Madison County Noxious Weeds District

10/29/2026

Buying plants online? The same checks matter.

Whether you’re shopping in-store, ordering online or buying from another gardener, confirm the plant’s name and check if it’s invasive before you buy.

Explore Grow Me Instead to find non-invasive alternatives: https://bcinvasives.ca/play-your-part/plantwise/grow-me-instead/

10/21/2026

REMINDER: If you participate in our Cost-Share Program for noxious w**d management, those forms (and contractor invoices, if applicable) are due by December 1st.

If you bought herbicide this year to control noxious w**ds or hired a contractor to do the work and you are not yet participating in our Cost-Share program, reach out to us and we will send you the information. Just call 406-842-5595 or come by the W**d District office (M-F 8:00am-4:30pm). You can also reach out by email to [email protected] or [email protected].

10/15/2026

Thank you to all who were able to attend our 5th annual Land Stewardship Workshop for Small Acreages event on Tuesday! It was a great workshop with lots of information shared.

Also, we want to give a special thanks to Madison Conservation District and NRCS for their help in putting this event together as well as to our other presenters, Julie Cunningham (Biologist, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (Region 3)) and Donnie Englehardt (Agronomist, Rocky Mountain Supply Agronomy) for sharing their knowledge with all of us.

We very much appreciate the Madison Valley Women's Club for sponsoring the workshop, which allowed us to provide everyone with fresh sandwiches and refreshments.

10/13/2026

Today is the day!

This year's Land Stewardship Workshop for Small Acreages starts at 4:30pm at the Madison County Admin Building in Virginia City.

This is the 5th consecutive year that this workshop has been held in Madison County and it has always had great engagement and participant feedback. Come join us.

RSVP as soon as possible via https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeQJkCWC88Han-BPDXjTi9hxNzJpDV5td5rINP2XuWEUVWWTA/viewform so that we can ensure that we have enough seating and refreshments!

10/05/2026

DON’T LET WINTER CRACK YOUR SPRAYER!

While this week has been fantastic Fall spraying weather so far, that will not be the case for long and freezing temps are about to hit us with lows in the 20s forecasted for this weekend and early next week.

Before you put your sprayer away for the season, take a few minutes to winterize it. A little preparation now can save you from a cracked pump, hose, fitting, spray gun, or other expensive repair next spring.

Basic Sprayer Winterization

1. CLEAN IT OUT
Thoroughly rinse the tank and run clean water through the pump, hoses, valves, boom and spray gun. Follow the herbicide label for any required tank-cleaning procedure.

2. DRAIN IT
Drain as much water as possible from the tank, pump, filters/strainers, hoses and other plumbing. Open valves and drain points to allow trapped water to escape.

3. DON’T FORGET THE SPRAY GUN
If your sprayer has a handgun, open the trigger while draining the system so water trapped inside the gun and wand can escape. If you are using antifreeze, run antifreeze through the spray gun until it comes out the nozzle. It can be helpful to lock the spray gun triggers open during winter storage just in case any fluid does start to freeze in the barrel.

4. ADD RV ANTIFREEZE
After draining, add a quality RV/marine antifreeze appropriate for your equipment and expected winter temperatures. Follow the antifreeze label and your sprayer manufacturer's recommendations.

5. RUN IT THROUGH THE ENTIRE SYSTEM
Turn on the pump and circulate the antifreeze through the pump, valves, boom lines, spray gun and other plumbing. You want antifreeze coming out of every spray outlet, not just sitting in the tank.

Don't forget separate circuits such as handguns, fence-row nozzles or other attachments.

6. CHECK FILTERS, NOZZLES & FITTINGS
Remove and clean nozzles, screens and strainers as appropriate. Take a few minutes to check hoses, fittings, clamps, valves and the pump for damage or leaks.

7. STORE IT OUT OF THE WEATHER IF POSSIBLE
Even a properly winterized sprayer will benefit from being protected from snow, ice and extreme temperature swings.

What About Automotive Antifreeze?

You may hear recommendations to use automotive "green" antifreeze because it provides excellent freeze protection and is easier on the internal parts of your sprayer system than RV antifreeze. However, automotive antifreeze generally contains ethylene glycol, which is highly toxic and creates additional concerns if it is spilled and when it needs to be disposed of at the start of next spray season.

RV/marine antifreeze is commonly used for sprayer winterization and is designed for freeze protection in plumbing systems. It is generally a better choice for this application, particularly for smaller agricultural, ATV and UTV sprayers.

Whatever product you use, read the label and follow the manufacturer's instructions.

And remember: used antifreeze should not simply be dumped on the ground. If it has been circulated through a sprayer that contained herbicide, it may also contain pesticide residues. Collect it for reuse when appropriate or dispose of it according to applicable waste-disposal requirements.

A few minutes of winterization now can save a lot of money and frustration next spring.

09/29/2026

This BLM aerial noxious w**d treatment will get to Madison County later this week.

See the linked post for more details.

In an effort to control noxious and invasive plants threatening native vegetation, we're conducting aerial herbicide treatments this fall!

This project begins TODAY, September 29th, and will continue for the next several weeks.

Treatment areas will include the Virginia City area and Alder Gulch, East Pioneers units west of Melrose, and units south of Dillon, including Clark Canyon and Limekiln Canyon.

Your public lands will remain open, but please exercise caution, maintain a safe distance, and avoid contact with sprayed areas.

This project uses low-flying aircraft and approved herbicides, which means we can target invasive species while native plants remain largely unaffected. The treatments support healthy wildlife habitat and contribute to more sustainable rangelands.

✅Learn more and see a map of the affected areas: https://ow.ly/mxsT50ZSKbF
📸Cheatgrass, a priority 3 invasive w**d in Montana. Cheatgrass can choke out native species and help fuel larger wildfires. BLM photo.

09/24/2026

Today marks the end of our 2026 noxious w**ds treatment season. Kevin and Shannon will still be on for another week or so to do some follow-up Fall treatments, but the rest of the Madison County W**d District Field Crew is now done for the year.

As a county w**d coordinator, I feel extremely grateful to have kept all but one member of my crew on until the end of our season (August had to go back to college a while back).

Most of this year's Field Crew were experienced applicators, so we were able to accomplish an amazing amount of work with a shorter learning curve than is typical in a given treatment season.

The 2026 Madison County W**d District Field crew had some neat successes:
- Treated every single known Madison County right-of-way and multiple MDT highway sections at least once and many of those rights-of-way got a follow-up treatment as well.
- Successfully mapped everywhere we treated throughout the entire season.
- Mapped more noxious w**d infestations than we ever have before.
- Participated in multiple cooperative "Spray Day" events with other counties, conservation organizations, and multiple agencies.
- AND MOST IMPORTANTLY...they finished the entire season without a single accident or injury.

The best news for me is that it sounds like they all want to come back to work for us again next season if they can, which relieves a little of the normal hiring stress that often comes with this job each Spring.

These folks are very hardworking and dependable. They accomplished a lot and they learned a lot in the process.

Many people don't realize that noxious w**d control technician positions are not just simple "w**d sprayer" jobs. In order to be effective and safe at this job they need to have a diverse awareness and knowledge of:

- Botany (how to identify the different plants - both the native species and the invasive species)
- Biology (how those different species grow and develop as well as how different control methods affect each species)
- Chemical Use and Safety (each herbicide has a different chemical formulation and they each affect plant tissues and growth in different ways - they also each have their own safety precautions and legal usage that technicians have to learn and operate by)
- Basic Mechanics (they have to be able to diagnose and repair plumbing, electrical, and mechanical problems in the field with basic tools)
- Equipment Operation (using a variety of trucks, trailers, UTVs, and ATVs in various terrain, road conditions, weather, and traffic - all with hundreds of gallons of liquid weight on board and little-to-no visibility to the rear besides mirrors)
- Risk Management (being able to anticipate, recognize, and adapt to situations that pose an operations or safety risk to themselves, their equipment, adjacent sensitive species like crops, surface water, groundwater, wildlife, livestock, or other people)
- Public Relations (being able to remain considerate and professional in every social interaction...even when some unhinged person is screaming and cussing at them - also being able to educate any interested member of the public about why we do what we do and how we ensure that we do our work as safely and as compliant with law as possible)

I write all this to help explain why those "w**d sprayer" crews that you see out and about every summer are doing a job which is much more important and complicated than most people realize.

I also am writing this to give the credit of our Madison County W**d District's 2026 field season successes to whom it is due...my crew:
- Janie Alt
- Angie Begin
- Kevin Lielke
- Shannon Jones
- Colton Lessley
- August Witham
- Cliff Bock
- Dominic Thompson

(P.S. The only reason this post has an "AI content" label is because I had to use AI to get August added into the photo since he couldn’t be here for the annual crew photo)