The Weed and Seed oversight committee received high praise from a data collection agency at Thursday's meeting.

Susan Janke of Datacorp in Cheyenne documented three years of surveys mailed to homes in the city's three Weed and Seed districts in a two-hour presentation before the committee.

The districts house about one-fifth of Casper's residents, but experience more than half of Casper's crime, program coordinator Mike Burnett said.

The Weed and Seed program is a federally-funded grant program spread out over five years. Casper's program just entered its third year of operation, Burnett said.

The data collected from residents in weed and seed districts showed that more people are aware of ongoing efforts, which include neighborhood clean-up days and increased code enforcement efforts.

More of the respondents said homes look better, too, and were aware of different home improvement programs set up through Weed and Seed.

Nearly 1900 surveys were mailed at the end of June and about 10 percent of residents responded.

Janke said the continued improvements showcased the need to continue the Weed and Seed program, which hasn't been able to rely on federal funding to the extent it was planned on during the program's initial year.

"We started out with some good ideas and there weren't enough people aware of what we're trying to do," Janke said. "In two short years, we've seen the awareness numbers have increased significantly."

The Weed and Seed oversight committee meets monthly at the Casper police department and the meetings are open for public attendance.

You can reach city reporter Pete Nickeas at pete.nickeas@trib.com or (307) 266-0639. You can read more about Casper politics and government at http://tribtown.trib.com