Approved products for livestock feed on public lands include pellets, hay cubes, processed grains and certified hay, straw or mulch normally available at some feed stores and producers in Utah. Noxious weeds are a serious problem in the western United States and are rapidly spreading at an estimated rate of 14 percent each year. Species like Leafy Spurge , Squarrose Knapweed , Russian Knapweed , Musk Thistle , Dalmatian Toadflax, Purple Loosestrife , and many others are not native to the United States and have no natural enemies to keep the population in balance. These undesirable weeds invade healthy ecosystems, displace native vegetation, reduce diversity and destroy wildlife habitat.
Widespread infestations can lead to soil erosion and stream sedimentation.
These noxious weeds impact revegetation efforts by out-competing desirable species, they reduce wild and domestic grazing capacities, can occasionally irritate public land users by aggravating allergies, and certainly threaten federally protected plants and animals. The PAW plan lists seven goals, the first being to develop a prevention and early detection program. The guidelines were approved by both the Utah State Director and the Secretary of the Interior in 1997. To implement the goal and guideline BLM published a proposed weed free rule in February 1998. The final rule was published in September 1998, and became final on November 23, 1998.