We're Using Software And Mapping To Keep Those Weeds In Check
It's springtime, which means that farmers across the country are busy planting their crops. This means, of course, that weeds are sure to follow.
So how do farmers kill weeds in their fields? That depends. Weed patches vary in size, shape, and composition, and often require different treatments, which may include different herbicides and rates of herbicides.
But scientists with the Agricultural Research Service are developing a computer-based decision tool and mapping system that helps farmers make more cost-effective and environmentally friendly choices about how to treat those weeds.
Lori Wiles, a weed ecologist with ARS's Water Management Research Unit in Fort Collins, CO, explained that a concept called "site-specific weed management" is a form of "precision agriculture" that encourages farmers to limit the amount of herbicides they apply to a field. While it's not really a new concept, it helps farmers identify which portions of their fields require treatment for weeds, and then target those areas for application. It's sort of like dabbing calamine lotion on each individual mosquito bite instead of dipping your whole arm or leg in it.
But Wiles and her colleagues in Fort Collins then attempted to make "site-specific weed management" easier and more practical by developing a software program called "WeedSite," which they are making available for free. "Growers run WeedSite themselves," she noted. "They use their computer mouse to draw weed maps of their fields on the computer screen. Then the program uses those maps to predict outcomes such as where herbicide is needed, the most cost-effective herbicides to use, and the number of weeds likely to be left in the field after herbicide application."
"With this information," she underscored, "the software program computes the net benefit, in dollars and reduced herbicide use, to the grower from using site-specific weed management, instead of applying herbicides uniformly across the field."
But that wasn't all. According to Mike Murphy, an ARS hydrologic technician at the agency's Agricultural Systems Research Unit in Fort Collins, "Herbicides are needed to control weeds, but spraying where there are no weeds doesn't make sense for the farmer or the environment." So, with the help of colleagues at Fort Collins including ARS agricultural engineer Paul Irvin, ARS ecologist David Remucal, Robert Waltermire, leader of the U.S. Geological Survey's GIS and Remote Sensing Team, and several local farmers, Wiles is developing and testing a simple, low-cost approach to map weeds in fields. It's based on a grower mounting a digital still camera and a global positioning system or GPS unit on a tractor, taking photographs while driving across the farmer's field, and then matching those photos with GPS coordinates.
"Another software package that we're developing then estimates weed cover from the images, and then automatically constructs a map of weed cover for the farmer," said Irvin. "So, with this map and a sprayer, a farmer can easily locate and treat weed-covered sections, detect new weed invasions, and monitor changes in existing weed patches. With a click of the mouse, the user can view the image taken in a specific area to find out which weed species are present."
Wiles clarified that this more cost-effective and environmentally friendly mapmaking approach to combating weeds--by employing ARS's WeedSite and mapping software, combined with the digital still camera and a GPS unit on a tractor--has, to date, been more in the 'education phase' and not the 'application phase.' She said that this approach has been taught in college-level courses in agriculture.
One way to move from the 'education phase' to the 'application phase' is through Cooperative Research and Development Agreements or CRADAs. Those are signed agreements between ARS and entities in the private sector to transfer, into the private sector, the technology that was developed by ARS employees. "And, because of a CRADA which ARS signed in March 2008 with a software company in Raleigh, North Carolina," affirmed Gale Dunn, an ARS soil scientist and technology transfer specialist in Fort Collins who developed that CRADA, "when the time comes to plant crops next year in 2009, there should be commercial software, which incorporates our WeedSite software, so that farmers will be able to create georeferenced weed maps to spray by."
"Prior to the CRADA, that capability wasn't there."
--Laura McGinnis
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NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT
Recycling In The Forest Service Takes On An Added Dimension
"Recycling clothing isn't new," Terry Reeves pointed out. "During periods of scarcity in this country, such as during World Wars I and II, people did without a lot of items, including excessive clothing items. But there doesn't have to be a world crisis to start saving and making changes."
Reeves, a Forest Service receptionist or "front liner" at the Rager Ranger Station on the Ochoco National Forest in central Oregon, was referring to a precedent behind an initiative she recently developed, that is now being used throughout the Forest Service. She calls it "UNICYCLE" for "uniform-free-cycle."
"It's a program," she explained, "in which Forest Service employees collect surplus or unneeded and/or slightly used but still wearable Forest Service uniforms and uniform components, and then they share them with other Forest Service employees who have a need for those items."
"You might call it 'sharing of the uniform wealth'."
Reeves estimated that a goodly number of the agency's approximately 33,000 headquarters and field employees wear a Forest Service uniform as part of their daily assignments for the agency. "Employees who wear a Forest Service uniform do receive a 'periodic uniform allowance.' But the cost of uniforms just went up about 27 percent," Reeves advised. "So I figure that anything we can do to help each other keep our costs down for uniforms is a welcome effort."
Typical uniform items most in demand include Forest Service 'cruiser jackets,' both lined and unlined FS windbreakers, FS heavy field jackets, blouses, maternity blouses, long-sleeve and short-sleeve shirts, short-sleeve polo shirts, field pants, dress blazers, dress slacks, and FS insignia.
Reeves emphasized that uniforms which FS employees purchase with their clothing allowance or personal funds belong to those employees. However, employees may not, in turn, sell their uniforms. But they are allowed to donate them in-house, and also outside the agency such as to a non-profit organization as long as any Forest Service-identifying insignia are removed first.
Reeves said that, as part of her research into this initiative, she reviewed the Finance and Accounting section of the Forest Service Handbook covering this matter, to ensure that this initiative was legal. "Yes," she confirmed, "recycling clean, in-repair, neat, and lightly worn uniforms and uniform components is legal."
So, how does this process work, both in her own office and agency-wide?
"Well, in our own office," she recounted, "it got started this past January because in our ranger district alone we had a full closet, several bags in the computer room, and an upright cabinet--all full of uniform components in storage. And I couldn't stand seeing the waste of perfectly good uniforms gathering dust and taking up much needed space."
So she gathered the items in question, separated them by size, style, color, and acceptable condition, and then logged the items onto a spreadsheet. The items, which took up two conference tables, were then made available to any local Forest Service employee who wears a uniform. "So they walked through the room and did their own picking and choosing--and that first recycling event saved over $1,000 in uniform allowance expenditures," she said.
"For the process Forest Service-wide," Reeves then explained, "our regional public affairs staff developed a 'UNICYCLE' section, on our agency's Intranet website, that employees can use--and have been using--to post uniform items and pieces to be recycled. Those items include appropriate contact information."
Reeves noted that anyone in the Forest Service can browse the list and make the contact, and any agency office can use interoffice mail to ship a donated uniform to an employee at any other unit. "In fact," she quipped, "the most complicated part of UNICYCLE is explaining that it's not complicated."
"This is a 100-percent low-red-tape, self-managed activity," she continued. "I don't serve as a central repository for uniforms, either for my office or for the agency as a whole. But I am a resource to help agency employees list and then share their uniforms."
As an example of a self-managed activity, Reeves added, office 'family meetings' or new employee orientations are good opportunities for uniform recycling get-togethers. "Plus," she pointed out, "it introduces, in a practical way, the Forest Service commitment to leaving a smaller 'carbon footprint' as we carry out our agency's mission."
"I'd like to think that, because of everyone's cooperation and contributions, UNICYCLE is not only a good idea, but it's a good idea done right."
