Former Lake County Deputy Agricultural Commissioner Chuck Morse discusses invasive weeds during last year's Invasive Weeds Awareness Week tour. Photo by Greg Dills.

LAKE COUNTY – The Lake County Weed Management Area is hosting an “invasive weed tour” Thursday, July 24. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend this tour.

The third week of July is California’s annual “Invasive Weed Awareness Week.” This statewide program is designed to educate citizens of the undesirable effects and impacts of non-native invasive weeds.

The self-driving tour is a fun and informative event where participants will view and learn about several species of invasive weeds.

The tour will begin in Lakeport proceeding to Nice, Rodman Slough, Main Street Bridge in Kelseyville, ending in Lakeside Park as our final “weed” stop that includes a lunch for the tour attendees.

This year’s tour is focused on revisiting the same sites as last year to observe the progress that has been made to control the invasive weeds and, in some cases to see the spread where invasive weeds have been left unattended.

We will see a demonstration area where goats have been used to control French Broom; we’ll visit two aquatic weed locations; and we will stop to view one of the Weed Management Area’s multiple control sites for Arundo donax, a significant invader of our riparian areas. We’ll visit an area with an abundance of terrestrial invasive weed diversity and we’ll try our luck at seeing some Yellow Star Thistle biocontrol agents at work.

Passenger vans with limited seating will be available on a first come first serve basis. All other participants will need to provide their own transportation and carpooling is encouraged. Registration begins at 8:15 a.m. at Lake County Department of Agriculture’s parking lot (883 Lakeport Blvd.).

The tour will leave from the parking lot at 8:45 a.m. and end by 12 p.m. at Lakeside Park. Please RSVP with Kristi at 263-0217 by July 22 if you plan on attending and indicate if you would like a seat on one of the vans.

The tour is sponsored by Lake County Department of Agriculture, the Lake County Department of Public Works, and the East Lake and West Lake Resource Conservation Districts.

While the end-of-tour lunch is free of charge, a donation to offset the costs of the lunch and refreshments would be appreciated.

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