Fish and Game Receives Noxious Weed Control Grant

The Idaho Fish and Game recently received a $50,000 grant for weed control from the Idaho Department of Agriculture's Noxious Weed Cost Share Program. The money will be used on the Craig Mountain Wildlife Management Area to buy herbicides, aerial spraying contracts and seeding burned areas previously dominated by noxious weeds within the Chimney Complex Fire. "This grant will help a lot of folks pull together to fight weeds," said John Nelson, Idaho Fish and Game wildlife technician. Fish and Game is part of the Tri-State Cooperative Weed Management Area, a local group consisting of landowners, federal and state officials from Oregon, Washington and Idaho that work collaboratively to develop integrated management plans that bring available resources and effective techniques together to combat the growing invasive weed problem. Idaho has 57 noxious weed species that cost millions of dollars to our state by degrading wildlife habitat, choking streams, crowding out beneficial native plants, creating fire hazards, poisoning livestock and fouling recreations sites. For more information on Idaho's noxious weed management program, visit the Idaho Department of Agriculture's website at www.agri.state.id.us or call 1-888-IDWEEDS.