» 



"The thing is. we all have our 



(different areas of expertise." Grant 

 explains. "If we work together, we 

 multiply the information and training 

 we can apply to that particular location. 

 In my case. I feel I have a pretty 

 spectacular piece of geography and I 

 want the benefit of the best thinking 

 available." 



While Grant is talking, I'm looking 

 out for weeds I might recognize. I 

 laugh to myself when a little farther on 

 he pulls the truck off the road and up to 

 a large sign with black lettering. "War 

 On Weeds, Purple Loosestrife Manage- 

 ment Zone." With the weeds labeled 

 this clearly, even I will be able to 

 identify them. 



Behind the sign is land that is being 

 cooperatively managed in a county- 

 wide project funded by the Lake 

 County Weed District, the Confeder- 

 ated .Salish and Kootenai Tribes, the 

 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. FWP. 

 and the Montana Weed Trust Fund 

 grant program. The goal is to learn 



effective ways to battle one of the 

 state's newest noxious weeds. 



Wetlands are particularly vulnerable 

 to purple loosestrife. While the weed is 

 limited in Montana, its impact is 

 serious and a state management plan is 

 in place to contain and eradicate 

 infestations. That makes this project at 

 Ninepipe critical in the opinion of State 

 Weed Coordinator Barbra Mullin and 

 the State Weed Trust Fund advisory 

 board, which is backing the work. 



Down the road about a mile from the 

 purple loosestrife management zone. 

 Grant stops to show off one of the 

 longest running success stories on the 

 land — the use of biological controls to 

 keep the St. Johnswort in check. Touted 

 in the media for its medicinal effects in 

 relieving depression. St. Johnswort was 

 cause for depression in 1948. The 

 Chrysolina beetle, an insect introduced 

 in 1948 as a biological control, is more 

 or less effective depending upon how 

 many insects are working on the 

 problem during a particular year. 



"The insects seem to thrive when 

 there is a wet fall," Grant says, as we 

 walk through dry grasses that still have 

 the look of autumn about them. A wet 

 fall means more insects the next spring 

 to work on the St. Johnswort, while a 

 dry fall means fewer insects the next 

 spring. Where the land rises slightly I 

 see the telltale tobacco-colored St. 

 Johnswort that grew last year. The low, 

 dark plants sprinkled across the field in 

 no way dominate the landscape — or 

 other plants. 



"Overall, it's what I'd call under 

 control." he says. "It looks pretty bad 

 some years, but when the bugs have a 

 good year they do a much better job of 

 knocking it back than I ever could." 

 Instinctively. I bend down and break 

 one off to keep as a sample. Even as a 

 fully enlisted foot soldier in the war on 

 weeds. I sometimes forget and carry a 

 plant with me as I walk. It's a habit 

 from a childhood of summers on the 

 ranch when there wasn't anything to 

 watch for but wild strawberries and 





Above left: St. Johnswort, a European import colonizing roadsides and 

 disturbed sites, is kept in check by the Chrysolina beetle. Left: Repeated 

 tilling and planting grains and grasses eventually reclaimed a field of 

 whitetop. Above: Prescribed burning, done in cooperation with the Montana 

 Department of Natural Resources and local volunteer fire departments, 

 rejuvenates desirable plants and makes weeds easier to control. 



MONTANA OUTDOORS sr.PTCMBCR/ocioiii.R :ii(ki 9 



