TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A road maintenance official is pushing back against suggestions that the Kansas Department of Transportation is to blame for an invasion of a plant threatening native grasses.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that KDOT's potential role in spreading bluestem grass is a point of contention as the state Department of Agriculture contemplates quarantining invasive varieties now in 103 of 105 of the state's counties.

Ranchers and others attending a Department of Agriculture comment session last month on a possible quarantine said KDOT's mowing regimen carried seed for invasive...