MISSISSIPPI COGONGRASSGRANT PRESENTATION

Natural Areas Conference

RANDY CHAPINFOREST HEALTH COORDINATOR

MS FORESTRY COMMISSION

According to USFS data, Cogongrass is present in 63of the 82 counties in MS

Mississippi’s State Assessment

Cogongrass strategy is to eliminatethe species in northern counties while suppressing it in the southern counties

Blue counties – counties determined to be heavily infested

Pink counties – lightly infested counties needing treatment

Progression of ARRA grant:•Awarded ARRA grant ($1,167,000) –8/5/2009•Began public outreach campaign 11/12/2009

•Opened bids for applicators- 5/6/2010

•Awarded bids to two applicators – Jerdan services and Diversified Forestree

•Herbicide applications operations began 6/14/2010, ended 10/31/2010 due to heavy frost.

2011 season•2011 – began spraying 5/2/2011, hired two more contractors, July 2011(Helena Chemical co., Inc., Chem-Spray South Inc.)•Stopped accepting landowner applications 6/30/2011•Presently spraying until heavy frost….

MISSISSIPPI LANDOWNER ENROLLMENT AND TREATMENT

STATUS AS OF OCTOBER 20, 2011

Cogongrass Grant

910

21213

16153

18831

1522

3377

3811

211

3947

301414

0 100 200 300 400

Attala

ChoctawClarke

Clay

Jasper

Kemper

Lauderdale

Leake

Lowndes

Monroe

Montgomery

Neshoba

NewtonNoxubee

Oktibbeha

Rankin

Scott

Simpson

Smith

Wayne

Webster

Winston

Landowners Enrolled in Program - 1,273 Total

Co

un

ty

4

4

18

5

10

6

20

4

3

2

1

3

4

2

1

0

0

21

2

36

4

2

0 10 20 30 40

Attala

Choctaw

Clarke

Clay

Jasper

Kemper

Lauderdale

Leake

Lowndes

Monroe

Montgomery

Neshoba

Newton

Noxubee

Oktibbeha

Rankin

Scott

Simpson

Smith

Wayne

Webster

Winston

Property with no Cogongrass found on property – 152 Total

Co

un

ty

2

4

157

8

112

37

136

20

11

0

0

24

60

31

7

2

11

15

14

175

0

0

0 50 100 150 200

Attala

Choctaw

Clarke

Clay

Jasper

Kemper

Lauderdale

Leake

Lowndes

Monroe

Montgomery

Neshoba

Newton

Noxubee

Oktibbeha

Rankin

Scott

Simpson

Smith

Wayne

Webster

Winston

Property Treated for Cogongrass – 826 Total

Co

un

ty

3

2

37

0

39

10

32

7

1

0

1

6

13

5

3

0

0

3

31

90

0

12

0 20 40 60 80 100

Attala

Choctaw

Clarke

Clay

Jasper

Kemper

Lauderdale

Leake

Lowndes

Monroe

Montgomery

Neshoba

Newton

Noxubee

Oktibbeha

Rankin

Scott

Simpson

Smith

Wayne

Webster

Winston

Property Not Treated as of 10/20/2011 – 295 Total

Co

un

ty

7

49

5,057

13

747

177

933

40

55

0

0

110

554

244

11

40

36

92

111

4,868

0

0

0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000

Attala

Choctaw

Clarke

Clay

Jasper

Kemper

Lauderdale

Leake

Lowndes

Monroe

Montgomery

Neshoba

Newton

Noxubee

Oktibbeha

Rankin

Scott

Simpson

Smith

Wayne

Webster

Winston

Cogongrass Spots Treated as of 10/20/2011- 13,144 Total

Co

un

ty

0.3444

0.1556

0.1275

0.1029

0.3130

0.1106

0.0857

0.1669

0.0451

0.0000

0.0000

0.1139

0.0354

0.1603

0.1711

0.5221

0.0483

0.1249

0.2715

0.1011

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000 0.1000 0.2000 0.3000 0.4000 0.5000 0.6000

Attala

Choctaw

Clarke

Clay

Jasper

Kemper

Lauderdale

Leake

Lowndes

Monroe

Montgomery

Neshoba

Newton

Noxubee

Oktibbeha

Rankin

Scott

Simpson

Smith

Wayne

Webster

Winston

Average Size of Spots Treated – 0.1239

Co

un

ty

SPOTS TREATED AS OF 10/24/2011

0.00 100.00 200.00 300.00 400.00 500.00 600.00 700.00

Attala

Choctaw

Clarke

Clay

Jasper

Kemper

Lauderdale

Leake

Lowndes

Monroe

Montgomery

Neshoba

Newton

Noxubee

Oktibbeha

Rankin

Scott

Simpson

Smith

Wayne

Webster

Winston

Number of Acres Treated - 1,627.9

Co

un

ty

Acres Treated

No Cogan Grass12%

Not Treated23%

Treated65%

Cogongrass Completion Status as of October 20, 2011

Company9%

Government9%

Private82%

Treated Acres by Ownership Class

Forest5%

Non-Forest1%

Non-Typed39%

Pasture15%

Pasture/Forest40%

Acres Treated by Land Use

C H E M I C A L S A N D A P P L I C A T I O N M E T H O D S A S O F O C T O B E R 2 0 , 2 0 1 1

Cogongrass Grant

121

311

22,023

134

12,472

1,294

2,928

331

159

748

1,176

1,625

113

955103

486

1,515

29,394

0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000 35,000

Attala

Choctaw

Clarke

Clay

Jasper

Kemper

Lauderdale

Leake

Lowndes

Monroe

Montgomery

Neshoba

Newton

Noxubee

Oktibbeha

Rankin

Scott

Simpson

Smith

Wayne

Webster

Winston

Gallons Arsenal Applied to Treated Spots -75,885 Total

Co

un

ty

Arsenal

0

0

3,363

0

943

0

898

0

0

0

0

12

15

204

0

0

38

1

0

1,576

0

0

0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000

Attala

Choctaw

Clarke

Clay

Jasper

Kemper

Lauderdale

Leake

Lowndes

Monroe

Montgomery

Neshoba

Newton

Noxubee

Oktibbeha

Rankin

Scott

Simpson

Smith

Wayne

Webster

Winston

Gallons Accord used to Treat Cogongrass Spots - 7,050 Total

Accord

Arsenal 91%

Accord 9%

% Chemical Used

Back Pack1%

ATV59%

Truck Spray40%

% Hours Sprayed by Application Method

PICTURES OF TREATING COGONGRASS UNDER MISSISSIPPI ARRA PROGRAM….

CHEMICALS AND RATES USED:

Arsenal Powerline (1%) w/ Bullseye blue dye(66.67% Powerline, 9.99% Bullseye, 6.67% water

16.67% Aqufact surfactant/gallon)

Or

Accord XRT II (2%) w/ Hi-light red dye(88.87% Accord XRT II, 6.67% Hi-light red, 4.47% water/gallon)Average spray rate – 51 Gallons /ac. for both treatments

ARRA jobs created – MS Forestry Commission- 4Contractors – 16Total jobs - 20

**UPDATE ON SPRAYING AS OF TODAY:**

Applicants treated – 967 (826)Acres treated – 1878 (1628)Average spot size – .127 (.1239)Number of spots treated – 14,836 (13,144)Average gallons per acre – 52.9 (51)Average cost per acre - $315Average cost per spot - $40Billable miles by vendors – 60,740