Mr. Thompson,

Thank you for submitting your report to the Oregon Invasives Hotline. Invasive Species like Himalayan blackberry are widespread throughout Clackamas County and dramatically alter our native ecosystem and adversely effect the livability of our community. I am empathetic to the situation you described and unfortunately it occurs all to often within Clackamas County. As you already recognize weeds spread across the landscape and pay no attention to property lines and boundaries.

The Clackamas Conservation District currently offers technical assistance to willing landowners to control weeds on their property, where we help facilitate more effective weed management. With unwilling landowners there is currently no regulatory authority in place for mandating control. That said, I would be more than happy to offer my services to your neighbor and to provide them with information on how to better manage their invasive weeds.

I encourage you to continue to work with your neighbor and seek compromises to address invasive species concerns. Cooperative efforts are generally the most productive means for achieving success. I am including a list of management resources and I encourage you to share these with your neighbor.

Riparian Blackberry Factsheet: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pdf/em/em8894.pdf
Blackberry Best Management Practices: http://your.kingcounty.gov/dnrp/library/water-and-land/weeds/BMPs/blackberry-control.pdf

Again thank you for your time in reporting this infestation. We appreciate your efforts and we will do everything we can to help address this concern. Please feel free to contact me if you have additional questions.

Thanks

Samuel Leininger
WeedWise Program Manager
Clackamas Soil & Water Conservation District
221 Molalla Ave. Suite 102
Oregon City, OR 97045
503-210-6006
sleininger@conservationdistrict.org
www.conservationdistrict.org

Samuel Leininger
July 24, 2013, 1:34 a.m.