Vegetation Management Overview
On an annual basis, Agricultural Services conducts rotational right-of-way control of vegetation in Greenview ditches using herbicide. Control is aimed at noxious and prohibited noxious weeds, brush under 1.5 meters in height, and plants such as sweet clover that can obstruct the driver’s view of wildlife. This work is connected to Greenview ensuring compliance with their responsibilities under the Weed Control Act. In addition to right-of-way work, crews maintain sightlines at intersections by ensuring the 20-meter line of sight zones are clear at intersections, brush and weed wack around bridges and do their best to ensure vegetation is not obstructing road signs within Greenview.
Should you prefer that herbicide not be sprayed adjacent to your property, the Department has a Spray Exemption Program that ratepayers can choose to participate in. Sign-up is once, and Agricultural Services will not spray herbicide adjacent to the areas indicated. Please note that this program requires the signatory to control brush and weed species within the area annually by July 15th. Should this requirement not be met, Greenview Agricultural Services reserves the right to complete the control work to maintain compliance with the Weed Control Act.
Pesticide Recycling Program
Greenview collects rinsed and punctured herbicide jugs at the Agricultural Services building in Valleyview and at the following transfer stations: New Fish Creek, Sweathouse, Puskwaskau, DeBolt, and South Wapiti. These jugs are then collected and recycled in the cleanFarms program. To ensure this collection continues, Agricultural Services requests that ratepayers ensure submitted jugs are rinsed, punctured, and placed in the provided bags.
For more information on the Clean Farms Recycling Program, please visit Clean Farms Alberta Programs.
Vegetation Management Programs
Greenview has recognized that there are some significant infestations of Tall Buttercup and/or Burdock. To assist landowners with the control of these invasive plants, landowners can apply for a rebate of $15 per acre sprayed to a maximum of $2,400 per landholder per year.
Applicants would be required to select an herbicide from a list of products approved under this program, purchase their products, and submit the receipts. The rebate payment will be calculated using the number of acres sprayed with the approved herbicide multiplied by the dollar amount. Once the application has been completed, department staff will confirm that the herbicide was applied and the desired level of weed destruction or control was achieved.
Eligible Weed Species:
- Tall Buttercup (Ranunculus acris),
- Burdock (Articum lappa/minus/tomentosum),
- Common Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare),
- Scentless Chamomile (Tripleurospermum inodorum),
- Ox-Eye Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare),
- White Cockle (Silene latifolia Poir. ssp. alba),
- Common Toadflax (Linaria vulgaris).
The Rural Acreage Owner Herbicide Program was initiated to ensure rural acreage owners (RAO) have access to select Commercial class herbicides to control Prohibited Noxious and Noxious weeds (as designated under the Weed Control Act). Greenview Agricultural Services has multiple Pesticide Applicator License holders on staff. Only those with a valid license may act as a designate. Greenview can only provide this program to Greenview residents.
Greenview has recognized the distance some residents were required to travel to obtain a range and pasture herbicide product. To bridge this gap, Greenview has become a vendor for a select few range and pasture products for residents to purchase at cost. To qualify to purchase herbicide under this program, a person must be a commercial agriculturalist, have a Rural Acreage Owner Certificate, and/or a Pesticide Applicators License
Greenview recognizes that fence lines can be difficult to control for invasive plant species. We offer this program to spray a residual herbicide free of charge along a fence line that runs adjacent to a municipal roadway. How to apply? Please give us a call at 780-524-7621, and we will be happy to assist you.
Greenview recognizes that landowners of smaller parcels or who are not producers may not have the equipment available to control infestations on their own. This program is offered to residents free of charge to assist with controlling smaller infestations on their property. How to apply? Please give us a call at 780-524-7621, and we will be happy to assist you.
Greenview is one of 20 municipalities participating in the Alberta Certified Weed Free Forage Program, and we want to help you get certified!
Is Your Forage Certified Weed Free?
What is the Weed Free Forage Program?
Certified Weed Free Forage is any forage product that was grown in fields that were inspected and found to be free of any viable seed or reproductive plant parts of any species identified in the North American Species Management Association’s Weed Free Forage Minimum Certification Standards, the Alberta Weed Control Act, and Greenview’s Designated Noxious Weeds Bylaw (22-894).
Greenview supports two programs, one is Alberta recognized and one is only Greenview recognized.
Certified weed free forage products are becoming a more in demand product, especially for use in protected areas and parks. The Program offers a way for producers to certify their product as weed-free and to provide a premium product.
Who can access the program?
Any producer with hay land can participate in this program. The entire parcel does NOT need to be weed free as our inspectors can designate areas as weed free, which then will be required to be harvested prior to the ‘non-weed free’ areas.
Why certify my forage as “Weed Free”?
When can I have my forage certified as weed free?
To have your forage certified as weed free, call the Greenview Agricultural Services Office at 780.524.7621 to set up an inspection time. Once the inspection is complete, the producer is required to have the forage harvested within 10 days or a re-inspections will be required.
How is the forage certified as weed free?
Inspections are conducted by a Certified Weed Free Forage Inspector who walks through the field and forage storage area identifying all plant species present. Once the inspection is complete, producers have 10 days to cut the forage stand. If a crop is not cut within that timeline, a new inspection must be conducted.
Specialized twine (Provincially recognized program) or be tracked per field and a manifest produced (Greenview recognized only) must be utilized for marking bales as certified and must be transported separately from non-certified forage.
What is the cost?
- There is no cost for the inspection
- Twine = $25.88/Roll or $51.76/Box.
Price may change as per Greenview’s Schedule of Fees Bylaw.
Why?
Invasive species such as terrestrial invasive plants are detrimental to Alberta’s environment and can cost an estimated $1 billion each year. Contaminated hay is one means by which invasive plants are spread. To address this, the North American Invasive Weed Management Association has set industry guidelines and maintains minimum standards for Certified Weed Free products in Alberta, which are recognized across North America. As a participating county, we intend to promote this program to potential buyers and help producers certify and sell their Certified Weed Free Forage!
What is the benefit?
Certified Weed Free Forage is a value-added product, and producers with an inventory of Certified Weed Free Forage will be listed on the Alberta Invasive Species Council (AISC) website! As demand for this product grows, being a supplier will not only help protect Alberta from the harmful impacts of invasive species, but their website will help you sell your Certified Weed Free Forage to potential buyers!
Program Information:
- Inspections must be conducted by a Certified Weed Free Forage Inspector within 10 days of harvest.
- Inspectors may certify all or a portion of a field as “weed free”.
- Invasive species may be present in a field certified as weed free, as long as there are no propagative plant parts (e.g. flowers, seed heads, root fragments) present.
- AISC maintains a publicly available list of producers with Certified Weed Free Forage inventory. This list is updated frequently, available on the AISC website. Contact AISC at at 587.999.0954 or info@abinvasives.ca to be added to this list.
Help us protect Alberta from the harmful impacts of invasive species by spreading the word (not the plant!) about Alberta’s Weed Free Forage progra
How can I get inspected?
Contact Greenview Agricultural Services at 780.524.7621 and have a Certified Weed Inspector come out and inspect your forage!
