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Volunteers Pitch-in to Fight Colorado Invasive
Eddie Lewis Southwest Weed Control, prepares to spray tamarisk stumps with
a chemical aimed to destroy the water-hungry plants (photo courtesy Steve
Grazier, Cortez Colorado Journal) |
About 15 volunteers recently attended a demonstration in McElmo Canyon that
showed ways to control tamarisk. The Dolores Tamarisk Action Group and the
Dolores Colorado Soil Conservation District hosted a tamarisk eradication
demonstration at property owned by Audrey Allmon Bridgewater just west of the
Road 21 and G intersection.
The volunteers then pitched-in to help remove plants within McElmo Canyon by
stump-cutting and basil-bark spraying procedures. Individuals participating in
the event represented various local groups or agencies, such as the
Natural Resources Conservation Service,
Southwest Seed Inc., Animas Valley Arborist, Southwest Weed Control and
Montezuma County.
“Part of this demonstration is to show that tamarisk can be controlled,” said
Steve Miles, a Dolores Tamarisk Action Group organizer.
Some other methods of control include undercutting, goat grazing and applying
chemicals, which can cost between $100 and $150 per gallon, Miles added.
Tamarisk exists at about an 8,000-foot elevation and below. The water-thirsty
salt cedars can consume up to 4 million acre-feet of water annually in 17
Western states. A single, large plant can consume up to 240 gallons of water per
day, according to Miles.
“It’s such a dominant plant that it chases everything else out,” he said. “I
have yet to find a redeeming factor for it other than climate control.”
The nonnative trees are prolific in that they can reproduce by seed and through
the root system, or simply by a live stem falling to the ground.
Trees have invaded nearly every watershed in Colorado and often kill native
plants by leaving behind salt soil, Miles said.
Roots can grow to a depth of 80 feet, and seeds are produced year-round.
In 2006, the D-TAG is planning a second demonstration to include foliar
spraying, which can only be effective in the spring.
From a Cortez Colorado Journal story by Steve Grazier
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