Kane County Teenagers join battle against Scotch Thistle

Contact: Larry Crutchfield 435-644-4320

Kane County, Utah—May 22, 2006—Huge, spinney aliens take over a rural countryside. Teenagers, alerted to the attack, skip school to take on the aliens “mano e mano.” Sound like the plot from a 1950’s science fiction movie? Maybe. Then again, maybe not.

A small plot of privately-owned land located midway between Orderville and Glendale, Utah, became such a battleground May 16th when more than 90 teenage volunteers from Valley High School in Orderville and Big Water School in Big Water picked up shovels and spades to participate in what area officials hope will become an annual event – Scotch Thistle Day.

Scotch thistle, a native to Europe and eastern Asia, is a biennial plant that can grow to more than eight feet high and six feet wide. In its first year, slender seeds develop into a rosette of leaves. The leaves, armed with sharp spines, can be up to two-feet long and a foot wide. In the second year, the plant produces a seed stalk topped with violet to reddish flowers. Severe infestations of Scotch thistle can create a “botanical wall” preventing wildlife and livestock access to water and grazing.

“Several years ago, Millard County started Scotch Thistle Day as a community service field project for middle and high school students. The students are bused to the site, spend the morning cutting and digging scotch thistle, eat a Dutch oven lunch and then get awards for their hard work. It has become so popular with school science clubs that the organizers get requests to participate clubs more than 150 miles away. We used their pattern for our event,” said Amber Hughes, a botanist at Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Planning for the Kane County Scotch Thistle Day actually began last August.

“Kane County Commissioner Ray Spencer and I were at a Canyon Country Cooperative Weed Management Area (CWMA) meeting when the idea came up. He made some contacts; I made some contacts and next thing you know, a group was formed!” said Hughes.

That working group was made up of representatives, or had input, from the Kane County Water Conservancy District, Kane County School District, Kane County Weed Department, Utah Association of Conservation Districts, Utah State University Extension, Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Kane County and Canyonlands Soil Conservation Districts, Escalante Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management’s Kanab Field Office, Cedar City Field Office and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

In the weeks leading up to Scotch Thistle Day, Hughes and Utah State University Agricultural Extension Agent Kevin Heaton presented lectures to several classes throughout the Kane County School District.

“We explained what scotch thistle was, where it came from, the problem it creates and ways to control it to give the students a basic understanding of the issues before they got out here on the ground,” said Heaton, adding, “That was the serious side of the talk; then for fun, we encouraged all the students to enter our Scotch Thistle Day T-shirt design contest.”

“This particular site was chosen for a number of reasons,” explained Hughes, “First, there was a lot of Scotch thistle present, making it ideal for this type of hand-weeding project. Chemical treatment really wasn’t an option because the site contains the spring, two water wells and water storage tank that supply water to the two adjacent communities. There was also easy access to the area, and the land owner was very supportive.

“Another factor we took into consideration was its location right above the East Fork of the Virgin River, which can carry the plants’ seeds miles downstream, further spreading the infestation through public and private lands.”
Dellas Sorensen is Valley High School’s Future Farmers of America adviser. He is also a board member of the Kane County Water Conservancy District and a rancher.

“I’ve had several talks with many of the Valley students. They have a good handle on the threat invasive species like the scotch thistle present, and I think they really demonstrated that understanding with their sweat today. They worked hard, and there’s a hillside full of dead weeds to prove it,” said Sorensen.

For all their hard work, in addition to a hearty lunch, every participant received a T-shirt, donated by the Kane County Water Conservancy District and decorated with 15-year-old Valley High School 9th grader Trudie Heaton’s winning design. Heaton received a $50 prize for her design. Valley High School students Josh Heaton took second place and $30; and Daniel Spencer received $25 for his third place entry. Lunch and the prize money were provided by the Kane County Soil Conservation District.

“If I were to rate the success of our first Scotch Thistle Day on a scale of 1-to-10, I’d give it a 12! It really surpassed my expectations, both in the number of students participating and the huge amount of weeds dug up. I’m really looking forward to next year’s event,” concluded Hughes.