Rush skeletonweed (Chondrilla juncea L.: Asteraceae) is a deep-rooted perennial invasive plant that infests well-drained, sandy-textured soils commonly found in the mountain foothills and canyon grasslands of the Pacific Northwest United States. The species can spread locally through rhizomes and over longer distances by wind, with its pappus-bearing seed. Our objective was to produce a dispersal model that would predict long-range movement and aid land managers in their efforts to find new populations of rush skeletonweed. A study area in the arid canyon grasslands within the Salmon River Canyon, Idaho, was used to develop a wind dispersal model for rush skeletonweed. Rush skeletonweed distribution data were from ground based surveys conducted in 1996, 1999-2001, and 2003-2012. Wind maps were created with topographic information and vegetation indices in a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) network analysis to predict average wind speed and wind direction. These maps were then incorporated into a GIS network modeling algorithm to predict seed dispersal. Algorithm settings were evaluated and optimized to match predicted dispersal maps with observed dispersal patterns. Wind dispersal maps provided information about the distance and direction of rush skeletonweed movement. In the canyon grasslands of central Idaho, rush skeletonweed seed consistently moved in the general direction of the wind. Rush skeletonweed patches were found to move within a range of 4 to 12 km in an estimated time period of 5 to 12 years, suggesting that land managers should anticipate searching for susceptible plant communities within that distance from current infestations. Dispersal within the study was predicted in the north to north-east direction at a rate of 500 to 1000 m/yr. Knowledge about dispersal distance and direction, and how they are modified by terrain, will be critical to land managers who seek to limit further expansion of invasive rush skeletonweed within Idaho and adjacent states.