Impact of leafy spurge on post-Conservation Reserve Program land

Abstract

Leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula L.), a noxious weed infests some of the 1.2 million hectares of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) land in North Dakota. Once established a leafy spurge monoculture will reduce expected CRP benefits and impact returns to some post-CRP land uses. The study estimated statewide direct economic impacts of about 351,000 on post-CRP land maintained in vegetative cover, 1.118 million on post-CRP grazing land, and negligible (assumed 0) on post-CRP cropland, for a total of 1.469 million. Total annual direct and secondary economic impacts to North Dakota's economy were estimated to be 4.665 million, which would support about 57 jobs.