harmful weeds when they're spotted. While the vast majority of Alaska remains free of invasive weeds, efforts to control incoming threats are expected to increase in the future.

Palmer Soil and Water Conservation District Manager Catherine Inman said more farmers are beginning to complain about invasive weeds in their fields.

"We're just starting to get a look at this issue in Alaska," she said. "And it's never cheaper than right now to get ahead of weed management."

Claus said educating the public is one of the most effective ways to eradicate weeds.

"If people know what it looks like, they can pull the plant up and get rid of it right away," she said. "Early detection and rapid response is the best method."

Contact Joel Davidson at 352-2266, or joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.