Photo: Russian Olive. © 2020 Delena Norris-Tull
Steve Brill, Goshen County, Wyoming interview 2014
[Video interview conducted by Becky McMillen, transcribed by Dr. Delena Norris-Tull. Reviewed & Approved by Steve, Oct. 2, 2020.]
[Steve Brill has been the Goshen County Weed and Pest Supervisor for 26 years. Previously, he was a Nebraska Weed District Supervisor, and has a background in agriculture and in business.]
"When I took over in 1987 or 1988, my predecessor had retired and was not available to provide me any mentoring. The District Board allowed me to pursue whatever programs I wanted. I started a Canada thistle project first. Currently, we have leafy spurge, Russian olive, and salt cedar control programs.
In the beginning, I had a full-time Secretary and two summer employees. Now I have a Secretary, an Assistant Supervisor, and 15-20 summer employees. My District Budget is based on a 2 mill levy. The dollar amount has increased over the years, as property taxes have increased. And I also have several State grants. The chemical companies pay an annual registration fee that generates about $600,000 for the State. You have to apply for those funds through grant applications. One of the criteria is how poor the County is. Goshen County is one of the two or three poorest in the State. I’ve used grant funds for mosquito control, in response to the spread of West Nile Virus around 2004, and for grasshopper control, and for Russian olive and prairie dog management. We fog throughout the County for mosquitoes, mainly in the more populated areas.
In 1990, I got a lot of complaints from landowners about the Wyoming Game and Fish. Game and Fish was not interested in controlling weeds. They believed the weeds were good habitat for wild birds. We had a meeting with Game and Fish in 1994 to discuss the weed concerns, but we didn’t get anywhere. So I met with my local legislators, who helped out by talking to Game and Fish. Then we got cooperation from the local Game and Fish agents to create a weed management area.
In Wyoming, we are supposed to develop a “Coordinated Resource Management” plan. People within an area get together to work on issues, to come up with a plan that all can agree on. As a result, we had the first invasive weed CRM in Wyoming. We agreed to control weeds on Game and Fish ground and private ground, starting in the area of concern. We called that “Area 1.” We have now expanded that to 5 areas of concern in Goshen County [Note: an “area” is not necessarily a geographic area. It can be focused on a specific species]. Our CRM has been recognized throughout the State and the U.S. as a very positive program. We received the Stock Growers Stewardship Award in 2002. We were the only group to ever receive that award. Previously, it had always been given to individual landowners or ranchers. We were recognized in Washington, D.C., at the National Invasive Weed Awareness Week – at that time, we had been receiving some Federal funding.
The plan is to someday have a County-wide CRM area. We’re slowly getting there. Our 'Area 5' is the Russian olive and salt cedar management program. Our main focus is in the North Platte River drainage system. The North Platte River runs through Wyoming, through Nebraska, into the Missouri River, into the Mississippi River, and on. We focus on our State.
One of the most rewarding parts of that program was when I worked with a friend of mine, Gary Stone. He had been a representative for one of the chemical companies. He quit his job to come work for me. We were both driven to do something about the salt cedar on our North Platte River.
One winter, we started walking along the river, from the Nebraska state line, up-river, all the way to the Platte County line. We walked with backpacks from September to May. We walked both sides of the river, and covered about 147 miles. We sprayed salt cedar. There were only a few days we couldn’t work. It was peaceful and fun. You get a very different perspective, when you look up from the riverbanks, rather than looking down from the roads. We saw lots of wildlife and wild birds. We got permission from the landowners to go onto their property. We rarely saw another human being. We felt we accomplished a lot by doing this. One of the things that impressed me the most was all the shoes we found! This program was funded by a grant. The landowners didn’t have to pay for it.
We started from the Nebraska side because I had a partnership with a Weed Management area in Nebraska. And this was an excellent pilot project.
That project opened the door for us to help people. We are not an enforcement agency. We like to find a plan that is going to accomplish our goals and help everybody involved figure out what they’re going to do about invasive species.
This program was expanded to include both salt cedar and Russian olive. The North Platte River program now is organized over eight Counties. The Russian olive – salt cedar removal program has been helpful in saving water and preventing these trees from pushing out native species. As a result, I’ve seen areas where the cottonwoods have gotten greener, and the grasses have sprung up. Ranchers have commented that they now have more grass for grazing.
Wyoming has 23 County Weed and Pest Districts. It seems like all 23 Supervisors are dedicated to what they do and are enthused. The Wyoming Weed and Pest Council provides a conference every Fall, and a workshop every Spring. We all attend those, and we attend various trainings that occur throughout the year. Wyoming being the least populated State in the U.S., we get to know each other, and we get really close. We develop a friendship, kind of like a family, over the years.
We tend to get to know everybody we’re associated with, including all the State and Federal Agencies we work with.
In the last three years or so, at least 10 District Supervisors have retired. So the whole atmosphere is changing, with more younger people involved, that are bringing a whole different set of ideas and direction to the whole Statewide program. That is exciting, and it’s good because they’re all motivated too, and willing to carry it on.
When I first started, in 1987 or 1988, at my first Statewide meeting, I found I had to prove myself. But what impressed me most about that first year was there was a group of these guys that were old cowboys from the good old days. They had their style about them, and that was really cool. At the meeting, in the evening, they’d all grab their favorite instruments and sit in a little group and would spend a few hours jamming. It was pretty cool. The whole atmosphere was so down-to-earth. I was really happy I had moved into Wyoming.
Another thing that impressed me was the use of horses and mules. In Nebraska, I was used to all the mechanical, pickups or whatever, that were used for weed and pest control. Here, a lot of the Districts would use horses to go into the back country, for example, to spray leafy spurge. They’d carry everything on their horses. There are still some contractors that use horses to get into the back country, where it’s not possible to drive in.
Adrianne Peterson was the first female County Weed and Pest Supervisor in Wyoming. Now there are quite a few women in the Weed and Pest Council Group, and they all do a really good job.
All the people I associate with in this whole group are very dedicated to what they’re doing. You work at this long enough and it becomes a part of your life, more than just a job, because you can do so many things that you cannot do in a normal job. The work is so unique. I see a lot of wildlife, driving around the County Roads.
All the Counties have either a 5- or 7-person Board. This year, we have the first woman on the Goshen County Weed and Pest Board, since the District got started around 1973. All the Board members are ranchers, farmers, business owners. They’re all volunteers. They are appointed by the County Commissioner for four years. Many stay on the Board longer. They give me a lot of room to do what I gotta do, but they’re full of suggestions and energy and interest. As long as you’re working hard, they’ll support everything you try to do.
The Wyoming Weed and Pest Council is composed of six Area Directors, from across the State. They can come from either the County Weed and Pest Supervisors or a County Board. The Council President has to be a County Board member. Two or three of the six Area Directors can be a County Board member. The 1973 Weed and Pest Act defines the Districts and the job of the Supervisors. The Act covers the regulations for weed-free forage. In the Special Management section, there are funds from a state mill levy for special projects, such as leafy spurge and prairie dogs.
The Fall Conference rotates through the six Areas. There are speakers on various topics, a banquet, and several award presentations. Representative from the University of Wyoming attend. Representatives attend from the BLM, USFS, the US Bureau of Reclamation, and the State agencies.
Sharon Johnson has been involved with the Weed and Pest group for over 30 years, as a volunteer. She used to work with Harold Alley. She helps organize the conference and registration every year.
Guy Haggard was a sales representative for Dow Chemical Company in the 1950s. The company’s main thing at that time was 2,4-D. He got associated with the Weed and Pest Council and helped out a lot for years, even after he retired. He even helped out financially, using his own funds, such as by donating to the scholarships.
The Wyoming Weed and Pest Council scholarship started about 20 years ago. It provides $200 to a young person going to college. There are three scholarships now and one internship scholarship, to work full-time with a District.
There are also various awards to volunteers, Board members, and employees, to recognize their dedication to the Weed and Pest program. For example, there is the Harold P. Alley Award, the Archie Lauer Award, and the Guy Haggard Award.
George Hittle, the first State Weed and Pest Coordinator, was instrumental in a lot of what we’re doing, such as getting weed laws written. He was very helpful to me what I got started, for example, helping me learn how to manage the budget.
My mentors were mainly groups of people, rather than individuals, but a few individuals were very helpful, Bob Schumacher, Archie Lauer, Adrianne Peterson, Allen Mooney from Gillette."
Biocontrol: "I had done some work with biocontrol in Nebraska. In Wyoming, I got more into it because people’s concept of Weed and Pest Management here used to be just spraying, killing weeds and trees. I thought I can implement this idea of biocontrol as a tool, pesticides and herbicides as a tool, education as a tool. But biocontrol has become a lot of fun and is generating a lot of interest. Over the years, I’ve released insects on Canada thistle, field bindweed, leafy spurge, musk thistle, Dalmatian toadflax, salt cedar. I’ve probably got 500 release sites in this County. Some of them have been so successful that they have been used as collection sites [to collect insects for re-distribution]. Some of them didn’t do anything. Biocontrol has become a big part of our program in Goshen County. There’s now a State Biocontrol Steering Committee. Biocontrol is now a big part of what the Council supports.
We’re one State in the West that sends more money to agencies that find these insects, studies them, quarantines them, and eventually releases them in our area.
I decided to create these videos because we had done a good video in Nebraska, done by Becky McMillen. I asked Becky to do this video on Goshen County. She then conducted interviews, and videotaped in several other Counties."
Links to the Wyoming County interviews:
Steve Brill, Goshen County, Wyoming interview 2014
[Video interview conducted by Becky McMillen, transcribed by Dr. Delena Norris-Tull. Reviewed & Approved by Steve, Oct. 2, 2020.]
[Steve Brill has been the Goshen County Weed and Pest Supervisor for 26 years. Previously, he was a Nebraska Weed District Supervisor, and has a background in agriculture and in business.]
"When I took over in 1987 or 1988, my predecessor had retired and was not available to provide me any mentoring. The District Board allowed me to pursue whatever programs I wanted. I started a Canada thistle project first. Currently, we have leafy spurge, Russian olive, and salt cedar control programs.
In the beginning, I had a full-time Secretary and two summer employees. Now I have a Secretary, an Assistant Supervisor, and 15-20 summer employees. My District Budget is based on a 2 mill levy. The dollar amount has increased over the years, as property taxes have increased. And I also have several State grants. The chemical companies pay an annual registration fee that generates about $600,000 for the State. You have to apply for those funds through grant applications. One of the criteria is how poor the County is. Goshen County is one of the two or three poorest in the State. I’ve used grant funds for mosquito control, in response to the spread of West Nile Virus around 2004, and for grasshopper control, and for Russian olive and prairie dog management. We fog throughout the County for mosquitoes, mainly in the more populated areas.
In 1990, I got a lot of complaints from landowners about the Wyoming Game and Fish. Game and Fish was not interested in controlling weeds. They believed the weeds were good habitat for wild birds. We had a meeting with Game and Fish in 1994 to discuss the weed concerns, but we didn’t get anywhere. So I met with my local legislators, who helped out by talking to Game and Fish. Then we got cooperation from the local Game and Fish agents to create a weed management area.
In Wyoming, we are supposed to develop a “Coordinated Resource Management” plan. People within an area get together to work on issues, to come up with a plan that all can agree on. As a result, we had the first invasive weed CRM in Wyoming. We agreed to control weeds on Game and Fish ground and private ground, starting in the area of concern. We called that “Area 1.” We have now expanded that to 5 areas of concern in Goshen County [Note: an “area” is not necessarily a geographic area. It can be focused on a specific species]. Our CRM has been recognized throughout the State and the U.S. as a very positive program. We received the Stock Growers Stewardship Award in 2002. We were the only group to ever receive that award. Previously, it had always been given to individual landowners or ranchers. We were recognized in Washington, D.C., at the National Invasive Weed Awareness Week – at that time, we had been receiving some Federal funding.
The plan is to someday have a County-wide CRM area. We’re slowly getting there. Our 'Area 5' is the Russian olive and salt cedar management program. Our main focus is in the North Platte River drainage system. The North Platte River runs through Wyoming, through Nebraska, into the Missouri River, into the Mississippi River, and on. We focus on our State.
One of the most rewarding parts of that program was when I worked with a friend of mine, Gary Stone. He had been a representative for one of the chemical companies. He quit his job to come work for me. We were both driven to do something about the salt cedar on our North Platte River.
One winter, we started walking along the river, from the Nebraska state line, up-river, all the way to the Platte County line. We walked with backpacks from September to May. We walked both sides of the river, and covered about 147 miles. We sprayed salt cedar. There were only a few days we couldn’t work. It was peaceful and fun. You get a very different perspective, when you look up from the riverbanks, rather than looking down from the roads. We saw lots of wildlife and wild birds. We got permission from the landowners to go onto their property. We rarely saw another human being. We felt we accomplished a lot by doing this. One of the things that impressed me the most was all the shoes we found! This program was funded by a grant. The landowners didn’t have to pay for it.
We started from the Nebraska side because I had a partnership with a Weed Management area in Nebraska. And this was an excellent pilot project.
That project opened the door for us to help people. We are not an enforcement agency. We like to find a plan that is going to accomplish our goals and help everybody involved figure out what they’re going to do about invasive species.
This program was expanded to include both salt cedar and Russian olive. The North Platte River program now is organized over eight Counties. The Russian olive – salt cedar removal program has been helpful in saving water and preventing these trees from pushing out native species. As a result, I’ve seen areas where the cottonwoods have gotten greener, and the grasses have sprung up. Ranchers have commented that they now have more grass for grazing.
Wyoming has 23 County Weed and Pest Districts. It seems like all 23 Supervisors are dedicated to what they do and are enthused. The Wyoming Weed and Pest Council provides a conference every Fall, and a workshop every Spring. We all attend those, and we attend various trainings that occur throughout the year. Wyoming being the least populated State in the U.S., we get to know each other, and we get really close. We develop a friendship, kind of like a family, over the years.
We tend to get to know everybody we’re associated with, including all the State and Federal Agencies we work with.
In the last three years or so, at least 10 District Supervisors have retired. So the whole atmosphere is changing, with more younger people involved, that are bringing a whole different set of ideas and direction to the whole Statewide program. That is exciting, and it’s good because they’re all motivated too, and willing to carry it on.
When I first started, in 1987 or 1988, at my first Statewide meeting, I found I had to prove myself. But what impressed me most about that first year was there was a group of these guys that were old cowboys from the good old days. They had their style about them, and that was really cool. At the meeting, in the evening, they’d all grab their favorite instruments and sit in a little group and would spend a few hours jamming. It was pretty cool. The whole atmosphere was so down-to-earth. I was really happy I had moved into Wyoming.
Another thing that impressed me was the use of horses and mules. In Nebraska, I was used to all the mechanical, pickups or whatever, that were used for weed and pest control. Here, a lot of the Districts would use horses to go into the back country, for example, to spray leafy spurge. They’d carry everything on their horses. There are still some contractors that use horses to get into the back country, where it’s not possible to drive in.
Adrianne Peterson was the first female County Weed and Pest Supervisor in Wyoming. Now there are quite a few women in the Weed and Pest Council Group, and they all do a really good job.
All the people I associate with in this whole group are very dedicated to what they’re doing. You work at this long enough and it becomes a part of your life, more than just a job, because you can do so many things that you cannot do in a normal job. The work is so unique. I see a lot of wildlife, driving around the County Roads.
All the Counties have either a 5- or 7-person Board. This year, we have the first woman on the Goshen County Weed and Pest Board, since the District got started around 1973. All the Board members are ranchers, farmers, business owners. They’re all volunteers. They are appointed by the County Commissioner for four years. Many stay on the Board longer. They give me a lot of room to do what I gotta do, but they’re full of suggestions and energy and interest. As long as you’re working hard, they’ll support everything you try to do.
The Wyoming Weed and Pest Council is composed of six Area Directors, from across the State. They can come from either the County Weed and Pest Supervisors or a County Board. The Council President has to be a County Board member. Two or three of the six Area Directors can be a County Board member. The 1973 Weed and Pest Act defines the Districts and the job of the Supervisors. The Act covers the regulations for weed-free forage. In the Special Management section, there are funds from a state mill levy for special projects, such as leafy spurge and prairie dogs.
The Fall Conference rotates through the six Areas. There are speakers on various topics, a banquet, and several award presentations. Representative from the University of Wyoming attend. Representatives attend from the BLM, USFS, the US Bureau of Reclamation, and the State agencies.
Sharon Johnson has been involved with the Weed and Pest group for over 30 years, as a volunteer. She used to work with Harold Alley. She helps organize the conference and registration every year.
Guy Haggard was a sales representative for Dow Chemical Company in the 1950s. The company’s main thing at that time was 2,4-D. He got associated with the Weed and Pest Council and helped out a lot for years, even after he retired. He even helped out financially, using his own funds, such as by donating to the scholarships.
The Wyoming Weed and Pest Council scholarship started about 20 years ago. It provides $200 to a young person going to college. There are three scholarships now and one internship scholarship, to work full-time with a District.
There are also various awards to volunteers, Board members, and employees, to recognize their dedication to the Weed and Pest program. For example, there is the Harold P. Alley Award, the Archie Lauer Award, and the Guy Haggard Award.
George Hittle, the first State Weed and Pest Coordinator, was instrumental in a lot of what we’re doing, such as getting weed laws written. He was very helpful to me what I got started, for example, helping me learn how to manage the budget.
My mentors were mainly groups of people, rather than individuals, but a few individuals were very helpful, Bob Schumacher, Archie Lauer, Adrianne Peterson, Allen Mooney from Gillette."
Biocontrol: "I had done some work with biocontrol in Nebraska. In Wyoming, I got more into it because people’s concept of Weed and Pest Management here used to be just spraying, killing weeds and trees. I thought I can implement this idea of biocontrol as a tool, pesticides and herbicides as a tool, education as a tool. But biocontrol has become a lot of fun and is generating a lot of interest. Over the years, I’ve released insects on Canada thistle, field bindweed, leafy spurge, musk thistle, Dalmatian toadflax, salt cedar. I’ve probably got 500 release sites in this County. Some of them have been so successful that they have been used as collection sites [to collect insects for re-distribution]. Some of them didn’t do anything. Biocontrol has become a big part of our program in Goshen County. There’s now a State Biocontrol Steering Committee. Biocontrol is now a big part of what the Council supports.
We’re one State in the West that sends more money to agencies that find these insects, studies them, quarantines them, and eventually releases them in our area.
I decided to create these videos because we had done a good video in Nebraska, done by Becky McMillen. I asked Becky to do this video on Goshen County. She then conducted interviews, and videotaped in several other Counties."
Links to the Wyoming County interviews: