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Noxious Weed Office reports new state listings, grants and new programs for 2025
Summary
Noxious Weed Office Manager Larry Hudson told commissioners the office is fully staffed and outlined new state listings, grants and planned programs including drone surveys, equipment leasing and aquatic treatments.
Larry Hudson, manager of Okanogan County’s Noxious Weed Office, told the Board of County Commissioners the office is now fully staffed and described work and grant awards planned for 2025.
Hudson said the county’s weed board adopted the Washington State Noxious Weed List and that the state added two Class A listings this year. The county has known infestations of roundleaf bittersweet; marsh thistle is listed as Class A with no known infestations in the county. The weed board also designated puncture vine, longspine sandburr and spurflax as species required for control in public right-of-ways and parking areas.
Hudson summarized grants and cost-share awards under development: $8,333 from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for leafy spurge control on the Similkameen River; a $60,000 BLM grant for the Eagle Bluff wildfire area (split $30,000 in 2025 and $30,000 in 2026) to fund a landowner cost-share assistance program; a $5,000 Washington State Department of Natural Resources agreement for weed control on non-grazed parcels; and a Title II award partially funded at $30,000 (requested $40,000) for a Bonaparte Mountain/Spur Mountain fire-area project.
Under a separate agreement with the Colville Tribes, Hudson said the county expects $35,000 to survey noxious weeds on the reservation and oversee a contractor (Empire Spray Service of Spokane). He said the tribe also provided a separate $65,000 for contractor spraying and has applied for additional funds; Hudson noted national news about an executive order temporarily suspending some federal grants and said that could affect timing but that he expected resolution before field season.
Hudson outlined planned programs for 2025: a spring pesticide recertification class on March 6 at the Mirage Movie Theater in Omak (six recertification credits); participation at the state coordinators conference in Chelan March 12–14 (Hudson will present on enforcement); a Noxious Weed Equipment Lease Program funded in this year’s budget; a drone-survey volunteer pilot for larger landowners to speed property surveys; expanded aquatic treatments and outreach to lake associations (OCUs, Spectacle and possible work at Palmer Lake); and development of an online training video series on spray equipment calibration, pesticide labels and recordkeeping.
Commissioners asked for enforcement and acreage-tracking data. One commissioner requested a spreadsheet showing treated acreage and parcel identifiers for the last three years, plus a separate table showing enforcement actions (landowners contacted, acreage subject to enforcement) so the board can track trends and whether enforcement levels are rising in step with population growth.
Why it matters: Noxious-weed programs protect agriculture, public land and water supplies. Grants and cost-share programs affect who bears treatment costs; federal funding delays would change planning and contracting timetables.
What’s next: Hudson will provide a supplemental packet with confirmed funding sources for the 2025 budget and email the enforcement acreage and parcel spreadsheet requested by the board.
