UDAF is pleased to announce the launch of the Utah Invasive Species Mitigation (ISM) dashboard, a new tool highlighting the success of the Invasive Species Mitigation Weed Control Program (ISM). In the past three years alone, the ISM program has funded 118 projects treating over 3.3 million across the state through 4.7 million dollars in funding.
“Noxious weed control is vital to protecting critical agricultural land, rangeland, and wetlands,” said UDAF Commissioner Craig Buttars. “I am proud of the progress this program has made in mitigating invasive species in our state.”
Noxious weeds compete directly with beneficial native plants and can cause devastating impacts to agriculture, wildlife habitat, native ecosystems, and increase wildfire fuel loads to catastrophic levels. These weeds cost an estimated $26.4 billion per year in agricultural economic losses in the United States. All of Utah’s 29 counties face challenges in controlling noxious weeds including funding, jurisdictional hurdles, and accessing difficult-to-reach terrain.
In 2013, the Utah State Legislature passed the Noxious Weed Mitigation Act to coordinate and fund the control of noxious weeds. This effort relies on multiple management strategies and a high level of coordination using strategic partnerships between federal, state, local, and private stakeholders. ISM provides financial assistance to landowners, county weed boards, universities, and other public and private agencies through competitive grant opportunities. There are currently 54 noxious weeds listed in Utah. For more information on these weeds, visit the Utah Noxious Weed List.
UDAF has created a new website to further highlight each of these projects and provide detailed information on how they have helped protect Utah’s native plant communities and ecosystems. To learn more about these projects, visit the Utah Featured ISM Projects page. To view the full ISM dashboard, visit: https://bit.ly/Utah-Noxious-Weed-Dashboards
For more information on the ISM grant and learn how to apply, visit the ISM Program Application page.
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