Conservationist says resort should do more to control knapweed

An avid hiker and noted conservationist suggests that Whitefish Mountain Resort can do more to control weeds near the Danny On Trail.

Richard Kuhl said the Forest Service does a good job of spraying the knapweed around the trailhead, but the spray only kills about 90 percent of the weeds.

The remaining weeds then go to seed and the patch grows back the next year. He suggested that Whitefish Mountain Resort, which leases the land on Big Mountain for its summer operations and its ski lifts in the winter, could do more to control weeds on the slope.

The resort does have a weed control program.

“We have a program in partnership with the Flathead National Forest,” said resort spokeswoman Riley Polumbus.

But Kuhl suggested that if employees pulled just a few weeds a day, they could eradicate the problem. The weeds that survive spraying, he claimed, simply re-seed the slopes. He also noted that Danny On, the photographer and conservationist whom the trail is named after, was an international figure and it would behoove the Service to pay him better recognition by controlling the weeds.

Kuhl brought up the topic during a public breakfast last week with Flathead National Forest Service Supervisor Chip Weber. Weber and his staff said they would look into the matter.

He noted that the Forest Service is embarking on a weevil control program. Students at West Valley School are raising the bugs at their school and later they’ll be released in knapweed patches through the Forest.

The weevils specifically eat knapweed.