Update to Weed And Pest Law Proposed

Wyoming's Weed and Pest Act was one of the first of its kind in the nation.  Drafted in 1973,  Lawmakers now want to make some changes.

Brian Connelly, Director of the Natrona County Weed and Pest Control District,  says they want to modernize the act,   "modernize the definitions,  include some areas of concern; nurseries and language in the law that gives us a more Twenty-first Century law to work with for controlling weeds and pests."

In a presentation to Natrona County commissioners this week Connelly talked about a new paradigm in protection that emphasizes a surround and control approach that,  in his words, "jealously guards (weed free areas)  and prevents the spread of weeds."  Included in proposed revisions, Connelly says,  would be regulation of ornamental plants.  He says the introduction of Ornamentals is on the rise with exotic species brought in with no consideration of the possible impact.

"Nobody looks at em.  Nobody says, " Hey, is this a good idea or a bad idea?"  And so, our next Leafy Spurge,  our next Dalmation Toad Flax, is out there with  some pretty name.  It's in somebody's Xeroscape garden and it's gonna blow up and cover a mountain somewhere."

The proposed legislation would also increase fines on property owners who fail to control infestations on their land.