Wallowa County farmer and rancher Luke Royes ties down a load of hay recently. The Wallowa County Weed Board selected Royes as the 2024 Weed Warrior of the Year for embracing new technology in the battle against invasive weeds. (Wallowa Resources/Contributed Photo)

Wallowa County businessman carries on family legacy as weed warrior

ENTERPRISE — One might say Luke Royes’ work is in his blood. He is the owner and operator of Work Horse Inc., which was initially founded by his father, Skip, in 1991.

The outfit began with contracted trail building in Wallowa County, but continued to grow to include other seasonal work, such as  firefighting and backcountry weed abatement throughout Oregon and neighboring states.

The Wallowa County Weed Board announced June 10 it selected Royes for the 2024 Weed Warrior of the Year Award. Weed board members nominate individuals who demonstrate active dedication to treating and progressing in noxious weed management, and make the final selection from that proposed list each year.

Royes spent summers home from college working on his father’s crew and wanted to return to Wallowa County after completing his degree.

“So, I called to see if we could make it work together,” Royes said on a sunny day in late-March. “That’s how I got into weed work. Dad opened that window and I was able to jump in.”

Eyes in the sky help fight weeds

Royes, along with four full-time and five part-time crew members, works throughout the region, though much of their weed work is in the tri-county area. All-terrain vehicles equipped with tank sprayers and backpack sprayers are their most-utilized units for weed spraying, but they work with everything from pack animals to drones.

Royes is enthusiastic about the recent addition of drones to their weed-fighting arsenal.

“We want to keep up with the times and not get stuck,” he said. “It’s been super fun learning new things. It keeps life exciting.”

Royes said he expects in the next 10 or so years that drones will become a bigger part of his operation and the capabilities will change dramatically over that time, saying “it’s just the beginning.”

Work Horse Inc. predominately conducts weed management work on privately held land through cost-shares with landowners, as well as with contracts on federal lands such as those the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management manage.

Safeguarding the land

Chris Cunningham, weed board member, ranch manager and local producer, nominated Royes for the recognition.

“His love and appreciation of Wallowa County, its natural resources and its rich heritage certainly enable him to work diligently as he helps all of us steward our properties,” Cunningham wrote of Royes in a recent email. “More recently, Luke has been instrumental in employing new methods and technology in all of our efforts to beat back the infestations of invasive annual grasses. He runs his weed business with a tremendous work ethic and a spirit of professionalism that is hard to match.”

Turkish and plumeless thistles, rush skeleton weed and common crupina were all noted by Royes as species of concern in Wallowa County. But the proliferation of annual grasses throughout historic, native forage is the biggest problem as he sees it.

“It’s not palatable to animals, reducing forage for wildlife and livestock,” he said. “It’s totally changing the landscape.”

Royes encourages the community to think of weed management as a shared effort to safeguard the land and natural resources of this place we call home.

“I get to take the experience of my dad and his past in this country — he’s been here a long time — so I get to take that and hopefully add on with my kids,” Royes said. “You really learn to care for the land you grew up in.”

More information on noxious weed management in Wallowa County can be found at www.co.wallowa.or.us/vegetation-department or wallowaresources.org/noxious-weeds.