Who Wants to Pick Up Dalmation Toadflax Weevils on the Bison Range?

Scientists and coordinators from the Montana Department of Agriculture are attempting to cut down on weeds in the Bison Range using insects. According to State Bio-control Coordinator, Melissa Maggio-Kassner, the public is invited to come help relocate a species of Weevil in June.

"Participants in this workshop are actually going to be able to go into an area of the range that they aren't typically allowed to go on," said Maggio-Kassner. "We are going to go to different areas and collect insects off of the Dalmatian Toadflax, which they are using to control the weed there, and then we are going to move them to new areas."

Volunteers will be collecting a species of weevil called, the Dalmatian Toadflax Weevil which hails from Europe, the same area where the weed of the same name is native.

"There are researchers that go to the country where these weeds are native to and they figure out what insect pests are helping to keep those plants in control there," Maggio-Kassner said. "Then they take these insects into a laboratory setting and test them to make sure that the only thing that they are going to attack is the target weed species."

Anyone interested in checking out parts of the Bison Range normally unseen while doing a bit of Weevil collecting is welcome to call Melissa to volunteer for the expedition on June Fourth. Melissa's number is 258-4223.