This Month at the Weed and Pest

With the continued frigid weather, customer traffic at the office has remained slow, but activities are still occurring. Despite the cold, building repairs are finally underway from the hail storm last spring. Plowing snow has become a common occurrence, and room is running out for places to pile it.

Much like people in the area are choosing (or wishing) to stay inside during this cold weather, the prairie dogs are staying warm down in their burrows. Due to this, poisoning has remained difficult because identifying active holes (or seeing holes at all) is necessary to get adequate control.

Regardless, the legal deadline for applying Rozol prairie dog poison is soon coming, with March 15 being the last day labeled to apply. The Weed and Pest still has some Rozol in stock, but please contact us if you are in need of Rozol, or to talk about other control options with more flexible application dates.

At the February monthly board meeting, board members were elected to positions within the board as required by statute (W.S. 11-5-104 (g)). Positions are as follows: Chairman – LeRoy Curren, Vice-Chairman – Chip Neiman, Secretary – Kolby Wickwire, and Treasurer – Vance Steedley. The terms for these positions is one year.

In addition to electing officials, the board started some basic board training. The training will be on-going due to the amount of information covered. Some topics covered are: fiscal responsibilities, legal responsibilities, strategic planning, basic meeting responsibilities and many more. The trainings are to ensure the members are as educated, and therefore effective, as possible.

The district is also in the process of developing a “strategic management plan” that is used to set specific goals and objectives that will give direction to the future of the district. The strategic management plan utilizes a “SWOT” analysis, which evaluates: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

This process also includes adding a mission statement and vision plan. It accounts for many aspects that affect the district such as: stakeholders, district values, district priorities, action items and current analysis of the districts (employees, programs, operations, etc.), and finally setting goals for the future.

The board made the decision to purchase a new “gopher-getter” machine that will be available to be rented for use by Crook County landowners (rental cost not yet set). This new piece of equipment is a tractor-pulled three-point hitch machine that builds artificial burrows and drops poison into them, intended for controlling pocket gophers on a larger scale.

The District currently has a machine, but it is considerably older and does not always work the best. It will still be available to check out at no charge to Crook County landowners.

In addition to renting the gopher-getter machine, the board decided to start a sprayer equipment rental program. The district has several different types of sprayers that will be available to be rented by Crook County landowners. Some of the sprayers that will be available are “jackrabbit” ATV sprayers, several different sizes of pump-up backpack sprayers, UTV/Truck slide in sprayer and nurse tanks.

Both district employees are looking forward to attending a few workshops in the coming weeks throughout the state. There is an office management workshop in Casper, March 19-20. This workshop provides training on common issues and responsibilities in local government, roundtable discussions and computer program trainings (which will be taught by Casper College professors.)

Both district employees will be attending this workshop, therefore, the Weed and Pest office will be closed on March 19 and 20. We are sorry for any inconvenience.

The Weed and Pest Council Annual Spring workshop will be held on April 2-4 in Saratoga and the District Supervisor will attend. This year’s workshop has multiple training and education items on the agenda.

One important session is a “Weed Free Forage” education training that will grant a “license” from North American Invasive Species Management Association (NAISMA) to inspect and certify hay fields “weed-free”. NAISMA has partnered with the US Forest Service and other federal entities, and this license is now a national requirement in order to certify hay fields. Another important session is an in depth “administrative training” for education on legal responsibilities.

Lastly, there will be one more opportunity for Crook County residents to attend a pesticide safety training from UW Extension. The training will be held in Hulett on Monday, March 25 from 1 to 4 p.m. in the Greater Hulett Community Center.

Attending this training will grant attendees a Wyoming Private Applicator License, as well as an opportunity for those with a Commercial Applicator License to receive 3 CEUs. This will be the last of these trainings in Crook County for the year, so if you are in need of a license, or just interested in coming, please mark your calendars. If you have any questions concerning this training, please contact our office (283-2375), or Blake Hauptman at UW Extension (283-1192).

Even though the weather is preventing many weed and pest control activities, spring is right around the corner and it is never too early to start preparing for weed control. The Weed and Pest office is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and we welcome all visitors. Feel free to stop by with any questions, concerns or just to say hello.