Cogongrass is a highly invasive, federally listed noxious weed that appears sporadically throughout the southeastern U.S. These funds will allow georgia forestry commission (GFC) to travel to reported…

The Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service awarded the Georgia Forestry Commission a $200,000 Cooperative Agreement on July 1, 2026, to detect, identify, control, and monitor cogongrass infestations across Georgia and conduct education and outreach programs to increase landowner awareness and reporting of the federally listed noxious weed.

The Georgia Forestry Commission will field-survey all newly reported cogongrass locations, conduct positive identifications, apply approved herbicide treatments at no cost to affected landowners, and record infestation status and control outcomes in its cogongrass database. The recipient will revisit all one- and two-year-old negative survey spots to verify status and apply herbicide to all positive sites. Approximately 20 percent of eradicated spots will receive follow-up surveys during the grant period. The Commission will produce educational materials and conduct outreach campaigns across Georgia; the anticipated 25 percent increase in newly reported sites is expected to bring annual new detections to greater than 240 locations. The work runs through June 30, 2027, with place of performance in Georgia. Cogongrass is an aggressive invasive species that increases wildfire intensity, creates agricultural hazards, and crowds out native vegetation; its deep rhizome root system makes eradication difficult once established.

Cogongrass is a highly invasive, federally listed noxious weed that appears sporadically throughout the southeastern U.S. These funds will allow georgia forestry commission (GFC) to travel to reported locations, identify cogongrass infestations, educate affected landowners, control infestations at no cost to the landowner and conduct education programs across georgia. Justification of project: georgia forestry commission will: detect and identify (positive or negative) reported cogongrass infestations. Monitor positive cogongrass infestations. Use approved herbicide measures to control any positive cogongrass infestations. Conduct cogongrass education programs across georgia. Produce educational materials for distribution as necessary. Deliverables and expected outcomes: all newly reported cogongrass spots will be field surveyed, identified, controlled and recorded in georgia forestry commission's cogongrass database. All 1 and 2 year negative spots will be visited and the status noted in the database and all positive spots will be sprayed. Approximately 20% of the eradicated spots will be surveyed in the one-year grant period and recorded in the database. IT is anticipated that the education and outreach campaigns will increase the number of newly reported sites by approximately 25%, bringing the number of new spots for the year to greater than 240. Impact of the mission, if not done: failure to effectively control cogongrass will lead to this highly invasive species to spread rapidly throughout the southeast through both natural and human assisted movement into new areas. This would lead to crowding out native plants and reducing biodiversity. IT significantly increases wildfire intensity, creates agricultural hazards, and is extremely difficult to eradicate due to its deep, sharp rhizome root system.