DAWSON COUNTY WEED ADVISORY BOARD
22 APRIL 2015
Attendance: Art Gehnert, Steve Hinebauch, Dale Kreiman, Michael Bacon, and Heath Craig. Gary Kartevold showed up about 1900.
Called to order by Chairman Dale Kreiman at 1745.
Agenda was reviewed; motion was made, seconded and passed to accept the agenda
Dale mentioned that Michael called him and asked if he could email the minutes from the previous meeting to him to review since it was 3 pages long and would take a while to read. It was discussed to continue doing it that way and everyone concurred to have Michael email them. Art and Steve provided emails.
Heath reported on the workshop in Miles City. He was introduced to new chemicals and new applications for bio control. One insect used for bio control specifically on Canadian Thistle is being worked on and should be out in 2-3 years. Heath also mentioned that there is a type of fungus called “rust” that grows on the undersides on leaves of some plants and it is being worked on to be able to be used in a sprayer.
Heath also reported that at the Miles City workshop he learned that there will be a bug collection up in Lewiston for leafy spurge that he would like to take part in. He would like to try some bugs on Baischs land but also stressed that for the best kill of leafy spurge a chemical/bug combination will need to be applied. Dale mentioned that in a previous meeting, it was discussed and agreed upon that biocontrol is too costly. Heath replied that if he were to help with the collection up in Lewiston, we will get some bugs of our own for free and that we can place them and they will populate and we do our own collecting and redistribution of these bugs in other areas around the county.
The level 3 workshop in Bozeman focused on weed identification and range land management. The field work was cancelled due to snow. Heath also mentioned that there will be “New Weed Coordinators” training in Helena sometime in November. This training will focus mainly on legal and other law related stuff that applies to Montana thru the Montana Code Annotated. He said that this is a meeting that occurs every 8-10 years and that weed board members, county commissioners and anyone who is involved in any form of county weed control should attend. Dale thought it would be good for board members to attend the meeting in Helena, and that we should look into increasing the travel budget so more people can attend this meeting. Michael said he would mention it to Joe and discuss increasing the budget this year.
There will be a meeting in Wolf Point that Joe and Heath might attended that will focus on the agenda for the spring weed spraying crew training that will be held in Glendive on June 4th. This meeting will be to discuss speakers, field 1st aid training, label understanding, ATV training and how to properly fill out paperwork.
Heath reported that there have been 5 applications received for the summer positions. Jasmine Evens and Dick Krueger are the only ones returning from last year. Steve asked how many positions need filled. Heath said hopefully 3 because when spraying MDT roads, it works out pretty good to have 1 as a flagger and 2 spraying with four-wheelers. Heath commented that he is hoping to start spraying some places next week with Krueger to get a head start on some areas before the summer help comes on board.
Dale inquired about the mosquito department and if we are responsible for it. Heath and Michael both mentioned that we are responsible for it and we have been since Joe, Michael and Heath took over the weed department but the mosquito department has its own separate budget.
Michael reviewed and explained the budget and the line items that the weed department is over budget on. Heath commented that we are nearly over budget with our funds from MDT to spray their right of ways. He said he talked with Mike Skillestad, Mike Miller, Tom Roberts, and others who all agreed that if we need a little more funding this year they will ok it due to the heavy infestation there is up on Highway 200 and FAS 254. Steve asked if overall we are ok on our budget and after review it again we are ok overall and should be until end of fiscal year.
Heath commented that we are almost all ready to go with all of the equipment to start this year’s spray season and that he is finishing up with a spray unit on the boat. He also said that he is finishing up spray tank set up for the road department so they can have 3 road sprayers available, 1 in Richey and 2 in Glendive. Heath did mention that the dodge pickup he drives is not shifting right with the new tranny he put in it recently. He ran some tests at Certified Car Care and found out the speed tranny sensor and the electronic shift sensor is going bad. He talked with the company that he got the transmission from and they said they will send the right parts to fix it.
Michael asked who will be responsible for payment to get it fixed and if it’s under warranty. Heath was not sure but he said he would like Certified Car Care to fix it so that the repairs will be from a certified shop and that way he can argue with the company to have them pay for the repairs.
Michael mentioned that the monies from the county/reservation are in and that it has been earmarked in the grant for either a GPS system or for an ATV. Heath presented a GPS system he would like to have. An original quote from Red’s Fix It for a little over $10,500 was received last fall for 3 monitors and Heath recently received a quote from them for 2 monitors for a little over $7,500. Heath said this GPS system will monitor flow rates, where it went, how much was sprayed. He said the monitors could be used for both the mosquito sprayers and weed sprayers. After much discussion, it was agreed upon that a GPS system would benefit the county. A motion was made, seconded, and passed to use the county/reservation grant to purchase the GPS system with 2 monitors.
Michael reviewed the equipment rental rates. After discussion, motion was made, seconded and passed to keep the rates as what they currently are. Dale mentioned that he has run into a lot of people who did not know that they could rent equipment from the county. He would an article or add ran in the paper letting people know. Steve asked about the spray distance the ATV sprayers could go. Heath said that they are set up to spray 15 feet out on both sides of the ATV. He also reiterated that the ATV spray tanks were for rent and not the ATV’s themselves.
Heath said that there are 3 major projects they would like to try to focus on this year, Infestations on Baisch’s, Fergusons, and Whiteman’s land. He said these projects may take some time and that he and Krueger will try to start on them as soon as possible
Art asked if these landowners as well as the park services have been working well with the weed department. Heath said they were and that also he has to ask the landowners that border the park by the city dump and by Parkview loop to cross their land to access those sides of the park easier.
Michael informed the board that the county attorney had to write two letters to Rob Reilly about the infestation on their land bordering 13 mile Creek. He then read a letter from Reilly that claims that they have been controlling weeds on their land since 2000 and that they called to talk about the noncompliance. Heath and Michael both said they had never any form of contact from the Reillys and according to Joe, he has never had any either. Art suggested that challenge the Reillys and have them prove they have been controlling weeds the last 15 years. Heath agreed and said that before he does that he and Joe needs to drive up and look at 13 Mile Creek again and see what needs done before they contact Reillys.
Michael mentioned that he has been working on updating the county weed management plan and that whoever wrote it before had no clue what they were doing and did not know how to word stuff right. Dale concurred that he read through it too and a lot of the wording did not make sense.
Heath said that the weed department has 2 machines with dosatrons set up that we don’t use and suggested we sell them for 50% of cost. Michael asked about a public notice and Heath said that the Dept. of Agriculture has a web site that we can list them on and that should suffice as public announcement. A motion was made, seconded and passed to sell the dosatrons on the Dept. of Ag website. Heath said he would call to set it up and make sure it will suffice as public announcement.
Gary Kartevold came in late from a different meeting that he attended and a review was given of the meeting so far. He asked about grants and contracts. Michael explained to him the county/reservation grant and Heath explained to him the contract we have with MDT and the park services and why we do not have a contract with BLM anymore.
Gary mentioned he wants the road sprayers to get out and spray people lands if landowners want the road sprayer to spray something on their land. Michael and Heath tried to explain to him that those are two different departments and that the road sprayers only do the roads at the cost of the road department’s budget and that any other form of spraying is through the weed department. There would be no way to properly bill out to the landowners spraying done by the road department. Gary said he still thought the road sprayers and road department should still be more cooperative with landowners about spraying weeds on their land if they want the road department to.
Gary also mentioned a lot of weed areas in the area of the county where he lives and stated that since they weren’t sprayed last year he expects them sprayed this year. Heath said that would depend if the landowner contacts them to spray and the workload they will have by the time the landowners contact them. Gary also said that he thought the bull thistle on Road 106 didn’t need sprayed last year and that the weed department should have sprayed other stuff instead. Heath informed him that Road 106 is owned and maintained by MDT and that MDT wants everything in their right of way from the shoulder of the road all the way out to the fence to get sprayed not matter what it is.
Motion was made to adjourn, seconded at passed.
Adjoined at 1915
______/Chairman ______
Dawson County Weed Board Date