BY BLAINE BUG CREW
This week marks the beginning of a new summer season for the Blaine Bug Crew. We have hit the ground running and have already completed our Dalmatian toadflax sites. Our next priority will be working with Canada thistle.
Each summer begins with an all-crew training for the six bug crews in southern Idaho. This took place on June 10 in Gooding, with Joey Milan, an entomologist with the Bureau of Land Management. He taught the crew members not only the etymology of the plants, but that of all of the insects used to control the plants. Everyone left the training with more knowledge and their first summer sunburn. Many of the crew members enjoy the field work portion of the training best, because that is when they get to put into practice everything they learn during the morning. Thank you Joey for your expertise!
This year’s bug crew consists of some returning members and some new faces. Eric McHan returns in his 17th year of being our supervisor. Sienna Norman is beginning her second year with us, while Liberty Burton, Meliza Aguilar, Joselyn Alvarado and Genesis Rapp are our new crew members. We are excited as a crew to help the residents of Blaine County with their notorious weed infestations.
We will close with a reminder of what we do as a bug crew. We use biological control (insects) to control some of Idaho’s worst noxious weeds. Our mission is to introduce our hungry insect warriors to their target noxious weed. We do this for three months during the summer and then head back to school. If you would like to know more about what we do, please contact Eric McHan at 208-316-0354, or the Blaine County Weed Department at 208-788-5543.
