2015 Air Force Academy Weed Management Plan

Integrated Noxious
Weed Management
Plan
US Air Force Academy
and Farish Recreation
Area

August 2015

CNHP’s mission is to preserve the natural diversity of life by contributing the essential scientific foundation that leads to lasting conservation of Colorado's biological wealth.

Colorado Natural Heritage Program
Warner College of Natural Resources
Colorado State University
1475 Campus Delivery
Fort Collins, CO 80523
(970) 491-7331

Report Prepared for:
United States Air Force Academy
Department of Natural Resources

Recommended Citation:
Smith, P., S. S. Panjabi, and J. Handwerk. 2015. Integrated Noxious Weed Management Plan: US Air Force Academy and Farish Recreation Area, El Paso County, CO. Colorado Natural Heritage Program, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado.

Front Cover: Documenting weeds at the US Air Force Academy. Photos courtesy of the Colorado Natural Heritage Program ©

Integrated Noxious Weed
Management Plan
US Air Force Academy and
Farish Recreation Area
El Paso County, CO
Pam Smith, Susan Spackman Panjabi, and Jill Handwerk
Colorado Natural Heritage Program
Warner College of Natural Resources
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, Colorado 80523

August 2015

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Various federal, state, and local laws, ordinances, orders, and policies require land managers to control noxious weeds. The purpose of this plan is to provide a guide to manage, in the most efficient and effective manner, the noxious weeds on the US Air Force Academy (Academy) and Farish Recreation Area (Farish) over the next 10 years (through 2025), in accordance with their respective integrated natural resources management plans. This plan pertains to the “natural” portions of the Academy and excludes highly developed areas, such as around buildings, recreation fields, and lawns. This plan covers the entire Farish site, including the developed areas. For clarification purposes, throughout this report, the word “we” refers to the authors of this report, Colorado Natural Heritage Program (Smith et al. 2015). An integrated weed management plan employs a combination of weed control strategies in an effort to protect and/or achieve lasting restoration of native plant communities and the natural processes that support them. This plan follows approaches utilized by Carpenter and Perce (2004) who wrote the previous management plan as well as various other management plans that are designed for weed management in areas that contain natural resources that need protection