Montana Biological Weed Control Coordination Project

Montana Biological Weed Control Coordination Project The Project provides leadership, coordination, and education that enables land managers to incorporate biocontrol in their w**d management programs.

A toadflax by any other name would smell as sweet -- or not! Common names can get confusing as many plant species are co...
06/01/2026

A toadflax by any other name would smell as sweet -- or not! Common names can get confusing as many plant species are colloquially called something rooted in regional history or lore, but once those plants start moving out of their home territory things get tricky. When looking at native versus invasive species, plants with similar common names are often grouped together even though they have drastically different taxonomic backgrounds and impacts on the environment. Can you guess which one of the toadflaxes above is our native species?

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In the field Friday - last week was a busy one for the crew completing a series of pollinator surveys at our Common Crup...
05/29/2026

In the field Friday - last week was a busy one for the crew completing a series of pollinator surveys at our Common Crupina sites in Oregon and Idaho! Each of the 6 sites needed a minimum 20 min survey in the morning, afternoon, and evening (which made for a lot of driving). Many bugs were caught including some long horn bees, bumblebees, wasps, and more!

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Wildflower Wednesday 🌿 This week's feature is Narrow-leaved Skullcap (Scutellaria angustifolia). While the flowers may r...
05/27/2026

Wildflower Wednesday 🌿 This week's feature is Narrow-leaved Skullcap (Scutellaria angustifolia). While the flowers may remind you of a penstemon, once you feel the square stem you'll find this plant is in the Mint Family! While this plant is not found in Montana, we spotted a nice little patch of it during pollinator surveys in Idaho last week.

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While conducting a whitetop mite release in Livingston, we were lucky to capture this photo of a beautiful native wester...
05/26/2026

While conducting a whitetop mite release in Livingston, we were lucky to capture this photo of a beautiful native western tailed-blue butterfly (Cupido amyntula). This species is seen across western North America and even into Alaska! If you look closely, you can see two little tails (one on each side) extending from the hindwings. This distinct feature (in combination with its color and range), is how this species got its name. It may not be as creative as some names, but it accurately describes this species traits!

Native pollinators like this species are vital to the health of native wildflowers and their ecosystems. We release biocontrol agents to manage invasive w**ds in order to allow native plants to reclaim their land and provide a food source for these pollinators. Our work helps to ensure that these pollinators can continue to thrive and support their ecosystems.

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Recently we have been assisting with pollinator surveys in Oregon and Idaho to better understand which species of pollin...
05/20/2026

Recently we have been assisting with pollinator surveys in Oregon and Idaho to better understand which species of pollinators may be utilizing the noxious w**d common crupina. Here’s one of the cute fuzzy little bumblebees that we caught while conducting these surveys! Can anyone identify this species?

*No bumblebees were harmed during these surveys.

While cleaning out our flowering rush ponds, we found a bunch of dragonfly larvae! Some dragonfly species spend up to fo...
05/18/2026

While cleaning out our flowering rush ponds, we found a bunch of dragonfly larvae! Some dragonfly species spend up to four years under the water in their larval stage. As adults, they may only continue to live for a few weeks. In addition, we also found whirligig beetles, and other aquatic beetle larvae.

We carefully relocated these larvae to a more natural pond in hopes that they could continue to grow and thrive there. Best of luck little dragons!

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What did we do this week? Read below to find out!This week we conducted whitetop gall mite releases both in Missoula (pi...
05/15/2026

What did we do this week? Read below to find out!

This week we conducted whitetop gall mite releases both in Missoula (pictured) and Billings! These are a newer biocontrol agent that assist with the management of whitetop, a noxious w**d. These microscopic mites gall the flowers and stems, which disrupts seed production and damages the plant's overall health. Releases of mites are best in May before the plants bloom. This gives the mites time to gall the buds as they form. We will check these sites again in July to see how many galls have developed!

In addition, we assisted with the Leave No W**ds field trip program, collected yellow toadflax weevils, cleaned 1 out of 4 of our flowering rush ponds (don't worry... we will clean the other 3 next week), ran several errands, and did a bunch of office work.

Stay tuned to see what else we get up to this field season!

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Do you know your w**d identification? Test your skills to determine which species, A or B, is the noxious w**d. Bonus po...
05/13/2026

Do you know your w**d identification? Test your skills to determine which species, A or B, is the noxious w**d. Bonus points if you can name the species of the w**d, and extra bonus points if you can identify the native species. Answers are on the 6th and 7th slide!

These two plants often get confused all the time. On popular hiking trails you may see the native plant pulled out of the ground because it was mistaken for the noxious w**d. It's important to know which plant you are interacting with, that way you don't accidentally damage a native species.

Let us know if you guessed right (or are too smart for our games) in the comments!

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With the kickoff of field season, we want to make sure we answer any questions you have regarding biocontrol. Ask away i...
05/11/2026

With the kickoff of field season, we want to make sure we answer any questions you have regarding biocontrol. Ask away in the comments, and we will reply with our answers!

In the field Friday - this week we were in the field fine-tuning our protocol to take soil cores to measure the change i...
05/01/2026

In the field Friday - this week we were in the field fine-tuning our protocol to take soil cores to measure the change in below-ground flowering rush biomass (rhizomes) before and after the release of the biocontrol agent. While conducting impact experiments (not in a natural setting or even in the invaded range), one of the big changes researches have observed after adding the weevil to flowering rush is a rather large decrease in the rhizome biomass, indicating an importance for monitoring below-ground as well as above-ground for this biocontrol/invasive plant system.

The last pictures demonstrates the struggle of fieldwork in saturated soils!

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Address

1075 South Avenue West
Missoula, MT
59801

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm

Telephone

+14062584223

Website

https://linktr.ee/montanabiocontrol

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