Noxious Weed Control Feature Page

Beach Weeds

Scotch broom, gorse, and thistle all seem to love the beach. Special care must be taken when applying any herbicides to sandy soils - herbicides can be washed into groundwater fairly easliy. The best defense - native plants.

Lawns are difficult to maintain, especially when the landowner only visits in the summer months. One of the most frustrating native plants that plague lawns is known as sandmat (Cardionema ramosissima). It appears to be a small mossy looking plant, and had a seed pod with a very sharp barb, capable of sticking in mower tires and spreading along sandy areas.

Although this plant is not a "noxious" weed, because it is native, we do have some suggestions for minimizing it's presence in recreation areas.

click on link below to download information.

sandmat

Common ReedPhragmites austrails

Grays Harbor is experiencing an alien ainvasion, of non-native common reed. This grass gets 16 feet tall and forms thick stands at the water's edge. The Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge is threatened with loss of crucial habitat for migrating shorebirds. This noxious weed is also beginning to move across the harbor to nearby Ocean Shores. It can be very difficult to remove once it has become established. Please don't "harbor" this invasive in your yard.

Phragmites brochure - pdf

Knotweed

What is knotweed? Knotweed is the elephant of northwest weeds. Knotweeds are all perennial plants native to Asia. The plants were brought here as ornamentals in gardens.

This plant or group of plants, including: Japanese knotweed, Giant knotweed, Himalayan knotweed, Bohemian knotweed, a.k.a. Reynoutria, or Fallopia japonica, are all behaving badly away from their natural enemies. Insects and diseases that normally keep a native plant in check are not present to slow the spread of knotweeds.

• Knotweed can sprout from a piece of stalk as small as a dime.
• Knotweed can push through inches of asphalt.
• Knotweed spreads by water.
• Knotweed spreads by mowers and equipment.
• Knotweed is extremely difficult to control without herbicides.
• Knotweed dominates streambanks an river edges

State Knotweed Page

Boater Education Project

Stop aquatic hitchhikers. Prevent the transport of nuisance species. Clean all recreational equipment before moving to a different area.

When you leave a body of water:

• Remove any visible mud, plants, animals, before transporting equipment.
• Eliminate water from equipment before moving to another site.
• Clean and dry anything that comes into contact with with water (boats, trailers, fishing gear, clothing, dogs, etc).
• Never release plants, fish or animals into a body of water unless they came out of that body of water.

Many of our worst aquatic weeds are spread by plant fragments, fragments caught in boat propellers and trailers.

Guide to Safe Boating.pdf

Guide to Clean Boats and Waterways