Sheriff's divers help pull weeds

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) — An eastern Idaho law enforcement dive team has been recruited to help unclog irrigation systems.

Officials with the Bonneville County Weed Control say they have asked the county sheriff’s divers and Idaho Falls Power Co. to pull invasive weeds found in a lake that feeds canal water to farmers.

The Post Register reports the weed pulling started Tuesday.

Farmers and the weed board prefer to pull the weeds by hand because using herbicides would kill crops using the canal water. Distributing chemicals into the irrigation system would also require federal, state and local approval.

Divers are removing a non-native plant called flowering rush. The weed was originally brought over to North America to be used as an ornamental but eventually escaped into Idaho’s ecosystem in the mid-1970s.