photo/Wallowa County Weed Control Board Meadow hawkweed, also known as yellow hawkweed, spreads both by sending out near-surface roots called "stolons," and through its windborne seeds not unlike those of the dandelion.

Picking weed enemy No. 1 for Wallowa County is a subjective matter for landowners here, where the geographic area is large and there’s much diversity in habitats, climates, and elevations. There’s no debating which single weed is receiving the most money for treatment at this point in time, however.

As pointed out by Wallowa County Vegetation Manager Allen Schnitzky and Wallowa County Weed Board Vice Chairman Julie Lakes, more grant money is being secured locally to combat the invader meadow hawkweed than for any other single weed.

And the competition isn’t even close, says Schnitzky.

A major meadow hawkweed problem spreading from the Bear Creek area near Wallowa “is working its way up the valley,” Schnitzky says. Lakes says efforts are underway to target the weed near Wallowa this year, target its spread from Wallowa to the Lostine River next year, and possibly concentrate on the quick-spreading weed beyond the Lostine River thereafter.

Chemical treatments control hawkweed the best, says Schnitzky, but such treatments are expensive and often prove to be less than effective against the wayward weed. Like strawberries, meadow hawkweed spreads by sending out near-surface roots called “stolons” that produce mono cultures, and also disperses by emitting dandelion-like seeds into the wind.

The Wallowa County Weed Control District was formed in the late 1920s, Schnitzky says, but it wasn’t until 2001 that voters from the county approved a ballot measure to help control weeds through taxation. Easily reaffirmed by county voters twice since then, the measure last was endorsed by 78 percent of voters in 2012. The weed levy normally runs for five years.

According to the vegetation manager, an estimated 85 percent of all weeds in the county have been mapped and, at present, five species of weeds have been isolated in containment areas. During a recent presentation to the Wallowa County Board of Commissioners, weed officials outlined goals to maintain those individual weeds within specific boundaries.

Entities working with Wallowa County, which contracted out 75 percent of actual spraying in 2014, include the United States Forest Service, Oregon Department of Forestry, Wallowa Resources, and the Tri-County Cooperative Weed Management Area.

The weed species generating maximum concern at this time in Wallowa County, in addition to meadow hawkweed, are common bugloss, leafy spurge, whitetop, and yellow starthistle.

Schnitzky says an oddity in the war against weeds in Wallowa County has to do with the diffuse knapweed. Biological agents were imported years back to kill off the knapweed and nearly succeeded until the bugs lost their food source and moved out of the area. Now, says Schnitzky, the knapweed is returning as are the “bugs” that like to eat the plant.