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WEED
HUNTING
ALBERTA’S ROCKY VIEW COUNTY IS
embracing the technological age by using
drones to find and identify noxious weeds
before they have a chance to contaminate
farmers’ fields.
“We’re not even going into farmers’
fields. We’re trying to get to the problem at
the stage before it gets to the farm fields,”
said Je Fleischer, supervisor for the
county’s agricultural and environmental
services department. “We’re using it on re-
mote areas, adjacent to the rivers or steep
terrain, trying to identify the weeds there
in smaller, isolated patches, before they
spread to become an agricultural issue.”
Fleischer helped usher in the pilot
program this year and said it’s been even
more successful than the county could
have anticipated—making expansion a
definite possibility.
“I was a bit skeptical at first,” Fleischer
said, “but for our first year into this I do
think it was a success and I could see it
expanding in the future. And not only in
agriculture, there are other departments
here in our county that are showing
interest.”
Drones are e ective tools for the job
because, as Fleischer pointed out, many
of the problematic areas that need to be
surveyed are remote locations that are not
easily accessible for a weed inspector on
foot. “What the [drone] provides is a tool
that makes it a lot easier to have an over-
view of what’s going on and, basically, to
do an inspector’s job,” said Chris Neeser,
a weed research scientist from Alberta
Agriculture and Forestry.
The county is specifically using the
technology to detect weeds that have
been labelled as “prohibited noxious”
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Sometimes, horticultural plant species
that are sold for gardeningand
landscapingescape to agricultural landor
natural areas. These invasiveplants, which
are referred to as prohibitednoxious or
noxiousweeds,must be controlledor
destroyedbefore they can spreadand
multiply. Here are some examples that can
be found inAlberta:
1. Flowering rush
2. Common tansy
3. Leafy spurge
4.Orangehawkweed
5. Tall buttercup
Searchanddestroy
Winter
2017
Grains
West
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ROCKY VIEWCOUNTY TAKES TOTHE SKY TOSTOP SPREADOF NOXIOUSWEEDS
Photos:AlbertaAgricultureandForestry