Yerington native appointed to battle noxious weeds

It'll take a homegrown Nevadan to knock down those invasive non-native weeds.

Dawn Rafferty, raised in Yerington, is the first employee appointed to the Nevada Department of Agriculture by the state Legislature to battle noxious weeds fulltime. She will coordinate each conservation district 's efforts to control weeds as well as enforce abatement locally.

"Weeds affect everyone," said Paul Iverson, state agriculture director. "Right now we have a diverse ecosystem that lets us enjoy all this recreation. But when noxious weeds take over, they create a monosystem and take away all that diversity."

Nevada maintains a list of weeds that threaten the environment. Each weed district is facing down about 20 major weeds.

"Everybody has a responsiblity," said Rafferty. "Even if you don't own land, even if you're not a rancher or a farmer, you still need to take part."

The yellow star thistle and the musk thistle are two weeds that will take over public spaces if they aren't controlled, said Rafferty.

"They are thorny and spiny and you can't walk through them," she said.

Rafferty is testing the leaf beetle to see whether it can survive and become a natural enemy of the salt cedar, which lowers the water table. The beetle is being isolated in specially caged areas near Lovelock and Schurz to see how well it handles the climate.

Rafferty came into her career through the back door. Camping throughout the state with her family led to an interest in gardening. She earned a degree in conservation biology at the University of Nevada, Reno, where she worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Rafferty urges people to call the department of agriculture if they see a noxious weed patch.

"Tell us what you saw. And go kick it up out of the dirt if you can," she said.