Herbicide Webinar Series - Session 1 -

April 24th, 2025 (6:00 pm to 7:30 pm)

Aquatic Herbicides 101 

In the first session of Missoula County’s herbicide webinar series, Andrew Skibo will be presenting on some basic guidelines for herbicide application and how herbicides function. This presentation will focus on how different herbicides affect target species (mode of action) and why some plants are more tolerant of specific herbicide chemistries than others. Dr. Skibo will review common active ingredients in herbicides and their primary uses as well as their environmental considerations. This includes non-target effects that could impact threatened or endangered species.

This first session is intended to provide some tools and insights for making decisions around herbicide use, particularly in aquatic systems and understanding how herbicides function.

Key Topics 

•      Aquatic/Riparian herbicide MOA (Mode of Action): how do different herbicides work within target species and why are some plants more tolerant than others to a specific chemistry?
•      US EPA & State of Montana registered active ingredients; a review of the manager's toolbox
•      Basic guidelines in herbicide application: important considerations when selecting herbicide chemistries

Speaker 

 Andrew Z. Skibo, PhD is a Certified Lake Manager (CLM) and the President of Amaruq Environmental Services (Missoula, MT), a premier Land and Water Resource Management services provider with a primary clientele based in the Pacific Northwest. Dr. Skibo has over 17 years’ experience as an aquatics technical specialist supporting stakeholders, resource management agencies, and application companies across the Western United States. Dr. Skibo’s background is in invasive species management (PhD 08’, University of Delaware) investigating herbicide mode-of-action, and the identification and management of terrestrial, riparian, and aquatic weed species. Dr. Skibo was a Principal Scientist and aquatic invasive species specialist at the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL; National Nuclear Weapons Complex) and worked on invasive species control in radiologically contaminated settings. Dr. Skibo resides in Missoula, Montana with his wife and two sons.