MARION COUNTY
Weed Advisory Committee Meeting
December 10, 2011
Willamette Room
MEMBERS PRESENT:
John Savage, Joe Williams, Paul Borgen, Liz Redon,
Bob Brown, Robert Dyk, Tom Silberstein, Terry Witt,
Jacque Keller-McCormick
MEMBERS ABSENT:
Dan Goffin, Kurt Spingath
PUBLIC SIGNED IN:
Eric Coombs, ODA
STAFF PRESENT:
Tanya Beard, Mandy Follis
MEETING START:
7:35 am
MOTION:
Discussion:
Abstentions:
Dissensions:
Results:
Unanimous approval of the October minutes.
None
None
None
Minutes approved.
INTRODUCTIONS: None
PUBLIC INPUT:
None
INFORMATION SHARE:
 None
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WITH ERIC COOMBS, ODA:
 Most tansy outbreaks are in the Salem area and started in 2005 when we
had a very dry year. We then had a long wet, warm spring & summer.
Animals were eating all the grass and it was not re-growing. This allowed
the tansy to grow in the bare spots.
 The last two years we have experienced a lot of moisture in the late spring
and into the summer which is good for tansy because normally when you
cut tansy other plants would suffocate it. However with plenty of moisture
the tansy can still grow after being cut.
 Now we get cycles where the tansy is down then you get a wet year or
another disturbance and tansy comes back up.
 Tansy is a disturbance related grower, meaning it will grow if the area is
disturbed. It can become a problem if there are a lot of places that have
disturbed empty soil.
Weed Advisory Committee Meeting December 10, 2011
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Rodent populations can cause a soil disturbance.
Tansy seeds can last up to ten years in the soil and if you disturb the soil
they will pop back up.
Almost all outbreaks Eric looks at are within a fence.
On wet years you tend to get these resurgences.
There are currently problem areas but that is not a failure of bio control.
We need to ask what has happened in the last one to five years.
Tansy blooms every two years.
Causes of a tansy outbreak can be that a field is overgrazed or overrun
with rodents.
Eric is aware of a field that was burned and left like that. Within two years
the tansy had started in. By four years the tansy was really popping up.
Tansy will be a problem along roadsides and clear cuts because they are
not being maintained like private property.
There is a lot of water on the roadside so tansy will keep growing.
The weather has effected tansy and sped up the process.
The outbreak of tansy could be because there are areas that are not
private property so the property is not being closely managed.
Tanya has seen a lot of plants perennializing naturally.
The blooming occurring late in the fall produces mostly sterile seeds. If the
cinnabar moth doesn’t take a plant all the way down it can grow back.
Some rosettes might live five years.
There is not currently an eradication plan for tansy.
Bio controls seem to be working very well for cattle and large areas, but
not very well for small locations.
The bio controls have been successful but there will always be outbreaks.
In the 1970s and 1980s we didn’t treat unless there was one plant per
square yard.
There is still tansy, but nothing like it used to be.
If you mow the tansy while it’s in bloom it will grow bigger and create more
seeds.
Mowing the roadside will generally cause more plant next time around
because when the plant doesn’t seed it will stay alive and seed again.
Is there risk of re-infestation after pulling out all of the plants?
If there are seedlings in the dirt then they will pop up.
In an area where there is not a lot of tansy it is best to pull them out.
Tansy doesn’t like nitrogen.
If you keep the tansy mowed and never let it get to seed, eventually it will
starve itself out.
Eric is not sure how long the plant can last without going to seed.
Mowing the tansy down needs to be stopped because that kills the
insects.
You can get rid of tansy by planting trees.
If you expose soil and you don’t want weeds you should seed that spot
with something you do want.
You have to seed heavily to prevent tansy or other noxious weeds.
Sheep and goats are immune to tansy so they could eat it and get rid of it.
Weed Advisory Committee Meeting December 10, 2011
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Recently there have been cases of horses dying due to tansy poisoning.
However there have not recently been cows dying.
People are no longer losing 5% - 10% of their heard to tansy poisoning.
The last cattle death was reported in either 1991 or 1993.
Cattle do not get poisoned by tansy when it’s in flower.
Usually cattle eat the rosettes in the winter because they can’t tell the
difference between that and grass.
The poison from cattle eating tansy accumulates over time and affects
their liver.
Weather conditions change and the insects take two to five years to build
up.
When you get huge outbreaks of tansy that is what cinnabar moths like.
There is currently an outbreak of tansy at Cordon Rd SE and Macleay Rd
SE and the cinnabar moths really got into it.
In 1988 there was no need for redistribution because the insects were well
distributed.
The only time Eric found tansy without insects was in 1991.
Eric has been pretty impressed with what the program has done.
There was an annual five million dollar loss from tansy ragwort to the
agricultural industry in Oregon and because of the ODA redistribution
program we figured they averted about 50 million dollars of loss to Oregon
agriculture.
Here, on forest roads you get a lot of dirt and dust on the plants so the
insects don’t like it or have a hard time eating it.
Seed flies don’t get rid of existing tansy but they get the seed heads and
prevent new plants.
Seed flies do not get to the outer seed heads though so they are not
effective for weed control.
Flea beetles do pretty well. During this time they feed and when it warms
up they lay eggs.
Flea beetles get the small plants and kill them off.
If you get a good population of flea beetles you can see the plant get
brown, shrivel, and die because the adult feeding has a large impact on
the plant.
Flea beetle larva feed on the roots as well.
Eric is not sure how many tansy plants you should keep to keep the insect
population going.
The cold weather is hard on the cinnabar moths because they have a
specific window of time to lay eggs and that can be stopped if it’s cold and
rainy.
At all sites that Eric is monitoring he has been finding the bio controls.
We need to give it a couple years and let the insects take the tansy down.
When someone calls with a complaint, usually in October or November,
Eric has them check for flea beetles. So far, everyone has found some.
Now there are flea beetles at 3000 feet.
Bob is concerned that the beetles’ size is actually smaller.
Eric suggested collecting some beetles and comparing sizes.
ODA has introduced the Swiss biotype because they are used to a higher
elevation and colder weather.
Weed Advisory Committee Meeting December 10, 2011
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The problem with bringing in new genetic material is that unless we are
bringing in a population that has been studied, it would take 3 years, a lot
of money, and a lot of paperwork before it could ever be done. It would
cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
We are still waiting to see how the Swiss bio type works out.
Most tansy complaints come from around the prison more than anywhere
else.
The Salem area is worse than all the areas Eric is monitoring.
There are areas on the coast that still have as much tansy as they had in
the beginning.
Eric went to a meeting in that area in the off season and most of the
pastures were under water. The flea beetles couldn’t lay their eggs in that
area.
A property owner would then mow the tansy when the water was down
and they would kill a lot of the flea beetles and cinnabar moths.
There was a pasture next to them that had no tansy. Indicating a problem
with managing it.
Eric tried to convince the property owner not to mow the tansy or to try
doing something different in one section of his pasture.
Eric has worked with Will Lackey from ODOT however ODOT has
changed the way they do things. Each area manager for ODOT has to
work with ODA individually.
There was an area that ODOT did construction and they did not seed the
area so tansy popped up.
Eric suggested that if people are complaining send them a weed control
bulletin. If it’s a spot they’re worried about Eric can do an inspection, get a
history, and see if the bios are there.
UPDATES:
FEE DISCUSSION & FOLLOW UP FROM OSU EXTENSION MEETING:
 John Lattimer had asked us to get additional detail regarding what groups
are doing what with weed control and why are they not all working
together?
 Tanya & Liz met with Derek Godwin of OSU Extension.
 OSU is going for a tax proposal in May 2014 that could work for us or
against us.
 Our best shot was to combine with Extension; if there were two ballot
measures, the public would probably kill both.
 Quite a few counties have gone through this process. We have to see
that model and adjust it to us.
 We can either hurry and try to do this before Extension or wait until after.
 Depending on how we work and how receptive agencies are we might be
able to get in the 2013 ballot.
 There is no allowance in statute for Extension to absorb the weed control
district and fund us.
 The money they gain can only be used for extension-specific programs.
Weed Advisory Committee Meeting December 10, 2011
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There might be something in the education outreach program which we
could partner on; it would probably just be having them print
documentation and us using it.
Extension’s primary role is commercial use of properties and weed control
is addressed, but only to commercial use property.
Extension does education but only in groups not individually.
We are specifically here for weed control.
We will be responsible for doing our own education to the public.
The next step in that process is Tanya sharing this information with Marion
Conservation District and filling in the SWCD.
We need to go through this process and demonstrate the need and the
partnership.
Have the Board of Commissioners examine the tax assessment. Maybe
we could still be a rider on that.
EDUCATION OUTREACH:
 Several education outreach opportunities are coming up in the spring.
 Tanya is working on displays, etc.
 A lot of this is in schools which Tanya loves.
 Tanya is currently submitting a grant application to create an education
outreach package that we can “pick up and go”.
 One thing we are creating is a 5 to 7 minute play that kids can put on
about how to treat the planet.
 Also posters and a “create a weed seed” project.
DISCUSSION ON ERIC’S PRESENTATION:
 Currently we have a complaint-driven mechanism for responding to tansy.
 The first step is to check the location to confirm there is a problem.
 Second an information letter is sent to the property owner.
 Included with the letters are fact sheets and how to’s.
 We no longer need to send a letter to ODA.
 Tanya is not notified by the Humane Society when horses are affected by
tansy.
 Is there a mechanism for handling weed control proactively without
receiving a complaint?
 Maybe we could show what people’s tax money could do in the future.
 We may want to look at utilizing a videographer and do a few U-Tube
videos specific to certain weeds.
 A lot of people look at U-Tube.
 That may be a link to the publicity strategy.
NEXT MEETING: January 14, 2011
ADJOURN: 8:50am
Weed Advisory Committee Meeting December 10, 2011