High School Internship Program Helps Mitigate Noxious Weeds Across Monte Vista

Residents in Monte Vista have grown increasingly frustrated with the overgrowth of noxious weeds—particularly puncture vines—on local streets, school grounds, and sports fields. Mitigating these invasive weed species is important because, if left unchecked, they can significantly disrupt ecosystems by displacing native plants, increasing erosion, and even affecting human health. So, two employees from the Rio Grande Weed District reached out to LOR with an idea: work with Monte Vista High School to launch an internship program that will teach students how to identify and manage noxious weeds and equip them with the materials they need to share that information with the broader community, helping locals mitigate invasive weeds on their property and avoid county fines. LOR’s support will fund a sticker burr roller (an industrial-sized piece of equipment designed to remove goat head stickers and grass burrs from the ground), which will be available for community use and will cover the cost of the educational materials needed to launch the internship program.