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Established as the Western Weed Control
Conference in 1938, the Western Society of Weed Science was an
outgrowth of the Western Plant Quarantine Board meeting held June 9-11,
1936. (The Western Plant Quarantine Board was a group of entomologists
and administrators formed to establish quarantine barriers to prevent
the introduction of foreign insects, weeds and other pests into the
western United States.) During a presentation at this meeting, Harry L.
Spence of Idaho said “I am taking the liberty of suggesting to your
organization that an annual symposium be arranged as a section of the
Western Plant Quarantine Board Meeting, whereby you could bring
together the men working on weed problems from the various western
states. It would aid materially in coordinating the various programs
and furnishing a valuable opportunity to interchange suggestions in
regards to our many weed problems.”
In 1937,
representatives from six states met with Vice President Henry A.
Wallace in Boise, Idaho, regarding weed problems in the West. It was
decided that an annual symposium would be held in conjunction with the
Western Plant Quarantine Board meeting, to share information about the
activities of the different western states. The first meeting of the
Western Weed Control Conference was held June 17-17, 1938, in Denver,
Colorado. In early years the Society met annually, except for 1943,
when there was no meeting. After 1950, meetings were held in alternate
years with only the Research Section meeting in the off years. The
Society met in 1962 and 1963, then returned to the alternate year
format until 1967, when annual meetings resumed. Also in 1967, a new
name for the Conference, the Western Society of Weed Science, was voted
in by the membership.
The
Society’s objectives are:
- To
foster cooperation among state, federal and private agencies in matters
of weed science.
- To
aid and support commercial, private and public agencies in the solution
of weed problems.
- To
support legislation governing weed control programs and weed research
and education programs.
- To
support the Weed Science Society of America and foster state and
regional organizations and agencies interested in weed control.
Members of
the Western Society of Weed Science are weed science professionals
working in the western United States, including the states of Alaska,
Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Montana,
Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas,
Utah, Washington, and Wyoming, and the Canadian provinces Alberta and
Saskatchewan. Membership
is open to anyone that is interested.
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