Ash Creek Weed Management Area

Look What We Started!!!

There are currently eight official Weed Management Areas in the State of Nebraska. Three years ago there was only one – and it was right here in Northwest Nebraska. PRIDE was very pleased to begin Nebraska’s very first WMA through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation – Pulling Together Initiative. A large portion of this grant money is directly being used to spray noxious and invasive weeds on private lands.

What is a Weed Management Area?

It is a specified area of land designated for the purpose of coordinating a cooperative weed management plan. An area with current weed problems could form a plan to eradicate their weeds or an area with few weeds could form a plan to prevent future weed problems. The only element required to form a weed management area is a group of cooperative land managers with the desire to actively manage their weeds. PRIDE developed this project to address noxious weed concerns in the Ash Creek Watershed, which flows into the White River just south of Whitney, Nebraska. This watershed encompasses 31,000 acres of Ash Creek and its two main tributaries, East and West Ash Creeks. Its diverse terrain including the Pine Ridge provides for a beautiful place to live, as well as increased challenges with weed control.

Project tasks have included:

1.  Providing WMA private landowners with funds to purchase herbicides and/or seed for competitive grass seeding. 
2.  Establishing biological control sites with insects on Leafy Spurge. Landowners received these insects as a donation courtesy of the Nebraska  Department of Agriculture and Sheridan County Weed Control.
3.  GPS mapping of the watershed’s weed infestations began by MidDakota Vegetation Management Mapping was also completed in the neighboring Squaw Creek Watershed.  
4.  Fall spraying on over 5,000 acres of weeds in 2002 and 2003
5.  Establishing test plots within the watershed with various herbicides and competitive grass seeding. Sponsors include Dow AgroSciences, BASF, Dupont and  UNL Panhandle Research and Extension Center. 

New and exciting changes are ahead for this project including providing landowners with assistance for rangeland improvements and increased weed acres controlled through competitive vegetation seeding. For more information, please contact Julie Huffman at the Upper Niobrara White Natural Resources Distirct (308-432-6190).