Waterkeeper wants weevils to fight Pend Oreille milfoil

LAKES — A North Idaho water quality watchdog group hopes the courts will force the Idaho State Department of Agriculture to include biological elements in efforts to eradicate Eurasian milfoil.

The Bonner County Daily Bee reports the Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper filed a petition for judicial review Tuesday in 1st District Court, naming the state agency and its director, Celia Gould, as defendants.

The group wants to revise Idaho’s noxious weed rules that prohibit biological control so weevils can be used to control milfoil that has invaded the Pend Oreille watershed. The state agency prefers using herbicides, diver dredging and bottom barriers.

“We can’t afford to sit back any longer and wait passively for the changes that need to occur to emerge on their own,” Shannon Williamson, executive director of the nonprofit, said in a statement.