Weed panel wants city, BNSF to pull together

The Daily Inter Lake

A Whitefish weed committee wants to negotiate a written agreement with BNSF Railway Co. that would define the railroad's role in controlling weeds along the city's BNSF Loop bike trail.

The weed control advisory committee has had discussions with railroad officials about problematic weed infestations along the new trail. While BNSF has verbally committed to working with the city, committee members believe it needs to be taken a step further.

"The difficulty with BNSF is that weed spraying is contracted privately from out of state" and timing has been an issue, committee member Jen Elden said.

Sometimes sprayers show up well after weeds have flowered, she said.

There also have been concerns about how much area the railroad should be required to spray. Contracted sprayers apply herbicides along the track line, but a buffer zone between the tracks and trail has come into question, Elden said.

The railroad is within county jurisdiction even though the tracks cross through Whitefish. County resources for spraying are stretched thin, City Manager Gary Marks said.

"More realistically it [a spraying plan] will be a relationship between us and the railroad."

The committee expects to find out next month if a grant will be awarded for a comprehensive weed inventory that would be conducted by the county weed district. Whitefish joined with the Forest Service Tally Lake Ranger District and the county for funding from the state's Noxious Weed Trust Fund.

A weed inventory would be an integral piece to further development of a long-term weed management strategy for Whitefish.

"We're trying for a holistic approach, for lack of a better word," Elden said, explaining that establishing native plants in problem areas is part of the plan.

The committee was established two years ago after a city survey identified weeds as a rising concern of residents. During the first year the committee identified weed-management issues and developed a strategy to create long-term solutions.

An education and outreach campaign publicized "weeds of the week" in the Whitefish Pilot and distributed brochures about "most wanted" weeds.

Last year the committee designated the Soroptimist Park as pesticide-free and organized a community weed-pulling event. Committee members want to expand the effort to Kiddie Park this year.

The city changed its code-enforcement officer position to community resource officer, a position that will involve weed education.

"Most communities struggle a lot with this issue," Marks said. "When I started here we weren't even spraying."

Even though the city is striving to be active in weed management, it hasn't yet translated into improvement "in the eyes of our citizens," he said. They still see weeds as a top priority.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com