Weed Commissioner

Weed Commissioner

Integrated Roadside Management

In Boone County, the Weed Commissioner is charged with operating a control program on the County's right-of-ways. The county has around 900 miles of paved and gravel roads, which gives us about 5,500 acres of ditches to manage. We have elected to make use of IRVM (Integrated Roadside Vegetation Management) principles in our approach to right-of-way management. This approach relies on spot spraying only our target species – mostly the thistle family. We attack the problems while leaving the non-problem areas untreated. This puts less pesticide load in the environment and encourages more of a variety in plant types present, including native forbs such as the Coneflowers, New England Aster, Prairie Phlox, Sunflower Heliopsis, Lead Plant, Butterfly Milkweed and others, rather than just a bromegrass monoculture. All of these native plants have been observed in the right-of-way, and we hope to see more different plant types in the future. We normally operate spraying programs in the spring and early summer as conditions permit. About half the right-of-ways are spot sprayed by the Weed Commissioner while the other half is covered by a custom applicator. This allows us to be as timely as possible at as low a cost as possible. We do our best, but misses will happen. If you notice a problem that has been untreated by early July please feel free to call the County Engineers office and we will make every effort to remedy it.

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