NYSDEC Giant Hogweed Control Program
View the 2011 Giant Hogweed Program Annual Report. (PDF, 2 MB)
The NYSDEC Giant Hogweed Control Program will control the giant hogweed (GH) plants on your property free of charge. The program currently has six field crews across the state employing 14 field technicians. For smaller infestations (under 400 plants) a two or three person field crew will cut through the roots of the GH plants and/or remove and bag the flower or seed heads. For larger infestations (over 400 plants) or in difficult to dig areas, the field crew will use a glyphosate based herbicide to control the GH plants.
How do you report a site for control?
Call the giant hogweed hotline at (845) 256-3111 or email DEC and give detailed directions to the plant infestation (GPS coordinates and street address a plus), an estimated number of plants, and provide photos. Please make sure not to touch the plants when you take the photos. The best photos to take are:
- One picture of the whole plant - so we can see how tall it is
- Pictures of the basal (bottom) leaves
- Close-up of the stem where the leaf stalk connects
- Flower head (include one from the bottom/side so the number of flower rays/stalks can be roughly counted) - if only dead seed head from last year is available, that is okay, too
- Close-up of seeds
Email to the address above or send photos to:
NYSDEC Division of Lands & Forests
Giant Hogweed Program
21 South Putt Corners Road
New Paltz, NY 12561
What happens when giant hogweed is confirmed?
If giant hogweed is confirmed through the photos, the landowner will be sent a packet that contains a letter of notification, a document on control methods, and a permission form to be signed and returned to the NYSDEC. The form will give field crews consent to enter the landowner's property and control the giant hogweed plants. That site will be controlled some time between April and October and will be on a list to be revisited in following years until the plants are eradicated. When no more plants are found, the site will be monitored for three subsequent years.
Funding
The NYSDEC Giant Hogweed Control Program was funded through 2011 with a federal ARRA (American Resource & Recovery Act) grant.
History of Control Program Activities
Since 1998 USDA, NYS Department of Agriculture & Markets (NYSDAM) and Cornell Cooperative Extension surveyed for this weed in New York State through the Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey (CAPS). CAPS led to the detection of giant hogweed in approximately half the state's counties, with most records from the western portion of New York State.
In 2006 and 2007, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) forest health crews visited and confirmed new reported sites and gathered updated site information on known giant hogweed sites. In 2007, property ownership information was also gathered using GIS and an outreach mailing.
In 2008, three NYS DEC crews (6 technicians for approximately 13 weeks) visited 450 sites, applied manual control at 130 of these sites, cutting through the roots of 10,558 giant hogweed plants. DEC also took over the giant hogweed hotline from NYSDAM receiving about 200 calls.
In 2009, three NYS DEC crews (7 technicians for approximately 12 weeks) visited 482 sites. Root-cutting control occurred at 195 sites, totaling 13,354 plants. Herbicide control occurred at 146 sites with a total of 121,240 plants sprayed, plus approximately 750,000 plants were sprayed at one site with help from NYSDOT. The giant hogweed hotline processed approximately 660 calls.
In 2010 five NYS DEC crews (12 technicians for approximately 16 weeks) visited 891 sites. Root-cutting control occurred at 383 sites, totaling 39,411 plants. Herbicide control occurred at 160 sites with a total of 1,184,900 plants sprayed. No plants were found at 132 sites. The giant hogweed hotline processed 900 calls and 237 emails, generating 74 new giant hogweed sites. The NYS DEC giant hogweed web site was visited 25,066 times from January through September of 2010- more than double the amount of visits than 2009.
In 2011 six NYS DEC crews (14 technicians for approximately 16 weeks) visited 1,039 sites. Root-cutting control occurred at 538 sites, totaling 73,793 plants. Herbicide control occurred at 270 sites with a total of 1,482,045 plants sprayed. No plants were found at 207 sites; 55 of these sites have been monitored for 3 years with no plants found and we now consider them eradicated. The giant hogweed hotline processed 1,976 calls and 861 emails. 234 new sites were confirmed. The NYS DEC giant hogweed web site was visited 307,444 times during 2011.
