If your planning to ride or camp on public lands, make arrangements in advance to purchase certified weed free forage to help keep noxious or invasive exotic plants from spreading. Although such forage isn't required on all federal lands, it's a gorwing trend.

Investing in weed-free forage for your horse will prove useful on trips to public lands and national parks. Horse hay bales may contain seeds not native to the land on which you plan to ride. Dropped directly on the soil or passed in your horse’s manure, these seeds from the horse hay bales could plant exotic weeds that can harm the region’s delicate ecological balance.

Weeds — noxious or invasive exotic (nonnative) plant species — can be found throughout the 541.7 million acres of our federal lands. According to United States Forest Service personnel, the United States is losing 40,000 acres of federal lands per day to weed spread. Nothing has a greater impact on trail riders’ continued access to federal lands than the fight on weeds.

This in mind, federal agencies are asking horse owners to feed their horses nothing but what’s known as certified weed free forage (sometimes called certified weed seed free forage) while on federal lands, such as National Parks, National Forests, Bureau of Land Management land, National Grasslands, and Wildlife Refuges. Such forage is required in what’s known as forage restricted or forage closed areas.

Here, we’ll tell you where you might encounter feed restrictions, how weeds spread, and how to find certified forage. Plus, we’ll give you shopping tips to make sure your certified feed meets requirements. 

A Growing Trend
Concern about weed spread began in the mid-1990s, when President Bill Clinton signed an executive order creating the Federal Interagency Invasive Species Council. At the same time, $28.8 million was added into the federal budget for “funding to combat invasive species,” which includes weeds and weed seeds.             

In 1996, the North American Weed Management Association (www.nawma.org) brought together representatives from federal land management agencies, state agencies, counties, and forage producers to develop a uniform standard for certifying forage and mulch free of noxious weed seeds.

These standards are designed to assure all participants that forage and mulch certified through this program meet a minimum acceptable standard, provide consistency between states, and limit the spread of noxious weeds. But note that not all states have signed onto the NAWMA weed list. California, for instance, has its own weed list as defined by the California Department of Food & Agriculture, which contains more than 100 weeds.  

Although certified weed free forage isn’t required on all federal lands nationwide, it’s a growing trend. Colorado began the first statewide program. Many other states, including Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming have followed. Nevada issued its National Forest Closure Notice in 2000. Arizona and California are currently working on statewide programs. 

Some federal agencies have also established targeted weed free restricted areas. For instance, the National Park Service may not require certified forage in all its parks, but may require such forage in a specific park in a specific state.

How Weeds Spread
Just because weeds are growing along a trail or in a trailhead doesn’t necessarily mean their seeds were transported or deposited by a horse. Any user of a trailhead, staging area, or multiuse trail (such as hikers, backpackers, cyclists, and all-terrain-vehicle operators) can deposit weed seeds. Seeds are also brought onto public lands by wildlife, logging and mining equipment, highway repair crews, cattle, and even the wind.

Weeds are also spread via mulch — chopped-up straw used as ground cover to prevent water erosion and hold seed in place. Mulch is also included in waddles — those plastic-wrapped, sausage-like bags strung along roadsides to control water flow.

So when certified weed feed forage programs first began, horse owners wondered why they were singled out. Do horses spread that many weed seeds specifically via horse manure? In California, which has the largest number of equestrian trails on public lands of any state, USFS personnel point out that “horses are the least contributors to weed spread. CalTrans [the California Department of Transportation], logging, mining, and construction projects bring in more weed seeds than stock.” So it’s understandable that horse owners feel “picked on.” 

That said, horse owners aren’t opposed to keeping federal lands environmentally sound and weed free. After all, equestrians are highly visible recreational users dedicated to trail preservation, management, and use. 

Finding Certified Forage
Certified weed free forage is available as alfalfa hay, grass hay, pelleted and cubed forage, grain hay (grain heads mixed with stem), and straw. But it’s not always easy to find certified forage; here’s how to get started. 

Determine restrictions. Contact the public land agency on which you plan to visit to find out its particular restrictions. Some may require certified forage in specific locations only. Designated wilderness areas automatically require the use of certified forage under the Wilderness Act, but outside the designated area, such forage might not be required.

Expert tip: When calling a federal agency, find a knowledgeable person who can answer your questions. If the person you reach seems unsure about the subject, ask about corroborating paperwork. In some cases, agency personnel think such certified forage is required but can provide no official Closure Notice requiring certified forage.   

Contact the relevant agricultural department. Contact the agriculture department of the state or states you plan to visit and request a list of certified forage growers. Some states, such as Utah and Nevada, have such lists. Other states, such as California, do not, so you’ll need to contact each county’s agricultural commissioner.

You can do some online research. For instance, the NAWMA lists growers in some states and Canadian regions. (Visit www.nawma.org, and click on “Weed Free Forage.”) You can also type in “[state] agricultural department” into a search engine and follow the links. But note that such websites may not always be completely up-to-date, so call the grower before you head out.

Expert tip: Ask what type of certification the grower will provide; some issue a certificate, others mark each bale with colored twine or other type of tag. California issues a Certificate of Quarantine Compliance; there are no identifying marks on the bales.  

Shopping Tips
There are several things to keep in mind as you shop for certified weed free forage; here’s a rundown.

Check prices. Don’t be shy about pricing certified forage. Prices vary widely. To save time (and fuel), call ahead to check prices before driving out.

Check bales. When checking bales, ask what type of grasses they contain. Some agencies won’t accept certified forage if timothy hay is mixed in, because they consider timothy a weed.

Be pellet-/cube-savvy. Some areas allow only pelleted feed. If you need to go this route, make sure the certified weed free pellets offered do indeed qualify as weed free. Pellets must be processed at a specific temperature to reach weed free

status, and the pellet grinding has to be a certain gauge to verify seed destruction. Note that cubed feed generally isn’t considered weed free unless it’s processed from certified weed free fields.

Expert tips: Make sure the certification tag remains on the sack after you open it. A ranger or other land manager will need to see the tag on the sack to verify certification. And, if you’re changing your horse’s diet from, say, baled hay to pellets or cubes, begin gradually. Start changing over to the new feed at least four or five days before you leave so your horse’s gut can get used to the new feed; sudden feed changes can cause colic.   

Get a certificate. If you buy certified forage at a feed store, get a certificate. Some feed loads are sold in lots, so there’s only one certificate for the whole load. The feed store should give you a copy of that certificate. (Some feed stores have a stamp made up that will list number of bales purchased, locations, certification numbers, etc.) If the store doesn’t provide a certificate, make sure your receipt says “Certified Weed Free Feed.” 

Once you've purchased certified forage, keep it covered and separate from any other feed to prevent outside weed contamination. Then enjoy your riding adventure knowing you're complying with regulations and helping to keep your favorite trails free of invasive weeds.