Weed Superintendent

The number one responsibility of the Weed Superintendent is to control noxious weeds. The Weed Superintendent is administered by the Nebraska Department of Agriculture. They have designated 7 Nebraska weeds as noxious, they are Canada thistle, Musk thistle, plumeless thistle, leafy spurge, spotted knapweed, diffuse knapweed and purple loosestrife.

Complaints about noxious weeds in Box Butte County can be made by calling the Weed Superintendent’s office or by completing the weed complaint form and submitting it to the Box Butte County Noxious Weed Control Authority.

The county weed superintendent duties include

• Ascertaining and preparing information required by the county board for preparation of the county budget.
• Being certified, in writing, by the Nebraska Department of Agriculture as a commercial applicator.
• Examining all lands under the jurisdiction of the control authority to determine if the Noxious Weed Control Act and the rules and regulations are being complied with.
• Compiling infestation data and other reports as the Director of Agriculture or control authority may require.
• Supervising and carrying out the coordinated control program within the county.
• Completing 20 hours of continuing education, annually.
• Ascertaining and tabulating the approximate amount and location of land infested with noxious weeds in the county, annually.

The Weed Superintendent also does commercial spraying of all kinds, including bare ground pre and post emergent weed control. We can also do hay and forage weed free certification.

Noxious Weeds Must Be Controlled

You are required to control noxious weeds on your property…
The noxious weeds are: Musk, Thistle, Plumeless Thistle, Canada Thistle, Leafy Spurge, Knapweed (spotted and diffuse), Field Bindweed and after January 1, 2001, Purple Loosestrife. Notice is hereby given this 25th day of August 2002, pursuant to the Noxious Weed Control Act, section 2-955, subsection 1(a), to every person who owns or controls land in the County, that noxious weeds being or growing on such land shall be controlled at such frequency as to prevent establishment, provide eradication, or reduce further propagation or dissemination of such weeds.

Upon failure to observe this notice, the county weed superintendent is required to:

• Proceed pursuant to the law and issue legal notice to the land-owner of property infested with noxious weeds giving such landowner 15 days to control the noxious weed infestation. Conviction for non compliance may result in a $100.00 per day fine to the landowner with a maximum fine of $1,500; or
• Should more immediate control be required, proceed pursuant to the law and have the weeds controlled by such method as he/she finds necessary, the expense of which shall constitute a lien and be entered as a tax against the land, and be collected as other real estate taxes are collected, or by other means as provided by law.

The public is also notified that noxious weed seed and propagative parts may be disseminated through the movement of machinery and equipment, trucks, grain and seed, hay, straw, nursery stock, fencing materials, sod, manure, and soil as well as articles of similar nature. Methods of treatment have been prescribed by the Directory of Agriculture and may be obtained from the county weed control authority.