JACKSON, Wyo. — The Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance’s 2022-2023 Teton County Human-Wildlife Coexistence Monitoring Report confirms that in 2022, the total acres of public lands affected by invasive species decreased by 8 percent from 2021 to stand at 12,933 acres.
Additionally, 324 total acres of weeds were treated in Teton County, a 50 percent increase from 2021.
This is significant progress from 2012, when over 18,000 total acres of public land were affected by invasive species and a little over 500 total acres of weeds were treated.
The Report, which compiles 20 metrics of human-wildlife coexistence to inform local decision-making, sourced Teton County Weed and Pest (TCWP) for the invasive species information.
In Wyoming, a state statute requires that landowners prevent the spread of invasive plants on their property. The TCWP outlines five primary management strategies that can be combined to effectively manage an area. The strategies are:
- Prevention: Prevent invasive species by cleaning clothes and gear after recreating, following land development regulations when developing property, purchasing weed free products like hay, gravel and mulch and removing early detected invasive species.
- Maintenance: Maintain a healthy landscape with fewer places for invasive plants to germinate by mowing to the appropriate height, fertilizing when necessary in proper amounts, irrigating with deep and infrequent watering, using mulch in between landscaped plants and planting native species.
- Removal: Physically remove invasive plants by hand-pulling, digging, mowing/cutting/grazing (although some invasive species can be toxic to livestock), mulching and controlled burning.
- Suppression: Insects or pathogens can be used to suppress invasive plants.
- Herbicides: Herbicides are any chemical substance used to kill or suppress plant growth, but not all plants are susceptible to every herbicide. It’s important to note that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says herbicides can be toxic to native plants, wildlife and companion or livestock animals.
Learn more about management strategies here.
The Report acknowledges “the metrics and dialogue presented in this report are intended to be complimentary and deferential to the Traditional Ecological Knowledge of the many Indigenous people with connections to this land.”
