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Weed and pest official outlines 2024 work, 2025 uncertainties, and grant needs
Summary
The county's weed and pest supervisor reviewed 2024 accomplishments, 2025 budget uncertainty for state grants, and plans for prairie dog and invasive plant control; staff will seek additional grants and coordinate landowner programs.
The county Weed and Pest supervisor presented a year-end recap and a look ahead to 2025, reporting work completed in 2024 and describing uncertainty about some state and federal grant programs that fund surveillance, fogging and herbicide reimbursements.
Why it matters: weed, pest and invasive-species management affect rangeland productivity, road rights-of-way and water-quality concerns. Grants and cooperative programs support much of the department's work and landowner reimbursement programs.
Key points: the supervisor said some state funding sources (including portions of mosquito surveillance/fogging and forestry grants) are on hold due to state-level budget uncertainty. The department expects at least one small noncompetitive reimbursement grant to return and recommended continuation of prairie-dog reimbursement and common-landowner grants to support private land treatment. The supervisor reported a detection of an invasive grass (yellow bluestem) in a limited plot and said the department will continue monitoring and treatment as needed.
Operations and outreach: the department plans educational pasture-walk workshops in May, continued private-applicator training, and continued partnership with neighboring municipalities for mosquito-control services if cities fund the work directly. The supervisor said the department will pursue other grant opportunities and may ask the board for help prioritizing county cost-sharing if competitive grants do not materialize.
Next steps: staff will pursue additional grants, continue landowner reimbursement programs where feasible, and report back with funding recommendations if grant streams remain limited.
