Photo: Musk Thistle, Southwest Montana. © 2020 Delena Norris-Tull
Larry Justesen, Carbon County, Wyoming, 2013 interview
[Video interview conducted by Becky McMillen, transcribed by Dr. Delena Norris-Tull. Reviewed & approved by Larry, Nov. 19, 2020]
[Larry Justesen was the Supervisor for the Carbon County Weed and Pest District. He is now retired.]
"I started to work in Rawlins in 1980, March 12. I grew up farming and ranching in Carey, Idaho, on a family farm and ranch, near Sun Valley.
I started helping with weed and pest control during the summers in Blaine County, Idaho. One year, we had a conference in Pocatello, and some folks from Wyoming came, George Hittle, Bob Parsons, and Ralph Simnacher. I visited quite a bit with them. George Hittle called me soon after, and asked if I’d be willing to move to Wyoming and interview for a Supervisor position. I said, 'No.' We had just built a home and had spent four years fencing and landscaping it. After about the third phone call, George said, 'Well, just come and interview and give it a try. The Board will pay your expenses. Bring your family and see what you think.'
I went to the Blaine County Commissioner, and he said, 'Never turn down a chance to improve yourself. If it doesn’t work out, you can come back here and go to work for us again.' So, I thought we’ll give it a shot. We came out to Rawlins in February. The weather was terrible. The road should’ve been closed. We made it as far as Little America, with my wife and two girls. It was so terrible, we got held up in Little America. The next morning, we got on the road to Rawlins. We saw accidents all along the road.
But we made it to the interview and we were very impressed. They asked then if I would commit to the job, which kind of surprised me. And I said, 'Gosh, no. I’ve got to go home and talk to my family.' So they made me an offer. We drove back home and had a little family meeting, and decided why not give it a try.
I started the job March 12. Judy and the girls didn’t come out till school was out. By then I’d gotten pretty well established. We loaded a U-Haul the first of June and drove out to Wyoming. We only had a basement apartment at first. So we had to take some stuff to storage. When the U-Haul was all unloaded, and we were sitting in our apartment, the tears started rolling, both Judy and the girls!
But the girls made friends quickly, and got summer jobs. The people in Rawlins were so friendly. The girls liked living in a bigger city, with lots of shops.
For me, it was exciting because I would travel throughout the County. It’s a large County, and I got out to the Snake River Valley, the North Platte River country, and the Medicine Bow River country. There’s a lot of wildlife and fishing.
With help from my Board, we got through the transitions that were happening at that time, and we got the program up and running. [Note: This was soon after the implementation of the 1973 Wyoming Weed and Pest Control Law, so many new regulations were in effect].
I was just starting to learn the areas, the drainages, and the weeds that I wasn’t accustomed to in Idaho. It was very challenging and exciting for me."
[Becky asked about other challenges in the early days.]
"One of the biggest challenges was putting together management strategies. Another challenge was that Wyoming was much more sophisticated, as far as weed and pest control was concerned, and the laws. The Wyoming Weed and Pest program is something that other states around us pattern their programs after.
Learning the country, learning the weeds, and getting certified to be a Supervisor, finishing my entomology and weed science courses through the University of Wyoming, which was a requirement, meeting State and Federal and private landowners – these were all challenges for me.
Wyoming is so checkerboard, with State, and Federal, and private land. It was a challenge to get out in the field, and not really knowing what ownership you might be on. So with the help of several landowners and people with the Forest Service, the BLM, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the Wyoming Game and Fish, those folks were so good to work with, and help each other out. I would run into these folks at meetings, I’d call around asking them questions about how our weed and pest management would fit in with their vegetation management programs, for example. And so it all comes together. It took some time. There were two other employees with the County Weed and Pest District that helped orient me to the area. It’s a lot about partnerships."
[Becky asked: What are some significant changes you’ve seen over the years?]
"The big change was in the laws since 1973. The leafy spurge program is now a Special Weed Management Program. Regulations have changed. There’s always new and updated regulations you have to deal with.
Also, changes in the herbicide and pesticide chemistry. We’ve lost some of the chemicals that we’d been dependent on for years. They’ve been replaced by some that, at the time, we didn’t think were better. But environmentally, and the efficacy of some of them, are probably better.
Biocontrol is huge now. Back in 1980, I knew nothing about insects from a biocontrol standpoint. I knew about grazing rotations, sheep and goat grazing, for example. But the insect part of it has come on tremendously. That’s been a big help to improve our integrated approach to control noxious weeds.
We are so fortunate in Wyoming. There are 23 Counties. Each County has a program. We’re like a family. The university folks are just outstanding. The research people, everybody is excited to learn new things and implement new things.
Each County is different, it’s a diverse state, so we’re always comparing notes. District Supervisors and crews, and different extension people, and the Conservation District people, everybody has their own little way of doing things, to find out what’s successful. So it’s very interesting to get together, and just have a roundtable discussion, if you will, and talk strategies, and say, 'Oh, that works for you. Maybe we should try that.'
I can’t express how much it means to be a part of that kind of a group, that works together. I could go to any County, any of us could go to any County in Wyoming, and just about any town, and have an affiliation through the Weed and Pest Program. We’ve always got a place to go, if we’re in trouble. It’s just a good, good group."
[Becky asked: What was the first insect control program that you remember?]
"The very first insect that I was familiar with was Rhinocyllus conicus, musk thistle seed head weevil. It was 1985. The way I was introduced to it was from a gentleman from the USFS office. He had knowledge of the insect. I got to be very good friends with him, Joe Remick. He’s retired now. He put some insects out on some musk thistle patches in Riverside, Wyoming. Called me to tell me that. My initial reaction was probably, 'OK. Good for you.'
As time went by, we communicated about it, and we watched the plants, and insects over several years. One of the entomologist from the University of Wyoming would come over and try to find the insects on the plants, and kind of monitor their movement as best he could. It seemed like it was two or five years, and all of a sudden, we’re opening up seed heads on musk thistle, and the fluff is there, and it looks like it’s seeding the whole countryside, but you open it up, and there’s no seeds. The larvae had gotten into the seed heads, and eaten the seeds. So that got to be very interesting. And so from educational standpoint, we got right on that. Every time we went to a meeting, we talked about that, and we demonstrated that it’s working. And it was a big hit.
It’s not going to control all the musk thistle, but it’s a very important part of the integrated management program. That was my first insect.
And now there is a myriad of biocontrol agents for a lot of different noxious weed species. We talk about, if we could control all the weeds without putting herbicides in the environment, that would be wonderful. But we’re not able to do that.
When you start a weed management program, you incorporate what you call an Integrated Management Plan, and that uses all available sources of management to accomplish your goal for controlling that weed. Whether it be grazing, biocontrol, herbicides, or mechanical pulling, that’s the integrated plan. All of those activities may work together, or maybe only two of them will work. Usually you can always get two or three to work together for a better control program."
[Becky asked: As time has gone on, have you been able to implement more strategies?]
"Sure, that really has happened. We drive the trucks up-and-down the County roads, for example, and we’re spraying, and but we’re very cautious about it. We are as big an environmentalist as there can be. And so, we’re very careful with spraying.
It’s come down to educating people, having meetings, to explain to people this approach is the best approach. If we can approach this without spraying an herbicide, we certainly would. But in a lot of cases, spraying is more practical.
EDRR, refers to Early Detection Rapid Response. This is an important program. If you can take care of a small patch of weeds, the cost is going to be minimal. If you let that patch go to seed and spread year after year, it’s going to be much more costly to take care of. So we’re always on the lookout for new infestations.
We’re always educating our folks around the County, and the agencies and the entities that we deal with. We have a very strong educational program in Carbon County. J. Sheehan, my assistant, has made a lot of educational materials with his computer. He prints out and distributes these booklets with pictures and explanations, for different groups, in the oil and gas field, the road and bridge folks, or classrooms in schools. Together with Jaimy Cass, the assistant in Saratoga, we have done a tremendous job of educating people about looking for new infestations and looking for new patches. So that if anyone does spot a patch that’s looks a little odd, they can call me and we’ll check it out.
EDRR has been in the works for the last five or so years. J. Sheehan co-chairs that committee. We’ve always been on the lookout for new infestations, so I think the concept has always been there. But I don’t think it’s ever been taken to this level before, where there is a committee, and there’s funding available.
When I came on, the biggest weed infestation that I was aware of was leafy spurge. Yes, we’re still fighting leafy spurge. I think we always will be. There are a lot of approaches to managing leafy spurge. It’s one of those weeds that is adapted to so many different environments. There’s always research going on for it, and always different strategies being tried. There are now some good biocontrol agents for it. The biocontrol thing takes so many years, so many years, so many years. So it’s a little bit frustrating, but we’re finding some success stories out there.
The other weeds that I became familiar with fairly early on, were spotted knapweed and Russian knapweed. These three had been the main ones that got my attention early on."
[Becky asked: What’s been your most significant landmark?]
"Musk thistle was such a terrible problem on private land, and BLM land, and the roadways managed by the Wyoming Department of Transportation. I think we did a really decent job with musk thistle. Back in the 1990s, we put together a weed management area, that encompassed a huge area, for musk thistle. We had State and Federal Agencies and landowners involved. All the ownerships had to come together to agree on this, so we had a lot of meetings to put this together.
My Board of Directors was such a tremendous help with that; they’ve always been very supportive of the program. Over a period of time, we finally got some things put together. As a Weed and Pest District in Carbon County, we are able to cost-share, so we are able to help out landowners with the costs. I think for three years in a row, we hired an airplane to come in and we sprayed close to 1000 acres each year. We still have musk thistle, but this was a success story, compared to what it was. Our main goal was to get musk thistle down to a manageable control program so that the landowner could take over, so it’s more of a maintenance program, rather than a full-blown management program now."
[Becky asked: Did you have a hand in developing the Wyoming Designated List of weeds and pests?]
"As a voting member of the Wyoming Council, I have a vote on whether a species gets added. If the Council approves it, it goes to the Wyoming Board of Agriculture to approve it. Today there are 25 species on the state list. I think there were 20 on the list when I first got here. Each County Board has the authority to add species to what’s called the County Declared List. If a species is on either list, the County can cost-share with landowners for the control of those species."
[Becky asked: What do you wish you’d known in the first five years?]
"I wish I’d known some better strategies. I came here kind of a greenhorn. I knew a few things. I did the same type of job in Idaho for a few years. But all we were concerned with in Idaho was spraying County roads. We didn’t have integrated management programs, like I became involved with immediately when I came out here. When I first came here, I was amazed at the cooperation between the State and Federal Agencies and private landowners, or the educational process to get these groups together. We never worked with that in Idaho. I had worked with private landowners, and that was it. And that was only to the extent that I would make a suggestion to the landowner."
[Becky asked: Are there any programs you wish you had started earlier?]
"Probably the spray-days, held in different towns. Every town in Carbon County has noxious weeds. I wish that I had addressed that earlier than I did. But since we’ve initiated programs to go into the towns collectively, with permission of the property owners and homeowners, and address those weed issues in the towns, that’s been an outstanding program.
I can’t take credit for coming up with it. These programs were ideas coming from other folks. We pull in crews from all over the County, the Conservation District will help out, landowners help out, City and County employees help out. We work hard for a half-day and end it with a barbecue. It’s a fun day and a productive day.
I think Julie Kraft started the program to spray salt cedar on the Medicine Bow River. When we talked to people about how much damage salt cedar can do on the river, a lot of people came together to work on that program. We also pulled up a lot of salt cedar and Russian olive, and we burned the piles. The grass production improved. The landowners were very complementary of that project. Julie worked for me until about 3 years ago, when she and her husband moved to Pinedale." [Note: Julie became the Supervisor for the Sublette County Weed and Pest District.]
[Becky asked: What’s your favorite memory from the weed and pest events?]
"Receiving the Dr. Harold Alley award was huge to me. Presenting Roy Reichenbach with the award that was in his name. Presenting Guy Haggard with his namesake award.
Every conference and meeting is a good memory for me.
When I first met Roy he was the Superintendent in Converse County. We were very good friends. Then he got the State Weed and Pest Coordinator job. He was overwhelmed at first. But he liked it and he did a good job. He was just so willing to help and be a part of whatever we were doing. He was always willing to come over to Carbon County to help. He was intelligent and had a lot of common sense.
I met Guy in the early days. We became pretty good friends. He is a fine gentleman, very generous, very interested in our programs. After he retired from Dow chemical, he still came to our conferences every year."
[Becky asked: what are some of the biggest challenges for the future?]
"Regulations. There’s more regulations put on what we do. It’s challenging keeping up with the paperwork.
Educating the right people in what we do, is a challenge. Education. One of the challenges is to put in the effort to call a meeting to educate people. But then the only people who show up already know what we do. Reaching people who don’t understand what we do is challenging.
Finding new and better herbicides is a challenge.
We have a great generation of young folks coming up in these programs. There’s some really good people who are going to take these programs over, and do a better job than we did."
Links to the Wyoming County interviews:
Larry Justesen, Carbon County, Wyoming, 2013 interview
[Video interview conducted by Becky McMillen, transcribed by Dr. Delena Norris-Tull. Reviewed & approved by Larry, Nov. 19, 2020]
[Larry Justesen was the Supervisor for the Carbon County Weed and Pest District. He is now retired.]
"I started to work in Rawlins in 1980, March 12. I grew up farming and ranching in Carey, Idaho, on a family farm and ranch, near Sun Valley.
I started helping with weed and pest control during the summers in Blaine County, Idaho. One year, we had a conference in Pocatello, and some folks from Wyoming came, George Hittle, Bob Parsons, and Ralph Simnacher. I visited quite a bit with them. George Hittle called me soon after, and asked if I’d be willing to move to Wyoming and interview for a Supervisor position. I said, 'No.' We had just built a home and had spent four years fencing and landscaping it. After about the third phone call, George said, 'Well, just come and interview and give it a try. The Board will pay your expenses. Bring your family and see what you think.'
I went to the Blaine County Commissioner, and he said, 'Never turn down a chance to improve yourself. If it doesn’t work out, you can come back here and go to work for us again.' So, I thought we’ll give it a shot. We came out to Rawlins in February. The weather was terrible. The road should’ve been closed. We made it as far as Little America, with my wife and two girls. It was so terrible, we got held up in Little America. The next morning, we got on the road to Rawlins. We saw accidents all along the road.
But we made it to the interview and we were very impressed. They asked then if I would commit to the job, which kind of surprised me. And I said, 'Gosh, no. I’ve got to go home and talk to my family.' So they made me an offer. We drove back home and had a little family meeting, and decided why not give it a try.
I started the job March 12. Judy and the girls didn’t come out till school was out. By then I’d gotten pretty well established. We loaded a U-Haul the first of June and drove out to Wyoming. We only had a basement apartment at first. So we had to take some stuff to storage. When the U-Haul was all unloaded, and we were sitting in our apartment, the tears started rolling, both Judy and the girls!
But the girls made friends quickly, and got summer jobs. The people in Rawlins were so friendly. The girls liked living in a bigger city, with lots of shops.
For me, it was exciting because I would travel throughout the County. It’s a large County, and I got out to the Snake River Valley, the North Platte River country, and the Medicine Bow River country. There’s a lot of wildlife and fishing.
With help from my Board, we got through the transitions that were happening at that time, and we got the program up and running. [Note: This was soon after the implementation of the 1973 Wyoming Weed and Pest Control Law, so many new regulations were in effect].
I was just starting to learn the areas, the drainages, and the weeds that I wasn’t accustomed to in Idaho. It was very challenging and exciting for me."
[Becky asked about other challenges in the early days.]
"One of the biggest challenges was putting together management strategies. Another challenge was that Wyoming was much more sophisticated, as far as weed and pest control was concerned, and the laws. The Wyoming Weed and Pest program is something that other states around us pattern their programs after.
Learning the country, learning the weeds, and getting certified to be a Supervisor, finishing my entomology and weed science courses through the University of Wyoming, which was a requirement, meeting State and Federal and private landowners – these were all challenges for me.
Wyoming is so checkerboard, with State, and Federal, and private land. It was a challenge to get out in the field, and not really knowing what ownership you might be on. So with the help of several landowners and people with the Forest Service, the BLM, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the Wyoming Game and Fish, those folks were so good to work with, and help each other out. I would run into these folks at meetings, I’d call around asking them questions about how our weed and pest management would fit in with their vegetation management programs, for example. And so it all comes together. It took some time. There were two other employees with the County Weed and Pest District that helped orient me to the area. It’s a lot about partnerships."
[Becky asked: What are some significant changes you’ve seen over the years?]
"The big change was in the laws since 1973. The leafy spurge program is now a Special Weed Management Program. Regulations have changed. There’s always new and updated regulations you have to deal with.
Also, changes in the herbicide and pesticide chemistry. We’ve lost some of the chemicals that we’d been dependent on for years. They’ve been replaced by some that, at the time, we didn’t think were better. But environmentally, and the efficacy of some of them, are probably better.
Biocontrol is huge now. Back in 1980, I knew nothing about insects from a biocontrol standpoint. I knew about grazing rotations, sheep and goat grazing, for example. But the insect part of it has come on tremendously. That’s been a big help to improve our integrated approach to control noxious weeds.
We are so fortunate in Wyoming. There are 23 Counties. Each County has a program. We’re like a family. The university folks are just outstanding. The research people, everybody is excited to learn new things and implement new things.
Each County is different, it’s a diverse state, so we’re always comparing notes. District Supervisors and crews, and different extension people, and the Conservation District people, everybody has their own little way of doing things, to find out what’s successful. So it’s very interesting to get together, and just have a roundtable discussion, if you will, and talk strategies, and say, 'Oh, that works for you. Maybe we should try that.'
I can’t express how much it means to be a part of that kind of a group, that works together. I could go to any County, any of us could go to any County in Wyoming, and just about any town, and have an affiliation through the Weed and Pest Program. We’ve always got a place to go, if we’re in trouble. It’s just a good, good group."
[Becky asked: What was the first insect control program that you remember?]
"The very first insect that I was familiar with was Rhinocyllus conicus, musk thistle seed head weevil. It was 1985. The way I was introduced to it was from a gentleman from the USFS office. He had knowledge of the insect. I got to be very good friends with him, Joe Remick. He’s retired now. He put some insects out on some musk thistle patches in Riverside, Wyoming. Called me to tell me that. My initial reaction was probably, 'OK. Good for you.'
As time went by, we communicated about it, and we watched the plants, and insects over several years. One of the entomologist from the University of Wyoming would come over and try to find the insects on the plants, and kind of monitor their movement as best he could. It seemed like it was two or five years, and all of a sudden, we’re opening up seed heads on musk thistle, and the fluff is there, and it looks like it’s seeding the whole countryside, but you open it up, and there’s no seeds. The larvae had gotten into the seed heads, and eaten the seeds. So that got to be very interesting. And so from educational standpoint, we got right on that. Every time we went to a meeting, we talked about that, and we demonstrated that it’s working. And it was a big hit.
It’s not going to control all the musk thistle, but it’s a very important part of the integrated management program. That was my first insect.
And now there is a myriad of biocontrol agents for a lot of different noxious weed species. We talk about, if we could control all the weeds without putting herbicides in the environment, that would be wonderful. But we’re not able to do that.
When you start a weed management program, you incorporate what you call an Integrated Management Plan, and that uses all available sources of management to accomplish your goal for controlling that weed. Whether it be grazing, biocontrol, herbicides, or mechanical pulling, that’s the integrated plan. All of those activities may work together, or maybe only two of them will work. Usually you can always get two or three to work together for a better control program."
[Becky asked: As time has gone on, have you been able to implement more strategies?]
"Sure, that really has happened. We drive the trucks up-and-down the County roads, for example, and we’re spraying, and but we’re very cautious about it. We are as big an environmentalist as there can be. And so, we’re very careful with spraying.
It’s come down to educating people, having meetings, to explain to people this approach is the best approach. If we can approach this without spraying an herbicide, we certainly would. But in a lot of cases, spraying is more practical.
EDRR, refers to Early Detection Rapid Response. This is an important program. If you can take care of a small patch of weeds, the cost is going to be minimal. If you let that patch go to seed and spread year after year, it’s going to be much more costly to take care of. So we’re always on the lookout for new infestations.
We’re always educating our folks around the County, and the agencies and the entities that we deal with. We have a very strong educational program in Carbon County. J. Sheehan, my assistant, has made a lot of educational materials with his computer. He prints out and distributes these booklets with pictures and explanations, for different groups, in the oil and gas field, the road and bridge folks, or classrooms in schools. Together with Jaimy Cass, the assistant in Saratoga, we have done a tremendous job of educating people about looking for new infestations and looking for new patches. So that if anyone does spot a patch that’s looks a little odd, they can call me and we’ll check it out.
EDRR has been in the works for the last five or so years. J. Sheehan co-chairs that committee. We’ve always been on the lookout for new infestations, so I think the concept has always been there. But I don’t think it’s ever been taken to this level before, where there is a committee, and there’s funding available.
When I came on, the biggest weed infestation that I was aware of was leafy spurge. Yes, we’re still fighting leafy spurge. I think we always will be. There are a lot of approaches to managing leafy spurge. It’s one of those weeds that is adapted to so many different environments. There’s always research going on for it, and always different strategies being tried. There are now some good biocontrol agents for it. The biocontrol thing takes so many years, so many years, so many years. So it’s a little bit frustrating, but we’re finding some success stories out there.
The other weeds that I became familiar with fairly early on, were spotted knapweed and Russian knapweed. These three had been the main ones that got my attention early on."
[Becky asked: What’s been your most significant landmark?]
"Musk thistle was such a terrible problem on private land, and BLM land, and the roadways managed by the Wyoming Department of Transportation. I think we did a really decent job with musk thistle. Back in the 1990s, we put together a weed management area, that encompassed a huge area, for musk thistle. We had State and Federal Agencies and landowners involved. All the ownerships had to come together to agree on this, so we had a lot of meetings to put this together.
My Board of Directors was such a tremendous help with that; they’ve always been very supportive of the program. Over a period of time, we finally got some things put together. As a Weed and Pest District in Carbon County, we are able to cost-share, so we are able to help out landowners with the costs. I think for three years in a row, we hired an airplane to come in and we sprayed close to 1000 acres each year. We still have musk thistle, but this was a success story, compared to what it was. Our main goal was to get musk thistle down to a manageable control program so that the landowner could take over, so it’s more of a maintenance program, rather than a full-blown management program now."
[Becky asked: Did you have a hand in developing the Wyoming Designated List of weeds and pests?]
"As a voting member of the Wyoming Council, I have a vote on whether a species gets added. If the Council approves it, it goes to the Wyoming Board of Agriculture to approve it. Today there are 25 species on the state list. I think there were 20 on the list when I first got here. Each County Board has the authority to add species to what’s called the County Declared List. If a species is on either list, the County can cost-share with landowners for the control of those species."
[Becky asked: What do you wish you’d known in the first five years?]
"I wish I’d known some better strategies. I came here kind of a greenhorn. I knew a few things. I did the same type of job in Idaho for a few years. But all we were concerned with in Idaho was spraying County roads. We didn’t have integrated management programs, like I became involved with immediately when I came out here. When I first came here, I was amazed at the cooperation between the State and Federal Agencies and private landowners, or the educational process to get these groups together. We never worked with that in Idaho. I had worked with private landowners, and that was it. And that was only to the extent that I would make a suggestion to the landowner."
[Becky asked: Are there any programs you wish you had started earlier?]
"Probably the spray-days, held in different towns. Every town in Carbon County has noxious weeds. I wish that I had addressed that earlier than I did. But since we’ve initiated programs to go into the towns collectively, with permission of the property owners and homeowners, and address those weed issues in the towns, that’s been an outstanding program.
I can’t take credit for coming up with it. These programs were ideas coming from other folks. We pull in crews from all over the County, the Conservation District will help out, landowners help out, City and County employees help out. We work hard for a half-day and end it with a barbecue. It’s a fun day and a productive day.
I think Julie Kraft started the program to spray salt cedar on the Medicine Bow River. When we talked to people about how much damage salt cedar can do on the river, a lot of people came together to work on that program. We also pulled up a lot of salt cedar and Russian olive, and we burned the piles. The grass production improved. The landowners were very complementary of that project. Julie worked for me until about 3 years ago, when she and her husband moved to Pinedale." [Note: Julie became the Supervisor for the Sublette County Weed and Pest District.]
[Becky asked: What’s your favorite memory from the weed and pest events?]
"Receiving the Dr. Harold Alley award was huge to me. Presenting Roy Reichenbach with the award that was in his name. Presenting Guy Haggard with his namesake award.
Every conference and meeting is a good memory for me.
When I first met Roy he was the Superintendent in Converse County. We were very good friends. Then he got the State Weed and Pest Coordinator job. He was overwhelmed at first. But he liked it and he did a good job. He was just so willing to help and be a part of whatever we were doing. He was always willing to come over to Carbon County to help. He was intelligent and had a lot of common sense.
I met Guy in the early days. We became pretty good friends. He is a fine gentleman, very generous, very interested in our programs. After he retired from Dow chemical, he still came to our conferences every year."
[Becky asked: what are some of the biggest challenges for the future?]
"Regulations. There’s more regulations put on what we do. It’s challenging keeping up with the paperwork.
Educating the right people in what we do, is a challenge. Education. One of the challenges is to put in the effort to call a meeting to educate people. But then the only people who show up already know what we do. Reaching people who don’t understand what we do is challenging.
Finding new and better herbicides is a challenge.
We have a great generation of young folks coming up in these programs. There’s some really good people who are going to take these programs over, and do a better job than we did."
Links to the Wyoming County interviews: