Adopt-A-Trailhead 2023 Newsletter

Adopt a Trailhead Montana or (AATM) is a cooperative volunteer program to help protect Montana’s trails from further spread of noxious weeds. The AATM program was started in 2015 with the intent to increase awareness of site specific weeds and to gain volunteer involvement at trailheads. Noxious weeds can be a problem at trailheads because these invasive plants thrive in disturbed areas. Repetitive disturbance at trailheads provides the perfect habitat for noxious weeds to become established and increases their ability to spread. Noxious weeds can slowly make their way up that trail system, often hitchhiking as seeds in treads of mountain bike tires, ATVs or other motorized vehicles; in the socks, shoelaces or gear of hikers and hunters, or in the hair or fur of pack animals. The AATM program works to prevent the spread of noxious weeds by installing boot brush kiosks and involving local community groups in weed management!

This year, AATM volunteer groups worked to remove noxious weeds at trailheads across Montana. All together, AATM volunteers spent 20 hours removing around 1,260 gallons of noxious weeds!

Members of the Glacier View 4H group tackled the noxious weeds at Stanton Lake trailhead this past summer. They successfully removed six bags of weeds, pulling oxeye daisy, hawkweed, and Canada thistle from around the parking lot and up the trail. As recreators have utilized the boot brush kiosk at Stanton Lake trail, the boot brush had become worn through use. The group was able to replace the old boot brush with a new one at this event A highlight from the event was everyone putting on noxious weed themed temporary-tattoos at the end of of the weed pull!

At the Russell Gates Memorial Fishing Access Site, the Blackfoot Challenge put together two weed pulls over this past summer. The area has seen a tremendous improvement from previous years thanks to all of the hard work put into managing the noxious weeds. The Blackfoot Challenge volunteers removed leafy spurge, spotted knapweed, Canada thistle, yellow toadflax, oxeye daisy from the area, totaling to 10 bags or 500 gallons of noxious weeds!

This past November, the Winter Wildlands Alliance installed two kiosks in Bozeman, one at the Middle Cottonwood trail and one at the Bozeman M trail! The kiosk installations were a success, thanks to Hilary Eisen and Cody Yeatts who worked hard organizing and installing the kiosk. The Winter Wildlands Alliance also has plans to install another kiosk in 2024 at Ross Pass Trail.

In collaboration with the Winter Wildlands Alliance, the Bridger Bowl Ski area has plans to install a boot brush kiosk on their property in 2024! The kiosk will share information about spotted knapweed, houndstounge, oxeye daisy, and hoary alyssum with recreators.

Also in November, the Buckthorn Bandits installed a new kiosk at Two Moon Park in Billings. Their event was a huge success, with volunteers from throughout the community joining into take care of the park. The primary focus of the day was removing common buckthorn from the park, although many volunteers also worked to remove other noxious weeds, clean up trash and help out with the kiosk installation. The kiosk was a project put together by the Yellowstone River Parks Association, the Yellowstone County Weed District, and The Base Camp.

Earlier this year, the Eastern Sanders County Conservation District installed a new boot brush and pulled weeds at their Adopt-A-Trailhead site! Thank you to MSU Sanders County Extension, Sanders County 4H, Sanders County Weed District, & NRCS for working on this project and making it happen!

This year the AATM program joined Dan Wilkins, who heads the Pull Your Share program, on some of his school visits to share with students the importance of managing noxious weeds such as spotted knapweed. Through the Pull Your Share program, students take a field trip to a site in their area where they get hands on experience pulling spotted knapweed. Each year, their class will return to the site to continue their work and see how their hard work can make an impact on the environmental health of the area.

Thank you to all partners, groups, and volunteers who have made this year with Adopt-A-Trailhead a success!