Nisqually Knotweed Control Project

Renee Mitchell Pierce Conservation District

5430 66th Avenue East Puyallup, WA 98371

(253) 845-9770 reneem@piercecountycd.org

Presented to the Nisqually River Council

by:

Project Partners

2012 Project Update

Funding for 2012 consisted of:

  Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office Salmon Recovery Funding Board (SRFB)

  WSDA Knotweed Program   Department of Natural Resources – Job

Creation Bill Grant   USFWS Grant - Private Landowner Grant

2012

  PCD continued knotweed awareness to the public via outreach letters, brochures, face-to-face meetings, emails, and phone calls

  Presented a Knotweed Educational Workshop to the town of Eatonville

  Presented knotweed education awareness to: Nisqually River Council, Roy Salmon Homecoming, Pierce County SWM WCC crew & Noxious Weed Control staff, UW Center For Sustainable Forestry - Pack Forest, Nisqually Stream Stewards, and the Salmon Recovery Funding Board (SRFB)

  Held a knotweed bending event with the U.S. Forest Service sponsored Discovery Teams – bent 5 acres of knotweed above Big Creek

2012 Summer Field Crews

3 field crews allocated to the Upper Nisqually Watershed

= *18 workers on the ground + Program Manager

Upper & Lower Watershed:

 Goat Creek, Big Creek, Reese Creek, Roundtop Creek, East Creek, Mashel River, Lynch Creek, Ohop Lake, Ohop Creek, Medicine Creek, McAllister Creek, Red Salmon Creek, and several Unnamed Tributaries

  30.25 total miles of river & creeks surveyed within the watershed   54 private & public-owned parcels surveyed and treated   7.7 new miles of initial treatment in the upper watershed   338 acres of knotweed infestations treated

* Treatment estimated at a 90% mortality rate

Nisqually Watershed Control as of 2012

Past Knotweed Treatment

2010 2012

Continued…..

2012 2013

Problems encountered

  Poor property access within Upper Watershed – Lewis

County side of river

  Difficult terrain

  Extreme heat in the late summer

  Patchy satellite coverage for surveying in remote areas

2013 Knotweed Control Season

23 Pierce Conservation District and DNR workers dedicated to the Nisqually Watershed

2013 Treatment Goal

Partnerships at Work………

Tacoma Power - Alder Lake Survey & Control

Department of Natural Resources – Upper Watershed Control

USFW – Wildlife Refuge & Lower Watershed Control

Mineral Creek - 0.5 Mile Knotweed Infestation

Upper Nisqually Watershed

New Concerns

Knotweed located in tidal influenced zone within the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge

Knotweed found at Alder Lake Dam

Questions??