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Noxious Weed Management Plan <br />Union Milling Company <br />Leadville Mill <br />Leadville, Colorado <br />August 2009 <br />1. Plan Objective <br />The objectives for the Union Milling Company (UMC) Noxious Weed Management Plan for <br />the Leadville Mill are to: <br />• provide the steps necessary for the Leadville Mill to assess the existence of noxious <br />weeds within and adjacent to the property boundaries; <br />• provide the Leadville Mill with preventive and treatment measures which will control <br />the spread and establishment of noxious weeds; and <br />• identify monitoring needs and frequency of monitoring. <br />2. Description of the Project <br />The Leadville Mill site permitted area consist of 6.6 acres located about 2.5 miles south of <br />the town of Leadville. It is on the north side of Highway 24 in a heavily wooded area on the <br />lee side of an east-west trending hill at an elevation of 9,750 feet. <br />3. Weed Inventory <br />UMC requested that Larry Walker, Chaffee County Weed Department, inspect the mill site. <br />He found some Oxeye daisies on the fence line next to the water treatment plant (outside of <br />the permitted area) and a few Canada thistle on the pond dike and the south west corner of <br />the mill (inside the permitted area). Canada thistle was also observed earlier in the year <br />around the mill and the tailings pond. See attached map for weed infestation locations. <br />4. Weed Management Techniques <br />The key principle to Canada thistle control is to stress the plant and force it to use stored root <br />nutrients. Canada thistle can recover from almost any stress, including control attempts, <br />because of root nutrient stores. Therefore, returning infested land to a productive state occurs <br />only over time. Success requires a sound management plan implemented over several years. <br />The techniques below are based on the CSU web site's recommendations but have been <br />modified because the Leadville Mill is not a range or grass land environment. <br />Cultural control. Grasses can compete effectively with Canada thistle if their growth <br />is favored by good management. Fertility and moisture must be maintained at <br />optimum levels to favor grass growth. Soil analysis can easily determine fertility <br />needs, however, caution must be used with nitrogen fertilizers because excess <br />available soil nitrogen will favor weed growth.