Residents get rid of weeds with weevils

HIGHLANDS RANCH - The Highlands Ranch community is combating a weed problem with the help of Mother Nature.

More than 12-square miles of land will soon belong to the people who live in Highlands Ranch, like Mark Giebel and Gary Debus.

"We have this fabulous foothill mountain type property with ponderosa pine forest, scrub oak and grassland," explained Debus.

But Giebel and Debus know there is a threat to this open space.

"If you let it go it will out compete all the native grasses and plants and completely take over," Debus said.

It is called knapweed and it has no known predators in Colorado until now.

Nearly a decade ago Gieble, who takes care of the land through the community association, heard about a possible remedy using weevils.

"The seedhead weevil is small, about the size of a ladybug and it looks like a black boring bug and it's got a snout on it," Gieble explained.

The community association acquired the weevils from a University of Colorado professor who did a study on their effectiveness of killing knapweed.

Over three years the association released 3,000 weevils.

"It's made a huge difference. Knapweed here is no longer a concern. I can say I'm 100 percent sure I'm not going to have to spray for knapweed," said Gieble.

This solution has saved Highlands Ranch tens of thousands of dollars in the long run while preserving the native beauty.