Noxious Weed Control Program

Musk thistle flower Noxious weeds are one of the greatest threats to the Kansas environment because they displace native plant species, interfere with the production of agricultural crops, increase erosion, destroy wildlife habitat and decrease property values.

The Kansas Department of Agriculture administers the state Noxious Weed Law. The State Weed Specialist and Noxious Weed Control Program provide technical assistance to individual landowners, state and federal agencies as well as other companies and organizations that manage land in our great state.

Kansas Noxious Weeds

There are 12 plant species designated as noxious weeds in Kansas. Other species may be designated as county option weeds. Check with your County Weed Department to find out if any other species have been designated as noxious in your county.

Kansas Noxious Weed List

Category A Weeds
These weeds are generally not found in the state or are found limited in distribution throughout the state and shall be subject to exclusion from the state or active eradication wherever detected statewide, in order to protect neighboring lands and the state as a whole.

Category B Weeds
These weeds have discrete distributions throughout the state and shall be subject to control wherever populations have become established within the state and subject to active eradication wherever populations are not established.

Category C Weeds
These weeds are well-established within the state and known to exist in larger or more extensive populations in the state. New populations shall be subject to control efforts directed at reducing or eliminating those populations and known and established populations of Category C noxious weeds shall be managed by any approved control method.

County Option Noxious Weeds
The Kansas Noxious Weed Act allows for counties to declare, with approval of the Secretary of Agriculture, species of plants to be noxious in their county (K.S.A. 2-1314).

Noxious Weeds Survey Data

Kansas Noxious Weed Law and Regulations

The Noxious Weed Law was established to protect landowners from the encroachment of noxious weeds from neighboring lands. Since it was enacted in 1937, it has been revised and improved upon several times, resulting in today's version.

Kansas Noxious and Invasive Weed Management Plan

The Kansas Department of Agriculture and the State Noxious Weed Advisory Committee, in cooperation with other state and federal agencies and a variety of agricultural, conservation, and natural resource organizations across the state, have cooperated to produce Kansas’ first statewide plan for the management and eradication of noxious and invasive weeds.

This plan, and the accompanying action items, are intended to help the department improve its management of noxious weeds and to allow stakeholder to know what the department is doing and to help direct statewide weed management going forward.

Kansas Noxious and Invasive Weed Management Plan

Noxious Weed Advisory Committee

Biennial Report To The Secretary

Advisory Committee Members

Membership

Advisory Board Members

13 voting members and the Secretary of Agriculture as a non-voting ex officio member
Membership will reflect the different geographic areas of the state equally to the greatest extent possible

Members will receive no compensation for serving on the state advisory committee, but will be paid subsistence allowances, mileage and other expenses
- One member will be a natural resource management professional from the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism

Two members will be weed specialists from Kansas State University College of Agriculture or Kansas State Research and Extension,
- One of whom will have knowledge of non-chemical methods of weed control
One member will be a County Commissioner
Four members will be private landowners involved in agricultural production,
- One will be a Kansas producer who grows traditional Kansas crops, i.e. wheat, corn, soybeans, milo, peanuts, cotton, hay or oats
- One will be a Kansas producer who grows non-traditional Kansas crops

One will be a certified organic producer
Two members will be Weed Supervisors
One member will represent the agricultural industries in the state
One member will represent the Kansas Biological Survey
One member will represent the Kansas Cooperative Council

Membership Appointments

Both Kansas State University members will be appointed upon the recommendation of the Dean of the College of Agriculture and the Director of Kansas State Research and Extension
The County Commissioner will be appointed upon the recommendation of the Kansas Association of Counties
Both Weed Directors will be appointed upon the recommendation of the Board of Directors of the County Weed Director's Association of Kansas
The representative of the agricultural industries will be appointed upon the recommendation of the Board of Directors of the Kansas Agribusiness Retailers Association
The representative of the Kansas Biological Survey will be appointed upon the recommendation of the Kansas Biological Survey
The representative of the Kansas Cooperative Council will be appointed upon the recommendation of the Board of Directors of the Kansas Cooperative Council
All other members will be appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture

Member Terms

Except for the initial appointments, the term of office of each member of the committee will be four years.
The Secretary will designate the initial term of office for each member appointed to the first committee. The initial appointments to the committee will be:
- Six members will be appointed for a term of two years
- Four members will be appointed for a term of three years
- Three members will be appointed for a term of four years
Each member will be limited to serving a total of two full terms and will hold office until the expiration of the term for which such member is appointed or until a successor has been duly appointed.
In the event of a vacancy on the state advisory committee, the recommending body of the vacating member will make a recommendation to the Secretary as prescribed in this section.
The Secretary will, as soon as is reasonably possible, appoint a member to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the unexpired term.

The Secretary may remove any member of the State Advisory Committee for misconduct, incompetence or neglect of duty.

Website Advisory Committee

Responsibilities

The State Advisory Committee will:

Meet at least once per year, but not more than four times per year
Meetings may be held remotely by conference call
Among other duties assigned by the Secretary:
- Every other year
  - Report to the secretary on the expenditure of state funds on noxious weed control; specifically
  - How such funds were spent
  - The status of the state and county programs
  - Recommendations for the continued best use of state funds for noxious weed control
  - Recommendations as to the long-term needs regarding noxious weed control.
- Every 4 years
  - Review the noxious weed act and the list of species declared to be noxious weeds by rules and regulations and recommend changes to the secretary
  - Review the official eradication and control methods for each state noxious weed and recommend changes to the secretary
- Every 5 years
  - Review the state weed management plan and recommend changes and updates to the secretary for approval
- As needed
  - Through the use of a risk assessment designated by the secretary, recommend the designation and classification of state noxious weeds
  - Only make recommendations approved by a majority vote of the members.
  - The Kansas Department of Agriculture's non-voting ex officio member will act as technical advisor to the committee and its members

Controlling Noxious Weeds

The Kansas Noxious Weed Law requires that all people, which includes the private landowners, state, counties, townships, cities, and their agencies, boards and departments, any companies or corporations that own or manage land, control the spread of and eradicate any noxious weeds on any land the own or supervise, and to use the official methods approved and adopted by the secretary. These methods will be based on the most current available science and will include, if applicable, control and eradication methods from each of the Integrated Weed Management, including biological, chemical, cultural, and mechanical methods of control and eradication.

Official Noxious Weed Control Programs

Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis)
Musk Thistle (Carduus nutans)
Sericea Lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata) (coming soon)
Johnsongrass (Sorghum halepence)
Bur Ragweed (Ambrosia grayii)
Canada Thistle (Cirsium arvense)
Hoary Cress (Cardaria draba)
Leafy Spurge (Euphorbia virgate)
Kudzu (Pueraria montana var. lobata)
Pignut (Hoffmannseggia glauca)
Quackgrass (Agropyron repens)
Russian Knapweed (Rhaponticum repens)

County Option Noxious Weeds

Common Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum)
Cut-Leaf Teasel (Dipsacus laciniatus)
Caucasian Bluestem (Bothriochloa bladhii)
Bull Thistle (Cirsium vulgare)

2021 County Noxious Weed Annual Reports and Management Plans

County Annual Reports

County Management Plans

Noxious and Invasive Weed Newsletters

2024 Noxious and Invasive Weed Newsletters

2023 Noxious and Invasive Weed Newsletters

2022 Noxious and Invasive Weed Newsletters

2021 Noxious and Invasive Weed Newsletters

2020 Noxious and Invasive Weed Newsletters

2019 Noxious and Invasive Weed Newsletters

2018 Noxious and Invasive Weed Newsletters

2017 Noxious and Invasive Weed Newsletters

2016 Noxious and Invasive Weed Newsletters

2015 Noxious and Invasive Weed Newsletters

Publications

Noxious and Invasive Weed Resources

County Weed Directors Association of Kansas - Contact information for the County Weed Directors
Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health - The Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health provides Information and photographs of invasive species from all taxa
Kansas Department of Agriculture Pesticide Program - The Kansas Department of Agriculture's Pesticide and Fertilizer Division enforces the registration and use of herbicides
USDA National Invasive Species Information Center - A gateway to federal, state, local and international invasive species information from the United States Department of Agriculture
North American Invasive Species Management Association (NAISMA) -Information on the Weed Free Forage Certification process
North Central Weed Science Society - A professional organization of scientists in the field of weed science and crop protection
RiversEdge West - An organization that promotes the control of streamside invasive species and restoration of riparian areas.
Weed Science Society of America - A professional society promoting research, education, and awareness of weeds in managed and natural ecosystems