Our MissionTo provide noxious weed and pest management services to the residents of Fremont County by applying integrated pest management practices which consider the environment, the economy, and the well-being of our resources.
In this edition
FCWP commended by Public Lands Foundation
Thanks summer crews for a job well done!
District 'Soop' wins Visionary Leader award
PlayCleanGo: Don't bring invasives into Wyo
FCWP receives public lands stewardship award
The Public Lands Foundation has awarded Fremont County Weed and Pest a Landscape Stewardship Certificate of Appreciation and Citation. The Wyoming BLM Lander Field Office nominated FCWP for the award.
The BLM and FCWP have partnered for more than 25 years working to control invasive weeds on 2.4 million acres and working together are successfully implementing the BLM’s Resource Management Plan noxious weed program.
FCWP has “a strong and well thought out public education program,” the written citation stated. “They have a comprehensive weed inventory and mapping effort. They employ an early detection rapid response effort, using biological and herbicide treatments. And they have an effective monitoring program. In short, they are the standard to which other local weed and pest control organizations compare themselves.”
The plaque and certificate were presented to FCWP staff at the BLM Lander Field Office on Oct 30.
“It is an honor to receive this award and we appreciate the recognition from our local BLM office. We have a strong partnership with them which goes back many years working collaboratively on great projects which have improved our public lands,” said FCWP district supervisor Aaron Foster. “I want to thank the great team of Fremont County Weed and Pest employees. It is their efforts that drive strong partnerships and successful weed management.”
The Public Lands Foundation is a national non-profit membership organization that advocates and works in support of America’s National System of Public Lands which is managed by the BLM.
Great work, summer crews!
Each year, Fremont County Weed and Pest hires about 30 seasonal field workers and office staff for the summer who are vital to our district's efforts to control noxious weeds in Fremont County.
Please join us in thanking all of them for their hard work braving the heat, snakes and bugs (and paperwork) -- all the great stuff that comes with the job.
Thanks to our hardy seasonal crews for making the Summer of '17 a success!
Also, please join us in congratulating our Seasonal Employees of the Year, Kevin Green and Miles Kearl.
Kevin Green of the FCWP Lander Shop was the Wyoming Weed and Pest Council’s Area 5 Employee Recognition Winner. Area 5 includes Fremont, Sweetwater and Carbon counties.
“Kevin really stepped up to the plate when he was asked to manage private land spraying,” said FCWP assistant supervisor Paul Cohen.
"During the course of the summer, Kevin managed two to three crews working mainly on private lands and some public lands. He helped by using his 20-plus years of experience at FCWP to more efficiently treat properties enrolled in the Special Management program. Kevin was promoted to Crew Chief for his good work.”
Based out of the FCWP Riverton Shop, Area 5 Nominee Miles Kearl has worked four summers at FCWP. This year he oversaw noxious weed control on county roads and weed control on local irrigation systems.
“He has matured into a valuable employee,” said FCWP assistant supervisor Mike Wille.
“He accomplishes his assignments in a professional manner with little supervision. He has developed the ability to evaluate on-site situations and make accurate and timely modifications to keep his crews working and to avoid potential problems. He is a valuable member of our team.”
The annual award is for continued dedication and efforts towards invasive species control across North America.
Aaron is the former president of NAISMA and currently serves on its Biological Control Committee. He has been FCWP’s district supervisor since 2014.
So how does a plant from Eurasia end up in the middle of a forest in Wyoming?
Obviously somebody didn’t PlayCleanGo.
As a subscriber to our newsletter, by now you probably know about PlayCleanGo.
Fremont County Weed and Pest is a strong supporter of the national public awareness campaign that strives to educate hikers, bikers and other public land users to clean their gear before leaving a recreational area to avoid spreading invasive species from place to place.
We often refer to our local trails to help tell the story -- but it’s not only important to clean your gear when moving from, for example, the weedy trails of “The Bus” trail system in Lander to the mostly pristine BLM trails at Johnny Behind The Rocks south of town. It’s also of vital importance to PlayCleanGo when visiting other states – or even our own state’s Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. That way you're not bringing some unwanted hitchhiking weed back home with you.
This fall, FCWP district supervisor Aaron Foster went on a vacation to Oregon where he rafted the Rogue River.
“I encountered yellow starthistle at one of our camps,” Foster says. “It reminded me how important it is as recreationists and land users that we embrace the PlayCleanGo mentality. It would have been very easy to accidently collect yellow starthistle seeds in my tent, shoes, or rafting gear and transport them a thousand miles back to Wyoming.”
Yellow starthistle is an invasive plant that infests millions of acres in some western states but has not become established in Wyoming.
It’s very important that we clean our clothing, shoes, equipment, vehicles and livestock before moving from one place to another, whether you’re on local trails or travelling in far away places, says FCWP assistant supervisor Bob Finley.
“One seed from a yellow starthistle plant showing up somewhere here in Wyoming could be the start of something really big, and not in a good way. The same thing goes for plants such as medusahead or ventenata, which are invasive annual grasses not previously found in Wyoming until recently in Sheridan County,” Finley says.
Some species of noxious weeds are so invasive that, starting with just a few undetected plants, can overrun an area in a just a few years, producing a monoculture with such a huge seedbank that it might never be effectively controlled.
“The main idea behind PlayCleanGo is that prevention is infinitely cheaper and more effective than trying to eradicate an established infestation,” says Finley, who oversees the Dubois region for FCWP.
“Every year I find an incipient infestation of some unexpected plant in an unexpected place. Usually it’s spotted knapweed along a road on the Shoshone National Forest, miles away from any other known infestation and where we’ve never seen it before. It’s typically a single plant or maybe just a few.”
So how does a plant native to the continent of Eurasia suddenly spring up alongside a forest road in the mountains above Dubois?
“I usually suspect it was brought here by a vehicle from Idaho or Montana where they have a lot of spotted knapweed or maybe Yellowstone or Grand Teton national parks,” Finley says. “But, it could have come from a local vehicle by someone who had recently travelled out of the area and brought it back. It doesn’t matter who’s to blame, it only matters that it happened.”
So please remember to PlayCleanGo and spread the word, not the problem.
Newsletter content by FCWP Specialist Wesley Smalling and staff contributions.
Photos by FCWP staff unless otherwise noted.
FCWP in Lander
Courthouse Office 332-1052
Shop/Warehouse 332-3709
56 Tweed Lane
Green of the FCWP Lander Shop was the 
Based out of the FCWP Riverton Shop, Area 5 Nominee Miles Kearl has worked four summers at FCWP. This year he oversaw noxious weed control on county roads and weed control on local irrigation systems.
s not previously found in Wyoming until recently in Sheridan County,” Finley says.
trying to eradicate an established infestation,” says Finley, who oversees the Dubois region for FCWP.
