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Oct 31, 2023

The Torrington Telegram

By: Rhett Breedlove Updated: 5 days ago / Posted Aug 25, 2023 TORRINGTON – With September well in sight and summer surely coming to an end, Goshen County Weed and Pest (GCWP) is winding down on

By: Rhett Breedlove

Updated: 5 days ago / Posted Aug 25, 2023

TORRINGTON – With September well in sight and summer surely coming to an end, Goshen County Weed and Pest (GCWP) is winding down on seasonal tasks, while continuing to put a lid on noxious vegetation and buzzing pests until next summer.

With what was certainly a prolific summer filled with constant weather-related challenges, GCWP Supervisors Bob Baumgartner and Sarah Hageman noted much was accomplished and overcome, despite being short on staff for much of the season.

Once again, with much of the crew headed back to school and fall on the approach, GCWP is closing its chapter on the season of 2023, but there is still crucial assistance needed from the communities before winter sets in.

“We’ve gotten basically everything done,” Baumgartner began. “We feel that with the crew we’ve got, most of our commitments are completed such as the highway treatment. The biggest thing is we need people to realize things have slowed, but they need to be thinking about controlling the fall. We do put together a lot of programs for toadflax, we do work with ag flyers, and we do coordinate aerial application for noxious weed control in the fall.”

Hageman further noted that with so many summer tasks to be completed in just a short window of time, the small seasonal GCWP crew proved to be incredibly reliable.

“We had a very good crew, actually a great crew,” Hageman said. “They were small but mighty. They showed up every day and worked very hard.”

When it comes to extra sprayers next year for GCWP, both Baumgartner and Hageman continued to point out the benefit of seasonal employment opportunities for Goshen residents, and would like to see far more sprayers up for the task next spring.

“It’s a lot easier to get our profit areas done when we have employees,” Hageman added. “We have competitive pay that’s very good. Our employees get good hours for the most part, it’s a four-day week and you have to be 18 or older. Right now, we just don’t have very many bodies.”

Baumgartner further added, “More applicants and seasonals are needed. There is a guaranteed 40 hours a week with some overtime, which we are looking at adjusting a bit.”

Being low on staff proved not to be the only challenge GCWP faced this summer. If we recall, June and July was filled with wet, unpredictable and at times dangerous weather, all of which plays into the work GCWP must do with each season.

“There were plenty of rainy days and wet mornings,” Hageman said. “The crew would often have to wait before they started spraying.”

“Weather is always the challenge,” Baumgartner added. “Having rainy, wet and windy days kicks us into other areas of the county. This makes us end up moving towards more range land that has less risk of damage and off target application.”

When it came to discussing particular pests that were cause for concern over the course of the summer, Baumgartner noted of all seasonal pests GCWP focuses on surprisingly grasshoppers were an unusual source of unease this season.

“We did see positives with our grasshopper program this summer,” Baumgartner said. “Hopefully we will reduce the grasshopper problem in certain areas. We are definitely seeing results where we sprayed, and generally speaking they are usually a hot spot in the northwestern corner of the county. So, we definitely treated a few of those acres in that portion of the county. With reduction of forage and depending on the grasshopper, they can clip right off the ground and mow it off, thereby making it unusable.”

Baumgartner and Hageman continued on the issue of West Nile Virus (WNV), fully aware of a handful of cases in Goshen County that have required treatment and hospitalization.

Baumgartner was calmly adamant that while GCWP will continue to do as much as possible to contain mosquitos that may carry WNV, Goshen residents must always be aware of its long-term existence. With that, Goshen residents must continue to ensure their own health by taking the necessary and appropriate precautions.

“In regard to WNV, understand that people need to know that’s its always going to be out there’s, it’s just in what degree? Always take care of yourself and take precautions. Be proactive instead of reactive. We need to understand that we can run a program, but we can’t blanket cover the whole county. We are always here for questions, concerns and technical info. With some of the figures Sarah has received, we did go ahead and initiate an area program to help reduce the large historic WNV areas in the county.

“Basically, we’ve got our mosquito program which is grant funded,” Baumgartner continued. “We work off of parameters based on that grant. It’s a human health hazard grant that is pretty much based on the monitoring of mosquito populations and the species of mosquitos. From there, Sarah does a super job of trapping, counting, sorting and then running WNV tests. Then based on those numbers, we then run our fogging program. GCWP does not fog incorporated towns. Torrington runs their own fogging program while Lingle runs their own mosquito program. Fort Laramie, Yoder and LaGrange all run their own fogging programs as well. We fog on the outskirts of Torrington in highly populated areas like Huntley and Veteran.”

Hageman added optimistically in regard to WNV in Goshen County, “We are doing our part on testing for WNV. Even though there are positive cases, this doesn’t necessarily mean we will not be able to stop it.”

If there is one thing can be clear about GCWP, it is the reality that they will continue to be needed in Goshen County.

With ranching, farming and agriculture being such a valuable economic source in the area, invasive weeds and pests are something that will always be around and must be kept at a manageable level. We must always understand that when these things are overlooked or neglected, the long-term consequences can be severe, or even permanent.

Of course, no one can predict the future, or what next season will look like when it comes to WNV, dalmatian toadflax, musk or Canada thistle.

That being said as long as we have GCWP, we can rest assure that these things hopefully will not ever become a serious problem in Goshen County.

In terms of other U.S. states, at least we will never have to worry about an invasive python problem.

For further questions or information feel free to call the GCWP office at 307-532-3713, or visit www.goshenweeandpest.com.