Ninepipes manager John Grant a master of weeds

Ninepipe Wildlife Management Area is 4,200 acres of premier wetland habitat and one of Montana’s favorite pheasant and waterfowl hunting sites.

Lying in glacial pothole prairie land, intermingled with thousands of acres of federal and tribal refuges, the area is home to myriad wildlife from pheasants to grizzly bears, and hosts every species of waterfowl that navigates the Pacific Flyway, including sandhill cranes and trumpeter swans.

So it might seem unlikely that one of the main things Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Manager John Grant has spent his 30-year career working on is weeds.

The pothole area of Mission Valley has been farmed intensively for a century or so, leaving little trace of the native grasses, and a wide variety of invasive weeds.

Every farmer in the valley must constantly contend with competition from white top, Canadian thistle, teasel, tansy, and many other aggressive weeds including a more recent arrival, ventenata, as they work to harvest a desirable and economic crop.

Grant’s job is similar, growing grains and cover crops, improving soil, fighting invasive weeds. But his crop is valued less for what is harvested than what stays — a flourishing year-round ecosystem providing sustenance, nesting, and cover for thousands of birds and animals.

He has worked cooperatively with neighboring landowners and refuges, Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, Montana Waterfowl Foundation, and other organizations to ensure this prime habitat is maintained. The importance of the site has grown as area producers have gradually moved from mixed agriculture, which included a variety of foods and cover, to growing primarily forage for livestock, according to the Ninepipes 2015 Management plan.

Grant works a network of odd-shaped and disconnected farm fields around the Ninepipe Reservoir, addressing a complex set of habitat needs within an equally complex set of ecological and agricultural realities. He has worked with private farmers but often they find it uneconomical and impractical working the small, irregular plots with highly varied crops and rotations.

Grant has kept notes for the three decades of his tenure to track how the management practices he implements work out. Those practices include planting an ever-rotating range of grains for forage, flowering plants for insects, nitrogen-fixing legumes for soil improvement, and aggressive plants that can help crowd out undesirable weeds.

Stubble may be left for nesting cover in the spring. Waste grain and green sprouts feed geese in the spring. Among these and many more practices, spraying weeds with herbicide is one of the constants.

Prior to Grant’s hiring, another manager tried unsuccessfully to control weeds through non-chemical means, as many other farmers have. It didn’t work out so well — neighboring farmers complained that weeds were spreading, by wind and irrigation ditch, to their property.

Grant uses many methods to keep the weeds beat back, but sometimes it boils down to chemicals being the most effective and the least harmful impact.

“The time to treat the weeds is in the spring when they are first emerging,” Grant explains. “If you mow them, you risk mowing over nests. If you are spraying, you might flush a hen off her nest for a short time as you come by, but at the low concentrations we’re using, it’s not going to hurt them.”

Ninepipes supports a high level of hunter use for game birds, throughout waterfowl and pheasant season. Pheasants for hunting were a main target for the management area’s founding in 1953, and are still a major focus. The area is also popular for fishing, picnicking, and year-round bird-watching.

Grant sums up the long-term aim of his work and those who help support it: “Maintaining productive lands to support habitat for a diverse wildlife community into the future will ensure the public will continue to enjoy a multitude of outdoor recreational opportunities at Ninepipe.”