KITSAP COUNTY — Kitsap County has started a two-year survey of noxious weeds on about 10,000 acres of public land, aiming to pinpoint where invasive plants have taken hold so the county can decide where to focus control work.
The county’s Noxious Weed Control Program said the surveys will run from this month through September 2028, mostly on Kitsap County Parks land but also on property owned by school, fire and public utility districts.
Crews will record the exact location and size of priority infestations, list every noxious weed found in each survey area, including the county’s “Weeds of Concern,” and check whether previously mapped infestations are still there. The program said the data will guide future management and how the county spends its weed-control money.
Leading the work is Angelica Amesquita, a newly hired program specialist with a plant science degree and more than 10 years of experience doing botanical field surveys, weed mapping and plant identification in Washington and the western United States.
Residents can contribute. Photos of plants submitted through the free iNaturalist app or iNaturalist.org from Kitsap County are automatically added to the program’s priority-species project, which staff monitor to track the spread of weeds. The app also suggests identifications for unfamiliar plants.
The program is also asking people to watch for shiny geranium, a low-growing plant with glossy, lobed leaves and small pink to magenta flowers. Control is required in Kitsap, and the plant is on Washington’s quarantine list, which makes it illegal to buy, sell or transport it or its seeds. Seeds have turned up in pots of nursery plants, so the county recommends inspecting new plantings.
Treatments through the county’s Stewardship Assistance Program are paused until early spring 2027, though applications are still accepted. The program offers qualifying property owners up to $2,500 per property per year in weed-control help, with a hardship option for people who meet the criteria for the state’s senior and disabled property tax credit. The county also lends weed wrenches, loppers and other tools for free.
The Noxious Weed Control Board meets from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4, in the community room of the Kitsap Regional Library’s Poulsbo branch, 700 NE Lincoln Road, and on Zoom.
More information is at kitsap.gov/dcd/Pages/Noxious-Weed-Control.aspx.
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