California Forest Stewardship Program: Weeds

Attack your weeds like a wildfire

Awareness of the damage caused by noxious weeds is becoming widespread, but controlling these pests takes more than awareness--it requires constant vigilance and cooperative efforts.

If you want to concentrate your efforts where they will be most effective, consider this central principle of weed management: Small infestations can be eradicated, large infestations can only be controlled.

The usual approach is to attack large areas of weeds first. The rationale is that small patches are not causing any harm now, so they can be ignored temporarily. But before we know it, the small patches have spread, and we are left with more large weed problems.

We must reverse our priorities and eradicate all small occurrences as quickly as possible. Weed management can be compared to fighting wildfires. Notice the similarities below.

	Fire	Weeds
Build a fireline	One of the first actions taken when fighting a large wildfire is to build a fire line to contain the outbreak within a certain boundary.	Rather than a line on the ground, draw a line on a map delineating the current extent of large weed infestations. Commit to containing the infestation within this boundary.
Eliminate spotfires	Any fire that jumps the fireline has top priority and is eliminated as quickly as possible before it has the chance to spread. If allowed to spread, the results can be disastrous: fire fighters may be caught between two outbreaks, two large fires will have to be fought rather than one, and many more resources will be needed.	When weeds escape from the boundary you have drawn, they should become top priority. Think of small isolated occurrences as back country spotfires. If they are located early and attacked aggressively they can be eradicated before they spread; if ignored they will likely become so large they may never be eliminated entirely.
Protect critical areas	Critical areas include places where people or structures are located.	Critical areas include pristine natural sites, critical wildlife habitat, productive rangelands, and rare plant and animal habitat.
Control the main outbreak	Often an expensive investment in resources is required. Even with massive control efforts, large fires often are not stopped until the weather changes and rain or snow stops the fire.	Large infestations require long-term control efforts. Even with years of effort, these occurrences may never be completely eliminated. Unfortunately their seed banks may be huge, and their natural controls are rarely available. They may require some level of control forever.

--from Creating an Integrated Weed Management Plan: A Handbook for Owners and Managers of Lands with Natural Values. 2000. Colorado Natural Areas Program, Colorado State Parks, Colorado Department of Natural Resources; and Division of Plant Industry, Colorado Department of Agriculture. Denver, Colorado. 349 pages. Available at http://www.cnap.state.co.us/IWM_handbook/IWM_index.htm .

For more information on the California Forest Stewardship Program, contact Jeffrey Calvert, Forestry Assistance, California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection, PO Box 944246, Sacramento, CA 94244-2460. (916) 653-8286.

Modified: 7/29/02