Routt County leaders initiated a bill signed by the governor Wednesday to help weed managers do their jobs more effectively to better control the ever-growing economic and environmental problem of noxious weeds across the state.

“We were the county that decided to take this on to address a major problem we’ve had here for a long time,” County Commissioner Tim Corrigan said.

The Local Authority Enforce Violation of Noxious Weed Act SB24-031 will allow boards of county commissioners to assess and collect fines for violations of noxious weed laws. Violations could cost landowners civil penalties of $500 to $1,000.

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Three Routt County residents testified at the state legislature in late January to advocate for the bill, including Corrigan, Routt County Weed Supervisor Tiffany Carlson and Cedar Beauregard, a third-generation Steamboat native and the secretary of Keep Routt Wild. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Dylan Roberts, Rep. Meghan Lukens and Rep. Barbara McLachlan.

“We have been seeing an increase in absentee landowners and people who are adjacent to ag operations not doing anything about their weeds.”

Currently, the process to hold land and property owners accountable for eradication of noxious weeds in Routt County is extremely cumbersome to enforce, according to Corrigan. The county’s current procedure includes gathering evidence, securing a court order, entering the property, mitigating the weeds, billing the property owner and potentially filing a lien on the property for nonpayment. Corrigan said that procedure can be very time-consuming and is only used in the most extreme cases.

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“We are simply seeking local, permissive authority the same as counties currently have for building and zoning violations,” Corrigan said. “We expect that the existence of this authority will be enough to encourage landowners to work with our weed department to develop mitigation plans to control noxious weeds.”

The recently updated Routt County Weed Management Plan includes 11 invasive and ecologically damaging weeds that require proper eradication, such as bighead knapweed, black henbane, common tansy, diffuse knapweed, garlic mustard, hoary alyssum, meadow knapweed, myrtle spurge, orange hawkweed, Scotch thistle and whitetop (also known as hoary cress).

Information on the harmful, non-native weeds — including a Noxious Weed Pocket Guide with photos and descriptions — can be found on the Routt County Weed Management Program website at Co.routt.co.us/216/Weed-Program.

“I have seen firsthand the severe impact noxious weeds have not only to our public and agricultural lands but to entire native ecosystems, from the water, to the soil, to the native plant species and all the insects, birds and wildlife that rely on them,” Carlson said.

The weed management supervisor said her department’s job increases in difficulty each year due to “an extremely short growing season, new species emerging, labor shortages and many absentee landowners.”

Carlson said the county sends out roughly 350 letters on average each season to landowners who have noxious weeds on their property asking for voluntary compliance, but the county only receives responses from about 53%.

“Meaning we still have hundreds of noncompliant landowners,” Carlson said.

Carlson said the long-term impact from lack of noxious weed control is “astounding” because some noxious weeds species can produce a million seeds from a single plant that can be viable in the soil for decades.

“What people do on their private property effects public lands, wildlife and agriculture,” Carlson said. “We have been seeing an increase in absentee landowners and people who are adjacent to ag operations not doing anything about their weeds.”

Carlson said increasing problems in Routt County with whitetop “is what spearheaded this movement and really drew in attention especially from wildlife agencies in our area.”

“With the enactment of this bill, I believe I can be a better steward of tax dollars, be able to achieve compliance in a timelier manner, which is crucial, and be able to dedicate more resources to our rights-of-way and public land agencies,” Carlson said.

According to the Colorado Department of Agriculture spokesperson Olga Robak, 42 of the 64 counties in Colorado have an active noxious weed management program.

In Routt County, the weed management department sprays roughly 850 miles of road edges per year to fight the spread of noxious weeds, according to Carlson, and the department plans to hire a full-time education and enforcement technician for its staff this year.