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Private properties on Long Beach peninsula treated for spartina for first time

OLYMPIA – If most of the destructive spartina cordgrass has disappeared from more than 600 private properties on the Long Beach peninsula next spring, homeowners can thank a partnership of the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

This summer the two agencies treated more than 800 acres of spartina-infested private property on the peninsula – for the first time. Approximately 525 acres in the north part of the peninsula were aerially treated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and about 275 acres in the south were treated by WSDA utilizing a modified tracked vehicle capable of operating on mudflats.

The tracked vehicle with spray booms worked very well according to state Department of Agriculture employees Kevin Soule, Matt Miller, and Tanner Ketell who operated it. They expect high levels of eradication.
“We will know next spring how successful we were,” said Soule, WSDA spartina field coordinator. “We think we got most of the spartina.”

Landowners on the peninsula were overwhelmingly supportive of the eradication. Only three of more than 350 landowners didn’t give the state and federal government permission to treat their properties. Spartina is an extremely destructive cordgrass -- destroying shorebird and waterfowl habitats; displacing native plants; increasing the threat of flooding; damaging oyster production, and negatively impacting fishing, bird hunting, bird watching, and other recreational activities on shorelines.

“We got lots of encouragement all summer,” Soule said. “Landowners would see us working and wave and wish us well.” The treatments were funded through a cooperative effort by the state and federal government.

Spartina in Willapa Bay has grown from 10-15 acres in the early 1970s, to more than 2,000 acres in the early 1990s, to more than 8,500 acres in 2003. However, almost half of the 8,500 acres have been destroyed since 2003. The achievement is the result of an “integrated” approach to eradication – combining physical, mechanical, herbicide, and biological programs, plus the unified efforts of more than 10 state and federal agencies.

For more information on spartina eradication efforts, see WSDA’s 2005 report to the Washington Legislature at http://agr.wa.gov/PlantsInsects/Weeds/Spartina/default.htm.

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