Ted Brown is on the front lines of a war. His enemy is elusive, difficult to eradicate and highly destructive.

As Clear Creek County’s weed supervisor, Brown is constantly on the lookout for noxious weeds — plants that have no known natural enemies in Colorado and are dangerous to both people and native plant life.

Last Friday on the banks of Clear Creek, not far from the Idaho Springs Historic District, Brown uncovered a perfect example of his nemesis.

A cottonwood tree was completely covered by Chinese clematis. It hung over the tree like a green death shroud, blocking it from the sun.

Just a few blocks away on a hill near Virginia Canyon Road is another example, the Myrtle spurge. That plant is at the top of the state’s most-wanted list — one that is not only evasive but poisonous to humans.

How these plants came to be in the county is mostly a mystery. Brown said they were likely brought in from Eurasia, and in the case of the Chinese clematis, probably planted in the county by Chinese immigrants during the 1800s. Both plants found their way out of the garden and into the valleys, hills and backyards of Clear Creek County.

“They escape from that little garden plot that someone plants, and with no natural enemies they start knocking out other plants,” Brown said. “They’re trying to take over and become what’s known as a monoculture.”

What Brown means is a single, homogeneous plant species without room for diversity.

But how and why they arrived are really of little consequence to Brown. His concern is how to destroy them before it’s too late.

Brown is working to get local municipalities on the same page as the county regarding the management of these noxious weeds. In this way Brown hopes to create a unified front in the battle against invasive plant species. He’s also working to raise public awareness.

“For our county to have more than any other county in the state of this Chinese clematis is quite a burden for the county and all the property owners...,” Brown said. “Right now we need everybody in Clear Creek County, indeed everybody in Colorado, looking for noxious weeds — everybody. No exceptions.”

Brown said there’s an opportunity to fight back against these species if the public is educated on the harm these plants can do to both the environment and wildlife.

“The more the public is educated the better,” Brown said. “It is more likely that government will act and that the public itself will act by not only supporting the eradication of some of these plants that need to be gone, but also taking care of their own.”

Brown said private property owners have the responsibility of taking care of their property and the weeds on it. He added if residents educate themselves about noxious weeds, how to recognize them and then report their locations to the Department of Agriculture or to his office, it’ll make a tremendous difference.

The term ‘noxious’ is a legal term given to a plant whose control is required by the state.

According to Kelly Uhing, the state weed coordinator for the Colorado Department of Agriculture, a weed that is considered noxious must follow a series of criteria. They must be extremely invasive, pose a threat to public and animal health, and displace native vegetation.

“The big concern is that these plants are out-competing our native (vegetation),” Uhing said, “... and our native wildlife have not adapted to survive on these non-native invasive species.”

Uhing said her office is imploring Colorado residents to work with their county weed managers to learn about suspicious vegetation growing on their properties.

Brown said several years ago when he first took on the position of county weed supervisor for Clear Creek County, one of the county commissioners asked him in jest if he wanted an army to combat the area’s noxious weeds.

“And I said ‘no, no.’ Well, I was mistaken,” Brown said.  “I shouldn’t have said that — I should have said ‘yes.’”

For information about noxious weeds in the county go to http://www.co.clear-creek.co.us/Depts/weeds.htm.

Contact Ian Neligh at courant

editor@evergreenco.com, and check www.clearcreekcourant.com for updates and breaking news.