On a sunny day in Snoqualmie with Mount Si in the background, 40 EarthCorps crew members donned their safety gear and got hands-on training in noxious weed control from the King County Noxious Weed Control Program. This enthusiastic group of students represented an impressive range of continents (5), countries (11) and states (10), and were very active learners, asking questions of each of the speakers throughout the day.
In the morning classroom session, held in the City of Snoqualmie Council Chambers, instructors from the noxious weed program reviewed the state noxious weed laws, weed lists, identification and control of selected noxious weeds using the Integrated Pest Management (IPM), sprayer calibration, and pesticide record keeping.
Then, heading outside for the afternoon, the EarthCorps crew members practiced safely handling, mixing and applying herbicide to the remnants of a stand of invasive knotweed.
Instructors gave practical demonstrations about how to calibrate and maintain knotweed injectors (watch a video to learn how it’s done). Triple rinsing equipment and careful record keeping concluded a beautiful day of learning in the field. WSDA recertification credits were offered to state licensed pesticide applicators upon completion of the training.
This training was provided to support the work and mission of EarthCorps. For more information about this awesome organization, see the EarthCorps website. Here is an excerpt: EarthCorps works to ensure that people and nature can thrive together. Their mission is to build a global community of leaders through local environmental service. EarthCorps brings together passionate and hardworking young adults from the US and countries around the world, for a yearlong leadership training program in Seattle, Washington. EarthCorps is a 501c3 non-profit located in Seattle, Washington.
The noxious weed program instructors for the training included Tricia MacLaren, Federal and State Lands Coordinator, and the program’s Riparian Noxious Weed Team leads: Justin Brooks, Sayward Glise, Randy Ladowski and Erin Haley. Thanks to the City of Snoqualmie for the use of the Council Chambers and for permission to treat the knotweed on their property.
To request a noxious weed training for your organization or community group, contact the noxious weed program’s education lead. Upcoming noxious weed classes that are open to the public are posted on the class schedule page.
What herbicide was used?
That’s a good question. For knotweed control there are only two systemic herbicides that we have found effective on killing enough root to be useful. In this training I’m not sure which one was used but we typically use aquatic formulations of either glyphosate or imazapyr on knotweed. Email us at noxious.weeds@kingcounty.gov and we can give you more information on knotweed control. Thanks for your question!