In June, 2007 the North Platte NRD
joined with the South Platte NRD and weed superintendents in eight
Panhandle counties to form the High Plains Weed Management Association
(WMA). On March 13, 2008 the High Plains WMA received official
program sponsorship from the Panhandle Resource Conservation &
Development, Inc. (RC&D) board of directors. (Read
More...)
The High Plains WMA, covering the counties
of Scotts Bluff, southern Sioux, Morrill, Garden, Banner, Kimball,
Cheyenne, and Deuel Counties, will focus on the eradication and
management of invasive species including Saltcedar,
Phragmites
,
Russian olive and Canada
thistle, as well as Musk
thistle and Whitetop.
More
about noxious weeds in Nebraska can be found at the
Nebraska
Noxious Weed Program website.
 
It is the vision of the High Plains WMA to
work cooperatively with private landowners, businesses, communities,
government and non-profit agencies to seek funding for and promote
programs to increase the productivity of the region's watershed
and riparian areas, farmland and grazing areas; and to educate
the public and landowners about proper weed manangement.
It is the intent of the High Plains WMA to be
highly visible and provide the opportunity to share and leverage
resources and help promote public awareness and participation
in weed and land management.
The High Plains WMA is currently
contacting private landowners, businesses and other organizations
as potential partners and supporters in their respective areas.
Any one with interest in getting involved in the HPWMA is invited
to contact their county weed superintendent (see left) or their
local NRD office.
In August, 2007 the High Plains
WMA received a portion of the LB701 money for invasive species
control in the amount of $65,000 (approximately $4,500 for each
of the seven counties). This money will be used in each of the
counties' priority weed management projects to be determined by
each county weed superintendent.
High Plains WMA representatives
have also been working with the Wyoming weed managers on the two-state
task force and have planned a three-day National Research
Summit to be held May 6-8, 2008 at the Gering Civic Center
(see above, top left). The summit will include six to eight national
research programs, and also speakers from the national tamarix
coalition. This will be the first weed summit of its kind to have
Russian olive and Saltcedar as its main focus.
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