On August 11th a Colorado Department of Transportation crew repainted the handicap parking spaces at our building. We made a phone query one day; the next day Jerime Trujillo’s crew was out front painting away. Talk about fast, friendly service! The guys were great & we really appreciate how nice the freshly painted lines and handicap parking spaces look.  A big THANK YOU to Tim, Tony & Jerime!

The building metamorphosis is complete! The xeriscape yard is in, the new brick red metal roof is on, our parking space lines and handicap parking spaces have been repainted, and our new sign is installed. The last piece of the project was finished at the end of September.

BCCD is wrapping up another successful season on the Weed Management Program. Brian Wait has been a fine addition to our program as our new Weed Supervisor. He has spent his year scouting the county for A & B List invasives.  He has located, mapped and sprayed Hoary Cress, Dalmatian and Narrow Leaf Dalmatian Toadflax, Musk Thistle, quite a bit of Scotch Thistle, and is working on the follow-up ground spraying on the Horse Creek Watershed. If you remember in 2008 we had a helicopter spray the tamarisk on Horse Creek. This year Brian is going back on the ground to spray anything the helicopter missed. He also resprayed the few remaining tamarisk on the Two Buttes Creek Watershed. Check out the “Invasive Species Mapped & Sprayed in 2009” map on Page 6.

The picture above shows the results of the ‘08 helicopter spraying of tamarisk on the Horse Creek Watershed.  Notice the Cottonwood and Juniper trees were undisturbed.  Brian went back in this year and hand sprayed any remaining tamarisk on the watershed.

Brian Wait, BCCD Weed Supervisor, attended an Invasive Weed Training in Rocky Ford September 3, 2009. The “train the trainer” session was presented by Dr. George Beck, Colorado State University Weed Scientist. The program was very well attended with more than 50 people present. Dr. Beck covered topics including sprayer calibration, timing of spraying, integrated weed management, chemical families and chemical interactions. Brian said the day was “very informative, and well worth the trip.”