Learn About Whitehall Bio Control

The Whitehall Biological Control Project (Whitehall Project) has existed since the early 1990s and is based out of Whitehall Schools. It is associated with the Jefferson County Weed District. Jill Allen is the Jefferson County Weed Coordinator (406-225-4165) and Todd Breitenfeldt is the Whitehall Project Coordinator. The Project hires Whitehall area high school and early college/trade school students and deals mostly with insects, as well nematodes, mites, and fungi (biological control agents) that help control Montana State designated noxious weeds - such as leafy spurge and spotted knapweed.

A noxious weed is any plant that causes environmental and/or economic damage. Montana has a list of these designated weeds (these will be listed in an upcoming article) that by law, we must manage if they occur on our property. Remember to have a noxious weed plan for your land on file with Jill at the Jefferson Co. Weed District. Noxious weeds are one category of invasive species. An invasive species is any alien (from another ecosystem) species that have been recently introduced to a new ecosystem and is or has the potential to cause environmental or economic harm.

Most of our Montana noxious weeds come from Eurasia and were introduced by accident. Some other examples of invasive species in or near Montana are 1) starlings (a bird introduced in New York City in 1890) that compete with our native bluebirds for nesting sites, 2) feral hogs (wild pigs, threatening to invade Montana on our northern border from Canada), 3) the crop threatening eastern heath snail (a land snail that was first detected in southern Cascade County in 2012), 4) the lake and stream damaging zebra mussel (a shellfish that is not yet established in Montana but getting closer all the time and one of the reasons all boats must be inspected), etc.

The Whitehall Project has several goals. These include increasing awareness of noxious weeds, providing quality educational jobs for area youth, increasing education for all on how to control these nasty plants, encouraging partnerships between landowners, towns, counties, and all state and federal agencies that deal with these weeds, helping with various area research projects, mass rearing and collecting biocontrol agents and distributing these to any landowners who want them to help control their noxious weeds. Releases of these biological control agents are given out at no cost (voluntary donations are quite welcome and help us fund the program). Over the years, the Whitehall Project has made over 7,000 releases mainly in Jefferson County but also many throughout the State.

Funding for the Whitehall Project comes from many sources. The major source of funding is the Montana Noxious Weed Trust Fund which provided a grant of $28,500.00 for the 2023 season. We also receive monies from the Montana Department of Transportation (about $5,000), several counties and agencies, and of course landowner donations. We have a series of biological control agents that we rear/collect as they reach life-growth stages that are collectable. The timing of each is somewhat weather dependent. We will be collecting Dalmatian and yellow toadflax insects in early and mid-June. We then collect leafy spurge insects in late June and into July. We collect spotted knapweed insects from late July to early September. We may also have Russia knapweed insects throughout the summer and may have Canada thistle fungus in September. We may also have other new/rare agents for other weeds (such as whitetop flower mites or houndstongue weevils) if they become available (please watch these articles). If you would like a release of these insects for your land or have questions about noxious weeds, please call Todd (406-498-5236) or Brynna (406-202-2393) during normal business hours.

Pull some knapweed! Remember, the time to make a noxious weed plan is NOW!