Photo: Henbane. © 2020 Delena Norris-Tull
Slade Franklin, Weed and Pest Coordinator, Wyoming Department of Agriculture
Historical narrative interview, 2014
[Video interview conducted by Becky McMillen, transcribed by Dr. Delena Norris-Tull. Reviewed & approved by Slade, March 20, 2020.]
[Also refer to the interview Delena held with Slade Franklin, in the section on Wyoming Interviews.]
Russian thistle (also known as tumbleweed) is thought to have come into the United States in flaxseed from Russia. The contaminated flaxseed was first planted in South Dakota. Russian thistle soon spread into neighboring states via the railways.
Aven Nelson, a botanist at the University of Wyoming in the 1890s, was called in to identify the Russian thistle that had recently been discovered in Cheyenne along the railroad tracks. Aven Nelson later became President of the University of Wyoming, and he created the Rocky Mountain Herbarium.
“They estimate that in five years from this time it will cover 150,000 square miles, and that the finest part of the three states will be ruined.” [Daily Boomerang, #296, February 24, 1894.]
“It has done more than $2 million damage to crops last year. It was accidentally introduced 17 years ago in some flaxseed imported from Russia.” [Sundance Gazette, number 37, March 23, 1894.]
In 1894, the USDA sent out a botanist to study the issue of the spread of Russian thistle. The botanist recommended funding for treatment of Russian thistle in Western States. But attempts to get a weed law passed at the federal level failed, because Southern States did not consider weeds to be the biggest agricultural concern.
In 1896, Aven Nelson published The Worst Weeds of Wyoming, Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin, #31. In that document, he recommended legislation, based on the recommendations that had been made by the USDA botanist, Mr. Dewey. Aven Nelson stated, “The danger points at present are not the ranches and farms, but the right-of-way of the railroads and public highways, and especially the vacant grounds in our towns and cities.” Today, I would add to Aven Nelson’s list, the abandoned or unmanaged or uncultivated lands on today’s farms and ranches and subdivisions.
The Wyoming Russian Thistle Act of 1895, House Bill 174, was in effect until 1903. It was the first weed law in Wyoming. It authorized the destruction of Russian thistle, “Canadian” thistle, and “kindred pests.”
Aven Nelson warned that, “Wyoming cannot afford to delay in this matter. The pest is well-established within our borders, and will, in another season or two, be entirely beyond our control.”
In 1903, a gentleman out of Albany County believed that Russian thistle would be a great forage for livestock. He recommended the repeal of the Russian Thistle Act. The repeal of that law had overwhelming support. But Russian thistle has very minimal forage value. However, through the Dust Bowl years, a lot of ranchers in Wyoming actually survived because of Russian thistle.
“We couldn’t raise too much, as the grasshoppers were waiting right there to take every bit of garden. We didn’t have any crops. The cattle had to live on Russian thistle, and the milk was so bitter we couldn’t even use it. Those were really hard times.” [Excerpt from transcripts from Ada Duncan, 1938, Wyoming Extension Homemakers Council.]
In 1905, the Wyoming Horticultural Act was passed, which protected fruit crops from insect pests. The horticultural law created the State Entomologist job, housed in the University of Wyoming. But then in 1923, Wyoming was having issues with insect pests, grasshoppers and Mormon crickets. And we were having issues with prairie dogs and field mice. So in 1923, Wyoming passed two laws, the Insect Pest Control Act and the Rodent Pest Control Act. Both of these laws allowed Counties to create Pest Control Districts. With the passage of the 1923 laws, the State Entomologist position moved to the Wyoming Department of Agriculture. At that time, there were federal funds to control these pests. The formation of Districts facilitated the transfer of federal funds to the Counties, to provide pesticides to the farmers.
In the 1930s, grasshoppers were controlled with a bait called Paris Green [copper acetate triarsenite]. The farmers themselves mixed Paris Green with grain, to create a bait. The chemicals used back then were highly toxic.
Early efforts to control Mormon crickets included creating a barrier to stop a band of Mormon crickets from moving past it. Behind the barrier was a ditch filled with water and kerosene. They’d light the ditch on fire and simply collect the crickets that were stopped at the barrier.
In 1931, these pest laws were re-codified to include noxious weeds. In 1935, as the result of the Wyoming Department of Agriculture really pushing, because the noxious weeds were becoming a bigger and bigger problem, the Wyoming legislature put $20,000 into the budget for noxious weed control. That funding enabled Pest Districts to form. That was during the Dust Bowl era, and there was not a lot of money to throw around.
There is documentation that the first Pest District in Wyoming was in Park County. Big Horn County would challenge that, and say that they started their District first. Platte County also formed their District about that time. Alvah Elledge helped form the first Districts in Park County. He and Mr. C.L. Corkins formed the organization that eventually became the Wyoming Weed and Pest Council.
In 1937, the law was modified to define how a Pest District could be formed. We believe that the first Pest Conference was held in 1937. A few more Counties created Districts at that time. A District did not usually encompass the entire County. Perhaps 10 to 16 Districts were in existence during that time. Some Counties had more than one District.
C.L. Corkins, Wyoming State Entomologist, in the 1937 Weed and Pest Report said, “We need not view our noxious weed problem with alarm, unless the public continues to view it with apathy.”
In 1938, in his History of Park County Weed and Pest, Mr. Elledge stated: “What we did hope for – Eradicate, we now use the word Control.”
Henry Allen Gudger was the first President of the Wyoming Weed and Pest Council. His son Karl took his place in 1947.
In 1953, the laws were further modified to change the title of the Districts to Weed and Pest Districts. The Districts wanted local control of their programs, rather than programs being operated by the State Entomologist. But the new law complicated the process of local control by setting up a County election process to form Districts and to elect District Board members. So new Districts did not form at that time.
In 1971, the Weed and Pest Council worked on a statewide Weed and Pest program which ultimately resulted in the 1973 Wyoming Weed and Pest Control Act. This law provided official recognition to the Weed and Pest Council. The 1973 Act mandated the formation of county-wide Weed and Pest Control Districts in every County, and set up a county-based funding system. The 1973 Act placed the list of weeds and pests into official state statute. Later, the lists were removed from statute, to create a simpler process for managing the lists. This put the process in the hands of the County Weed and Pest District Boards, that would send resolutions for additions or deletions to the State lists, to be approved by the Wyoming Weed and Pest Council and the Wyoming Board of Agriculture.
In 1983, Harold Alley, weed scientist at the University of Wyoming, stated: “Other states have patterned their programs after Wyoming’s. No other State has had the success in legislative support that Wyoming has.”
[Refer to the interview with George Hittle, for more details on the challenges of getting the 1973 Act passed, and the efforts to get federal legislation passed.]
[Becky McMillen asked for details on how weeds and pests were controlled in the early days.]
Becky concluded the following: "Weed control, into the 1940s and 1950s, included cultivation, burning, sterilization using salt, and soil fumigation, using chemicals that were extremely hazardous to anyone that came in contact with them. Weed control in those days was time intensive, expensive, and not very effective."
Slade Franklin: "During World War II sodium chlorate and carbon bisulfide, which had been used as a soil fumigant to kill weeds, were hard to come by. They are both highly flammable and were being used in bombs during the war.
After the war, the petrochemical, 2,4-D, became available. [Refer to the archival minutes of the early Western Weed Conferences to read about the emergence of petrochemicals.]
Rachel Carson published Silent Spring in 1962, which highlighted the toxicity of DDT and other pesticides.
The Wyoming Weed and Pest Conference minutes in the 1960s include discussions about the potential toxicity of pesticides and herbicides. In 1963, there was a big fish kill in the Mississippi River.
Tordon and Atrazine were developed after 2,4-D. They were more selective than 2,4-D, in regards to which weeds they killed. Today’s herbicides are even more specialized."
[Refer to the section on State Laws for details of the 1973 Wyoming Weed and Pest Control Act.]
Slade Franklin, interview 2013
"When I started with the Wyoming Department of Agriculture in 1999, I was a Pesticide Compliance Inspector. Roy Reichenbach was the Weed and Pest Coordinator at that time. When Roy changed positions, the Department decided to combine two positions, that of the Weed and Pest Coordinator and the Pesticide Compliance Supervisor. So I applied for the job and was accepted, I think it was in 2005. I started getting calls from the Districts immediately, but I was not prepared to address their concerns. Fortunately, Roy was now my manager, so I was able to call on him to help me get started in my new role. Soon afterwards, the Department realized that the two positions may pose a conflict of interest, so they separated the two positions out again. I remained as the Weed and Pest Coordinator, a position I was not well prepared to manage. I didn’t even know the names of the weeds when I started.
Roy had an extensive collection of photos of the weeds, that he had taken. And he was very knowledgeable regarding the laws and regulations related to weeds and pests. And he was very knowledgeable about the Wyoming Weed and Pest Districts. So he helped me a lot in getting started.
In the 1930s and ‘40s, the Department of Agriculture was very hands-on, in regards to the Weed and Pest Districts, as the Department provided all the funding for the Districts. In the 1950s, the Districts began to be funded locally, which resulted in some fragmentation at the State level, and reduced the level of coordination between the Districts and the Wyoming Department of Agriculture. When Wyoming passed the Weed and Pest Law in 1973, coordination improved.
I try to be a liaison with and between the Districts, to help them understand the laws and regulations, and to help them deal with Federal Agencies. There are still some grants that are funded through the Wyoming Department of Agriculture for the Districts. I provide assistance to the Districts in obtaining grant funding.
As a result of the 1973 law, the process has been working fairly well, for adding or removing species to the State list of Designated Weeds and Pests. When grasshoppers became a threat, we developed a very successful grasshopper reduction program in 2010. Russian olive was added to the State list of Designated Weeds when I was new on the job. Riparian areas have improved since we started removing Russian olive.
There is sometimes a difference of opinion between the Weed and Pest Council and the Board of Agriculture, about adding or removing species to the State list. If the Council does not provide adequate justification for their recommendations, or if public opinion is strong, the Board may reject the Council’s Resolution. This happened when the Council recommended removing the Mountain Pine Beetle from the list. The Board rejected this proposal. We can see today that there have been some advantages to keeping the beetle on the list, in regards to controlling it.
We coordinate funding for the Districts, with various State and Federal Agencies. The USFS and the BLM are able to send funds directly to the Districts, to enable the Districts to manage weeds and pests on these Federal lands. But sometimes the Federal Agency does not pay enough attention to the spread of weeds or pests on the land, because they have come to rely on the Wyoming Districts to take care of it. But there are also some very good Federal Agents that do pay close attention to the land, to make sure adequate funds are disbursed to the Districts.
Wyoming has had 70 years of annual Weed and Pest Conferences. As a result of the 1973 law, the conferences are now managed by the Weed and Pest Council.
Through the 1960s and ‘70s, Dr. Harold Alley, from the University of Wyoming, was a vocal supporter of the Council and he also did significant research on the use of chemicals. Tom Whitson was a weed scientist with the University of Wyoming. Currently, Brian Mealor is the UW weed scientist. He is the primary authority in the West on invasive grasses. Stephen Enloe conducted important research comparing the effectiveness of the Wyoming programs, compared to nearby States.
Biocontrol is probably the future of long-term weed and pest control. I think everyone now realizes that spraying weeds one time does not eliminate the weeds. Lars Baker has really helped us focus research on biocontrol organisms. We are now looking at bacteria as a biocontrol agent.
Around 2008, the Council created an education agency, to help educate the public, landowners, and hunters.
Adrianne Peterson helped break-down the gender barrier in this field, enabling more women to become involved. Previously, the annual conference had only male members. The Council used to produce a “lady’s agenda” for the conferences, to give the wives some activities while the men were meeting. When we started getting more female Supervisors, they told the Council the “lady’s agenda” no longer made sense. [Note: Adrianne was the first female Weed and Pest Supervisor and is now retired].
We may be the only State that requires District Supervisors to go through training. We have a strong group of District Supervisors. They are very dedicated to their job, their County, and to the Weed and Pest Council. As long as that strong group is in place, the weed and pest programs will continue to be successful. I want to be remembered as having been supportive of the Districts and the Council.
I think there’s going to be a lot of challenges in education. A lot of land that historically was used for agriculture is no longer in production. As a result of the reduction of agriculture that depends on the land, I think the the understanding of the weed and pest issues by agricultural producers will diminish significantly. Small acreage landowners, such as home owners, often appreciate the land they live on, but they don’t have an economic tie to it. They don’t make their living off the land, like the agricultural industry does. A farmer who raises crops sees the economic value of managing weeds. Whether through cultivation, cover crop, or spraying, they get an economic gain in production from weed management, thus they understand the need for weed management differently than a small acreage landowner.
I think the users of pesticides and herbicides are going to see a significant regulatory burden due to Federal regulations, through the EPA and the Clean Water Act permits. Districts will spend more time on administering programs, such as the record-keeping requirements, rather than on-the-ground application of programs. We deal with OSHA regulations on how we store chemicals. We have the US DHS looking at how we use and store Phostoxin.
Biocontrol will also have more regulatory requirements. For example, when we started using Diorhabda, to control salt cedar, we saw the insect move quickly through the riparian systems in the Southern States, despite being told that could not happen. The Federal Agencies are going to be very slow in approving new biocontrol agents, as they come along.
When I met Roy’s predecessor, George Hittle, at Roy’s funeral, his advice to me was, “Keep moving forward.” He started so many good programs in his time, but we have to keep moving forward."
Links to the Wyoming County interviews:
Slade Franklin, Weed and Pest Coordinator, Wyoming Department of Agriculture
Historical narrative interview, 2014
[Video interview conducted by Becky McMillen, transcribed by Dr. Delena Norris-Tull. Reviewed & approved by Slade, March 20, 2020.]
[Also refer to the interview Delena held with Slade Franklin, in the section on Wyoming Interviews.]
Russian thistle (also known as tumbleweed) is thought to have come into the United States in flaxseed from Russia. The contaminated flaxseed was first planted in South Dakota. Russian thistle soon spread into neighboring states via the railways.
Aven Nelson, a botanist at the University of Wyoming in the 1890s, was called in to identify the Russian thistle that had recently been discovered in Cheyenne along the railroad tracks. Aven Nelson later became President of the University of Wyoming, and he created the Rocky Mountain Herbarium.
“They estimate that in five years from this time it will cover 150,000 square miles, and that the finest part of the three states will be ruined.” [Daily Boomerang, #296, February 24, 1894.]
“It has done more than $2 million damage to crops last year. It was accidentally introduced 17 years ago in some flaxseed imported from Russia.” [Sundance Gazette, number 37, March 23, 1894.]
In 1894, the USDA sent out a botanist to study the issue of the spread of Russian thistle. The botanist recommended funding for treatment of Russian thistle in Western States. But attempts to get a weed law passed at the federal level failed, because Southern States did not consider weeds to be the biggest agricultural concern.
In 1896, Aven Nelson published The Worst Weeds of Wyoming, Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin, #31. In that document, he recommended legislation, based on the recommendations that had been made by the USDA botanist, Mr. Dewey. Aven Nelson stated, “The danger points at present are not the ranches and farms, but the right-of-way of the railroads and public highways, and especially the vacant grounds in our towns and cities.” Today, I would add to Aven Nelson’s list, the abandoned or unmanaged or uncultivated lands on today’s farms and ranches and subdivisions.
The Wyoming Russian Thistle Act of 1895, House Bill 174, was in effect until 1903. It was the first weed law in Wyoming. It authorized the destruction of Russian thistle, “Canadian” thistle, and “kindred pests.”
Aven Nelson warned that, “Wyoming cannot afford to delay in this matter. The pest is well-established within our borders, and will, in another season or two, be entirely beyond our control.”
In 1903, a gentleman out of Albany County believed that Russian thistle would be a great forage for livestock. He recommended the repeal of the Russian Thistle Act. The repeal of that law had overwhelming support. But Russian thistle has very minimal forage value. However, through the Dust Bowl years, a lot of ranchers in Wyoming actually survived because of Russian thistle.
“We couldn’t raise too much, as the grasshoppers were waiting right there to take every bit of garden. We didn’t have any crops. The cattle had to live on Russian thistle, and the milk was so bitter we couldn’t even use it. Those were really hard times.” [Excerpt from transcripts from Ada Duncan, 1938, Wyoming Extension Homemakers Council.]
In 1905, the Wyoming Horticultural Act was passed, which protected fruit crops from insect pests. The horticultural law created the State Entomologist job, housed in the University of Wyoming. But then in 1923, Wyoming was having issues with insect pests, grasshoppers and Mormon crickets. And we were having issues with prairie dogs and field mice. So in 1923, Wyoming passed two laws, the Insect Pest Control Act and the Rodent Pest Control Act. Both of these laws allowed Counties to create Pest Control Districts. With the passage of the 1923 laws, the State Entomologist position moved to the Wyoming Department of Agriculture. At that time, there were federal funds to control these pests. The formation of Districts facilitated the transfer of federal funds to the Counties, to provide pesticides to the farmers.
In the 1930s, grasshoppers were controlled with a bait called Paris Green [copper acetate triarsenite]. The farmers themselves mixed Paris Green with grain, to create a bait. The chemicals used back then were highly toxic.
Early efforts to control Mormon crickets included creating a barrier to stop a band of Mormon crickets from moving past it. Behind the barrier was a ditch filled with water and kerosene. They’d light the ditch on fire and simply collect the crickets that were stopped at the barrier.
In 1931, these pest laws were re-codified to include noxious weeds. In 1935, as the result of the Wyoming Department of Agriculture really pushing, because the noxious weeds were becoming a bigger and bigger problem, the Wyoming legislature put $20,000 into the budget for noxious weed control. That funding enabled Pest Districts to form. That was during the Dust Bowl era, and there was not a lot of money to throw around.
There is documentation that the first Pest District in Wyoming was in Park County. Big Horn County would challenge that, and say that they started their District first. Platte County also formed their District about that time. Alvah Elledge helped form the first Districts in Park County. He and Mr. C.L. Corkins formed the organization that eventually became the Wyoming Weed and Pest Council.
In 1937, the law was modified to define how a Pest District could be formed. We believe that the first Pest Conference was held in 1937. A few more Counties created Districts at that time. A District did not usually encompass the entire County. Perhaps 10 to 16 Districts were in existence during that time. Some Counties had more than one District.
C.L. Corkins, Wyoming State Entomologist, in the 1937 Weed and Pest Report said, “We need not view our noxious weed problem with alarm, unless the public continues to view it with apathy.”
In 1938, in his History of Park County Weed and Pest, Mr. Elledge stated: “What we did hope for – Eradicate, we now use the word Control.”
Henry Allen Gudger was the first President of the Wyoming Weed and Pest Council. His son Karl took his place in 1947.
In 1953, the laws were further modified to change the title of the Districts to Weed and Pest Districts. The Districts wanted local control of their programs, rather than programs being operated by the State Entomologist. But the new law complicated the process of local control by setting up a County election process to form Districts and to elect District Board members. So new Districts did not form at that time.
In 1971, the Weed and Pest Council worked on a statewide Weed and Pest program which ultimately resulted in the 1973 Wyoming Weed and Pest Control Act. This law provided official recognition to the Weed and Pest Council. The 1973 Act mandated the formation of county-wide Weed and Pest Control Districts in every County, and set up a county-based funding system. The 1973 Act placed the list of weeds and pests into official state statute. Later, the lists were removed from statute, to create a simpler process for managing the lists. This put the process in the hands of the County Weed and Pest District Boards, that would send resolutions for additions or deletions to the State lists, to be approved by the Wyoming Weed and Pest Council and the Wyoming Board of Agriculture.
In 1983, Harold Alley, weed scientist at the University of Wyoming, stated: “Other states have patterned their programs after Wyoming’s. No other State has had the success in legislative support that Wyoming has.”
[Refer to the interview with George Hittle, for more details on the challenges of getting the 1973 Act passed, and the efforts to get federal legislation passed.]
[Becky McMillen asked for details on how weeds and pests were controlled in the early days.]
Becky concluded the following: "Weed control, into the 1940s and 1950s, included cultivation, burning, sterilization using salt, and soil fumigation, using chemicals that were extremely hazardous to anyone that came in contact with them. Weed control in those days was time intensive, expensive, and not very effective."
Slade Franklin: "During World War II sodium chlorate and carbon bisulfide, which had been used as a soil fumigant to kill weeds, were hard to come by. They are both highly flammable and were being used in bombs during the war.
After the war, the petrochemical, 2,4-D, became available. [Refer to the archival minutes of the early Western Weed Conferences to read about the emergence of petrochemicals.]
Rachel Carson published Silent Spring in 1962, which highlighted the toxicity of DDT and other pesticides.
The Wyoming Weed and Pest Conference minutes in the 1960s include discussions about the potential toxicity of pesticides and herbicides. In 1963, there was a big fish kill in the Mississippi River.
Tordon and Atrazine were developed after 2,4-D. They were more selective than 2,4-D, in regards to which weeds they killed. Today’s herbicides are even more specialized."
[Refer to the section on State Laws for details of the 1973 Wyoming Weed and Pest Control Act.]
Slade Franklin, interview 2013
"When I started with the Wyoming Department of Agriculture in 1999, I was a Pesticide Compliance Inspector. Roy Reichenbach was the Weed and Pest Coordinator at that time. When Roy changed positions, the Department decided to combine two positions, that of the Weed and Pest Coordinator and the Pesticide Compliance Supervisor. So I applied for the job and was accepted, I think it was in 2005. I started getting calls from the Districts immediately, but I was not prepared to address their concerns. Fortunately, Roy was now my manager, so I was able to call on him to help me get started in my new role. Soon afterwards, the Department realized that the two positions may pose a conflict of interest, so they separated the two positions out again. I remained as the Weed and Pest Coordinator, a position I was not well prepared to manage. I didn’t even know the names of the weeds when I started.
Roy had an extensive collection of photos of the weeds, that he had taken. And he was very knowledgeable regarding the laws and regulations related to weeds and pests. And he was very knowledgeable about the Wyoming Weed and Pest Districts. So he helped me a lot in getting started.
In the 1930s and ‘40s, the Department of Agriculture was very hands-on, in regards to the Weed and Pest Districts, as the Department provided all the funding for the Districts. In the 1950s, the Districts began to be funded locally, which resulted in some fragmentation at the State level, and reduced the level of coordination between the Districts and the Wyoming Department of Agriculture. When Wyoming passed the Weed and Pest Law in 1973, coordination improved.
I try to be a liaison with and between the Districts, to help them understand the laws and regulations, and to help them deal with Federal Agencies. There are still some grants that are funded through the Wyoming Department of Agriculture for the Districts. I provide assistance to the Districts in obtaining grant funding.
As a result of the 1973 law, the process has been working fairly well, for adding or removing species to the State list of Designated Weeds and Pests. When grasshoppers became a threat, we developed a very successful grasshopper reduction program in 2010. Russian olive was added to the State list of Designated Weeds when I was new on the job. Riparian areas have improved since we started removing Russian olive.
There is sometimes a difference of opinion between the Weed and Pest Council and the Board of Agriculture, about adding or removing species to the State list. If the Council does not provide adequate justification for their recommendations, or if public opinion is strong, the Board may reject the Council’s Resolution. This happened when the Council recommended removing the Mountain Pine Beetle from the list. The Board rejected this proposal. We can see today that there have been some advantages to keeping the beetle on the list, in regards to controlling it.
We coordinate funding for the Districts, with various State and Federal Agencies. The USFS and the BLM are able to send funds directly to the Districts, to enable the Districts to manage weeds and pests on these Federal lands. But sometimes the Federal Agency does not pay enough attention to the spread of weeds or pests on the land, because they have come to rely on the Wyoming Districts to take care of it. But there are also some very good Federal Agents that do pay close attention to the land, to make sure adequate funds are disbursed to the Districts.
Wyoming has had 70 years of annual Weed and Pest Conferences. As a result of the 1973 law, the conferences are now managed by the Weed and Pest Council.
Through the 1960s and ‘70s, Dr. Harold Alley, from the University of Wyoming, was a vocal supporter of the Council and he also did significant research on the use of chemicals. Tom Whitson was a weed scientist with the University of Wyoming. Currently, Brian Mealor is the UW weed scientist. He is the primary authority in the West on invasive grasses. Stephen Enloe conducted important research comparing the effectiveness of the Wyoming programs, compared to nearby States.
Biocontrol is probably the future of long-term weed and pest control. I think everyone now realizes that spraying weeds one time does not eliminate the weeds. Lars Baker has really helped us focus research on biocontrol organisms. We are now looking at bacteria as a biocontrol agent.
Around 2008, the Council created an education agency, to help educate the public, landowners, and hunters.
Adrianne Peterson helped break-down the gender barrier in this field, enabling more women to become involved. Previously, the annual conference had only male members. The Council used to produce a “lady’s agenda” for the conferences, to give the wives some activities while the men were meeting. When we started getting more female Supervisors, they told the Council the “lady’s agenda” no longer made sense. [Note: Adrianne was the first female Weed and Pest Supervisor and is now retired].
We may be the only State that requires District Supervisors to go through training. We have a strong group of District Supervisors. They are very dedicated to their job, their County, and to the Weed and Pest Council. As long as that strong group is in place, the weed and pest programs will continue to be successful. I want to be remembered as having been supportive of the Districts and the Council.
I think there’s going to be a lot of challenges in education. A lot of land that historically was used for agriculture is no longer in production. As a result of the reduction of agriculture that depends on the land, I think the the understanding of the weed and pest issues by agricultural producers will diminish significantly. Small acreage landowners, such as home owners, often appreciate the land they live on, but they don’t have an economic tie to it. They don’t make their living off the land, like the agricultural industry does. A farmer who raises crops sees the economic value of managing weeds. Whether through cultivation, cover crop, or spraying, they get an economic gain in production from weed management, thus they understand the need for weed management differently than a small acreage landowner.
I think the users of pesticides and herbicides are going to see a significant regulatory burden due to Federal regulations, through the EPA and the Clean Water Act permits. Districts will spend more time on administering programs, such as the record-keeping requirements, rather than on-the-ground application of programs. We deal with OSHA regulations on how we store chemicals. We have the US DHS looking at how we use and store Phostoxin.
Biocontrol will also have more regulatory requirements. For example, when we started using Diorhabda, to control salt cedar, we saw the insect move quickly through the riparian systems in the Southern States, despite being told that could not happen. The Federal Agencies are going to be very slow in approving new biocontrol agents, as they come along.
When I met Roy’s predecessor, George Hittle, at Roy’s funeral, his advice to me was, “Keep moving forward.” He started so many good programs in his time, but we have to keep moving forward."
Links to the Wyoming County interviews: