They may be symbols of the Old West, as familiar as cactus and rattlesnakes as images of western wastelands, but tumbleweeds are targeted for extinction by the U. S. Department of Agriculture.
So much for symbolism.
The USDA has developed a biological weed control weapon to control Russian thistle. That’s the less dramatic, but more accurate name for the tough, reedy, and often prickly weed that becomes a rolling, bouncing, wind-driven missile across many of the West’s vacant acres.
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