July 23, 2025 Minutes
Noxious Weed Management Advisory Board Meeting Minutes
July 23, 2025
The meeting was called to order at 7:02 pm. Board members present included: James Johnson, Jason Brent, and Gillian Smith. Also present was Public Works Director Curtis Hall and County Commissioner Jason Maxey. Board members Chuck Birkemeyer, Daryl Weist and Cami Baylie along with Deputy Director Duane Naibauer were absent.
Curtis Hall told the Advisory Board about the national award Tina had received for the spray drone program and thanked her for her hard work and dedication. Commissioner Maxey seconded the comments and added what a pleasure it is to work with the staff of Weld County and all that they do and accomplish for the citizens of Weld County.
There was no changes or additions to the agenda.
Gillian moved and James seconded the acceptance of the March minutes.
Old Business
OLD BUSINESS
I 2025 Program Update
Events
January 28-30 Colorado Farm Show – 100 participants at the booth
January 29 Weed presentations at the Farm Show – 60 participants
February 18 WGCD Job Fair for High School Jr/Sr - Cancelled
April 7 South Platte Historical Society – Presentation - Kathy Griffee – 20 partic.
April 23 Mountain West PEST – Western Invasives Short Course: Spray Drone demo - 40
May 7 Children’s Water Festival – North (Kevin & Tina) – 250 plus youth and adults
May 15 Code Compliance Training for Municipalities – 21 participants from 8
July 23 Weld County Fair – Creative Weeds – 1 poster; 3 live flower & 2 dry flower – 4 different participants
July 29 Spray Drone partnership with Larimer County at CR 13 for Hairy Willow-Herb – mostly treating Canada thistle to help protect Weld County
August 4-15 Purple Loosestrife
August 8 WGCD Annual BBQ
August 22 Spray Drone demo for CSU restoration workshop partnering with City of Greeley
October 8 Children’s Water Festival – South
Facebook Posts and Other Outreach
Facebook and Twitter: 36 posts from March 17 – October 20, once a week. 7 on Public Works Operations; 29 on plants, control and pollinators.
Spraying
Bare-ground Acres: 19.35 acres this spring.
Handgun Acres: 32.58
Roadside Acres: 492.3 Lane Miles: 2945 (only difference: 2024 = 3727.5 lane miles with 3 trucks; otherwise, acres treated were the same for the 3rd week of July. Rain increased seed germination)
Pawnee National Grassland: Spot treated about 1/4 acre out of 300 acres using 24 gallons of solution.
Landowner Specialists
Field Contacts: 3861 (checking on properties, looking at complaints, meeting with landowners, etc.)
Office Contacts: 1870 (identifying properties, letters, phone calls, follow-up, records, etc.)
Legal Notices mailed: 9 Compliance: 6 compliance Enforcements: 3 pending
Mowed: 3; Disked: 0; Sprayed: 2; Pull: 1
Mower Staff
Lane Miles: 751 or approx.375.5 miles out of 748 miles of paved roads (two passes). Target goal is 2500 lane miles/year. 1 tractor was down for a month because of a computer issue.
Boom Mower: Finally operational. Tough spring with wind undoing the work we have done. Until private lands address the plants on their side of the fence – will continually impact the County. 14 miles with tumbleweeds and 11 miles with rabbitbrush (treated behind being mowed).
Special Projects
Past special projects that are still in the monitoring and evaluating stage for grass establishment and weed control: Geisert trail, Grader Testing area, North of Fuel Island, East Davis Stockpile Site, LNG area, CR 38 Comm Tower, Bridge 91/38A; Stoneham pond, and Fiscus Pit (Sorghum in May, grass in December/January), Koskie Gravel Pit.
New Special Project: Soil Regeneration at 5 sites around the County. See handout for plan.
Cost Share Funds available
Weld County: $ 10,000.00 Funds Left: $ 6,699.49
50% up to $600
People signed up: 16 Funds spent: $ 3,300.51
People cost-shared with: 8
West Greeley CD: $9,560.71 Funds Left: $ 2,573.40
50% up to $600
People signed up: 23 Funds spent: $ 6,987.31
People cost-shared with: 21
Make America Beautiful: $80,000.00 Funds Left: $ 71,342.86
80% up to $1500
People signed up: 10 Funds spent: $ 8,657.14
People cost-shared with: 9
II Grant Projects Update: The only grant we are working on is the “Make America Beautiful” the name has changed to “American Ecosystem Restoration Initiative”. Currently, we have 2 years or until October 2026 to spend the $80,000. They are going to start the paperwork to see if we can get permission to extend it to April 2027. This would give us through March to finalize paperwork and receipts. Based on the conference call today, the money sounds secure and that we are good to keep spending and meeting our goals. Kathy has been working diligently on this project contacting landowners and encouraging them to submit receipts. It just takes lots of nagging. Nine landowners have submitted paperwork with about 30 more promises. So, making good progress if people will submit their receipts.
III Pawnee National Grassland (PNG) update: Weld County finally began making treatments the middle of July under the $6000 that was left over from 2024. We just received word that they are able to add another $33,200 to the agreement for continued work in 2025/2026. We are going through the approval process on this piece. Tina has one seasonal working on making these treatments. Unfortunately, his last day is going to be August 15. Tina is speaking with Alicia Lenners who has been working with the Pesticide Educator program at CSU for a couple of seasons and has a master’s in ecology, worked for the Peace Corp and EPA. Her current seasonal job is coming to an end next week, so we are talking about bringing her on board for the rest of our season to gain some hands-on experience. This would help us with fulfilling the PNG agreement. Jason brought up neighbor concerns about Dalmatian toadflax and other noxious weeds on the PNG and how they are being treated and “what’s the use”. This resulted in continued discussion on the working relationship with PNG and the Weed Division along with the goals for protecting private lands bordering the PNG, which was the reason for starting the agreement in 2015. Along with the weather this year and the timing of the showers in late spring/early summer.
IV Trainings offered to municipalities: The Weed Division is looking at a 3-year rotation. In 2022 they offered training to code enforcement staff, in 2023 they offered training to municipality sprayers, skipped 2024, then in 2025 worked with code enforcement, and planning on municipality sprayers in 2026. For the sprayers the Weed Division will try to offer continuing credits from the Department of Ag. This timeframe allows for a break in topics and for topics to be repeated based on staff turnover at the municipalities. The Weed Division is always willing to work individually with any of the municipalities on code enforcement topics/plant ID as well as with the sprayer staff on equipment, calibration and herbicides. When asked if the Advisory Board wanted to see a different schedule, there was no indication that more was necessary and that the time frame seemed appropriate.
New Business
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I Check out the New Spray Truck: The board went outside to look at the new spray truck. Basic operation was talked about and discussion on the pros of the new spray system, cons of the hood and the unknowns of the computer processing. The truck arrived in late May. Hope to have it on the road by the end of July.
II Soil Regeneration Plan: Tina shared a PowerPoint presentation on the soil regeneration plan along with before and after pictures. This led to a lively discussion on how deep to incorporate additives like manure and wood chips. The benefits of straw and mulch for protecting the soil surface and new seedlings. There was much discussion on how to try to balance the soil nutrient load, while reducing the weed pressure and establishing plants of choice. Of the cover crops planted on four sites, the majority that germinated were three species sorghum, safflower and oats. This also led to a discussion on kochia, grazing, toxicity, haying and general usefulness of the plant initiated by Gillian. Jason asked about chemical resistance and how quickly that could happen during the discussion which led to additional dialog.
III Spray Drone Update: Tina is working with FAA to file the appropriate paperwork to extend the County’s 44807 exemption for making herbicide treatments with a drone. The current exemption ends August 31. This is a very entertaining process. This first year should be the roughest, creating equipment, Public Letter of Declaration, understanding FAA asks/needs. Moving forward, should be easier in future years. The other option was to pay Hylio $500 to submit this paperwork. Tina doesn’t want to do this. So, it might just take a little longer to accomplish but makes more sense that the County does our own application and know how to do it. In the program update the board heard about a couple of upcoming uses of the spray drone with neighboring municipalities. As well as a visual difference of spray pattern droplets comparing the spray drone to UTV boom spraying, versus a researchers backpack sprayer with canned air to maintain the pressure. This is important is acknowledging the different levels of control that can be achieved for landowners in a real world setting versus trial settings.
Tina also presented pictures of Coal Bank dam treatments in the presentation. Coal Bank Dam this spring has never looked better! The treatment that was done in 2024 drastically cleaned up the property that has always had the attention. There were only a few Scotch thistle on the edge that needed to be hand treated. Tina spent more time taking pictures and evaluating things than making spot treatments. In 2025, the team treated a slightly different area that was infested more with Canada thistle, some Russian knapweed and a small amount of Scotch thistle. Finally got a complete picture of the efficiency of the spray drone. The crew flew 5 acres with about 25 gallons of solution in 1.5 hours using 6 batteries. This included taking time to map trees so we could be sure not to run into them. The roadside trucks apply 32 gallons/acre and handgun treatments are 80-100 gallons/acre for comparison.
IV Advisory Board Questions: A couple of topics came up during this time. One was based on the email that Tina had sent out earlier in July asking for the board’s thoughts on a property with a Scotch thistle infestation that the landowner was being difficult about addressing. The board wanted an update on where things stood. Tina indicated that she had reached out to PDC and was able to get them to address most of the Scotch thistle, however about an acre was still left standing. Right-of-entry was requested today, July 23rd and granted by the BOCC. Now the choice was to carry out the enforcement on what was left or chalk it up to next year and getting it addressed. It was determined that we have been working with the landowner since 2012 on his Scotch thistle. The well wasn’t drilled until 2016. So, the oil and gas activity didn’t create the entire problem. The board felt that Tina might need to carry out the enforcement to make a point.
The board also talked about roadside treatments how they work, especially in a year when the noxious weeds are in all different stages of growth. It has appeared that plants have been skipped or left untreated.
There was a brief discussion on annexations and noxious weed infestations along with the communication that is associated with these.
November meeting topics will include a deeper discussion on legal notices, the weed division treatment plans/timing, and hold board elections.
V Announcements: Next Board Meeting: November 19
VI Meeting adjourned at 8:45 pm with a motion from Jason and a second by Gillian. Motion passed.