Noxious Weed Projects
The Weed Department is involved in many weed control projects each year. From dozens of private landowner jobs to several large scale public land projects the department is committed to controlling noxious weeds wherever they may grow.
Rights-of-way
Uintah County Weed Department is required by law to control noxious vegetation on its properties the same as required of each citizen. Our goal is to provide aesthetically pleasing and safe travel corridors for the citizens and visitors of Uintah County.
Below are two examples of poor roadside weed control.
These are the situations we seek to improve in the next few years.
Matt Warner Reservoir
Many citizens of Uintah County are aware of the vast problems of perennial pepperweed (tall whitetop), Russian-olive, saltcedar (tamerisk) and Russian knapweed within the County. The Weed Department along with partners of the Uintah Basin Cooperative Weed Management Area (UBCWMA) are working hard to prevent another noxious weed from becoming a similar problem. Spotted knapweed has infested the area northwest of Matt Warner Reservoir on Diamond Mountain. Due to massive control efforts, over the past several years, this weed has largely been prevented from spreading. If left uncontrolled, this noxious weed could damage hundreds of acres of prime livestock range and wildlife habitat The partners of the UBCWMA are committed to controlling spotted knapweed here and throughout Uintah County.
Below left: A spotted knapweed plant near the north parking area at Matt Warner Reservoir.
Below right: Personnel from the Weed Department and Utah Division of Wildlife working on spotted knapweed north of Matt Warner Reservoir.
 
Ashley Creek
Perennial pepperweed (tall whitetop) has been a problem for farmers and ranchers in Jensen for many years. Recently it has become more of a problem for those living upstream from Jensen. Therefore, the Weed Department and the UBCWMA have commenced a project to control perennial pepperweed along Ashley Creek all the way from Steinaker Dam to the Green River. Over the past several years the UBCWMA has received grant funding from the Federal Government to help secure necessary labor and materials to control this weed in some very difficult areas along Ashley Creek. Ashley Creek is a primary corridor for infestation of perennial pepperweed.
Lapoint and Tridell
Errol Merkley, a former member of the Weed Board, lives in Tridell. He has been concerned over the increasing perennial pepperweed problem in his area. After he reported it to the Weed Department, a project was set up through the UBCWMA to control about 80 acres of the pepperweed. Ground and aerial equipment is used to apply 2,4-D and Plateau herbicide to pepperweed and Russian-olive. In 2007 the results have shown fairly good results (see photos below). The Weed Department will continue to work on the pepperweed in this general area over the next several years.
 
Leafy spurge
Leafy spurge is a growing concern in the Uintah Basin. It has infested several areas all around Vernal and has only expanded its range minimally. The Weed Department is trying to map every infestation of leafy spurge to ensure complete control each year. Because herbicides have minimal effect on well established patches, the Weed Department will attempt to introduce Aphthona flea beetles and/or other biological controls to the infestation in 2008. It is hoped that the flea beetles will be able to thrive and control leafy spurge in less accessible areas of the County.
 
 Blue Mountain
An alert BLM worker spotted another potential vegetative hazard in a remote area of Blue Mountain near Dinosaur National Monument and the State of Colorado. Diffuse knapweed is a rangeland problem that can drastically reduce carrying capacity of rangelands. Currently less than 10 acres of diffuse knapweed are known to exist in Uintah County. The Weed Department is organizing a project for the summer of 2008 to control this small area and prevent this weed from reproducing with the hope of eventual eradication.
Saltcedar Biological Control
Occasionally there are bright hopes among the dismal nature of weed control. Saltcedar biological control is one of those bright hopes. Saltcedar is one of those weeds that are extremely difficult to control with herbicides, mechanical or cultural controls. Until recently biological controls had been nonexistent. In about 2002 the saltcedar leaf beetle was approved for experimental release in the United States. A site near Delta, Utah was one of the first release sites and the results have been spectacular. After only a few years of beetle control, hundreds of acres of saltcedar have been exfoliated and killed. Similar results have been documented near Moab, Utah. Several miles of saltcedar along the Colorado River near Moab have been killed by hungry beetles. Native vegetation is left untouched by the beetles so it can flourish. (See top two photos below)
Uintah County received its first beetles from the Moab area in 2006. Several thousand saltcedar beetles were introduced near the Bonanza Bridge south of Vernal, Utah, Stewart Lake near Jensen, Utah, and the Ouray Bird Refuge near Ouray, Utah. An additional transplant of several thousand beetles occurred in August 2007 near the Bonanza Bridge. The beetles are reproducing well and are showing signs of exfoliating saltcedar trees. The bottom photos show a series of exfoliation from August 2 to August 30, 2007 (See bottom two photos below).
More beetles have been introduced in Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado. They are reproducing well and appear to be headed towards Utah along the Green River.
   
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