journaltrib/?id=67&nid=1887 Leafy spurge is a landowners nightmare and thanks to the oilfield it is spreading like wildfire. By Amy R. Sisk The yellow flowers emerging from a stalky green plant along the side of the road aren’t the kind you’d want in a bouquet, let alone in your backyard. June marks blooming season for leafy spurge in ditches and farmland across western North Dakota. The noxious weed returns this year with a vengeance as trucks transport crushed rock to oil drilling sites to form the roadways and bases around wells. “When the seeds get into your scoria . . . the spurge just spreads like wildfire,” said Elly Moe, who owns Trade Wind Ranch and Scoria with her husband, Jeff. The Moes have seen both ends of the leafy spurge problem on their land, located 10 miles south of Tioga. They chose to certify their scoria pits to ensure that the red volcanic rock is weed-free. They have also had to spray to rid their own property of the yellow flowers when seeds from neighboring land crept onto their ranch. The budding scoria and gravel mining industry has exacerbated the spread of leafy spurge and other noxious weeds, but there’s no law in the state -- or in Williams County -- requiring companies to use certified rock or to have pits inspected by the county weed board. Jim Basaraba, weed control officer for Williams County, said scoria mining operations have more than tripled since oil activity picked up several years ago. The weed has infested portions of more than 20,000 acres in Williams County and prevents other vegetation from growing in the areas it inhabits. “It is way too fast-paced for people to keep up with,” Basaraba said, noting that the weed was more manageable in the past when landowners only had to worry about wildlife spreading the seeds. Meanwhile, 99 percent of scoria in the county is uncertified, he estimated. One year, Basabara will inspect pits, spray for spurge and establish buffer zones to separate rock from surrounding grassland, only to return the next year to find that the mines have expanded hundreds of yards past their original size. Trucks scatter loose scoria alongside roads when they carry the rock to drilling sites. Once placed on the ground, the wind can blow the seeds miles across the prairie. The Moes have watched pits grow and new scoria companies pop up ever since they started their scoria business in 2006. “They’re all needed,” Elly Moe said. “There’s no way one company can keep up in the oil field.” They note that scoria has become a hot commodity in the Bakken as people realize its benefits. “The scoria will set and pack, whereas the gravel will just roll around in the water,” Jeff Moe said. The Moes have had the weed board inspect their scoria every year, yet they say it’s taken time for farmers to warm up to the idea of having scoria on their property because some have had to pay thousands of dollars to remove leafy spurge that grew after uncertified scoria was placed on their land. The couple has had to convince farmers their product will not spread the spurge, and they offer proof of certification to all their clients. The Moes keep up their certification because they know that eradicating leafy spurge costs landowners and weed boards far too much in labor and chemicals every summer. “I want to be covered on the liability end of it,” Jeff Moe said, explaining that he never wants to be at fault if a landowner were to claim that his product spread spurge onto their land. “I’ll tell them you’ll have to go somewhere else to blame someone because it didn’t come from our pits.” Other local companies note that certification allows them to sell to clients who drill on government lands. “If you deal with the state, they want you to have it,” said Leigh Ann Kirkland, owner of Kirkland, Inc. “They require it more than the oil companies.” Kirkland said her Watford City-based scoria and gravel company has several pits certified in McKenzie County. Over the past year, the company has begun work on two new gravel pits near Ray and Wildrose, and Kirkland hopes to get them certified this June. The weed board is already gearing up for a busy summer. Basaraba said he’s hired five workers to scour the county’s roads, looking for yellow blossoms to spray. He wants to combat new plants early before they have a chance to release up to 200 seeds whose roots can eventually extend 30 feet into the ground. “Our only hope is to catch these plants in the first year or two of growth so we can wipe them out with one application,” he said. “Otherwise, it will take years and years.”
Posted on: Thu, 06 Jun 2013 11:23:41 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015