MagicMtnDan
06-23-2003, 03:00 PM
Plant soaks up water across West
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ESCONDIDO, Calif., June 23 — Past a winery and down a dirt road, jackrabbits and squirrels scamper into the brush near where Mike Kelly grabs hold of a shrub with billowy, pale pink flowers near a small creek bed. His mission: to yank the shrub out and kill as many as he can.
http://a799.g.akamai.net/3/799/388/18ac0748010056/www.msnbc.com/news/1939136.jpg
“PEOPLE DON’T understand why you would want to kill a pretty plant,” said Kelly, a plant-control specialist in San Diego County. But the seemingly innocuous plant, known as tamarisk, or salt cedar, is slowly wreaking havoc across the West.
The Bush administration is spending millions to find the best way to snuff out the water-guzzling shrub, which has spread unchecked across more than a million acres in more than a dozen Western states stretching from Montana to the Mexican border.
One tamarisk can suck up 300 gallons of water per day. Across the West each year, tamarisk sucks up nearly 800 billion gallons more water than the native plants they have replaced, according to a study by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. ThatÂ’s enough water for 4.8 million people, or more than the entire population of Colorado.
COLORADO RIVER INFESTED
The problem is particularly acute along the Colorado River, a drought-stricken waterway serving seven Western states. Tamarisk, which thrives in the areaÂ’s poor, salt-laden soil, now dominates the banks of the Colorado in impenetrable thickets.
“The Colorado River is one of the most heavily affected areas on the continent by tamarisk,” said Erika Zavaleta, an associate professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz who authored the 2000 study published by the royal academy.
On the Colorado River alone, Zavaleta estimates that replacing tamarisk with native cottonwood, mulefat or willows would save as much as 462,100 acre-feet of river water a year, or 150 billion gallons.
ThereÂ’s little opposition to removing tamarisk, with the possible exception of beekeepers, who say the flowers are magnets for honeybees. The main hurdles, however, involve the tremendous cost of getting rid of them and concerns about unintended consequences of what some say is the best way of controlling tamarisk: introducing hungry insects imported from China.
The tamarisk's delicate flowers mask the fact that the plant sucks up 300 gallons of water a day.
Full-scale tamarisk removal along the Colorado River could cost as much as $500 million, said Nelroy Jackson, a member of a panel advising the secretaries of commerce, agriculture and interior on invasive plants.
Given that San Diego County is willing to pay $3.5 billion over 45 years for up to 200,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water annually under a deal being considered by four Southern California water agencies, many view the cost of tamarisk eradication as money well spent.
“It would be very expensive to remove tamarisk from the region,” Zavaleta said. “But I think it’s worth a shot because it could do so much good.”
HOW IT GOT THERE
Native to Asia and the eastern Mediterranean, tamarisk was imported to the United States in the 1830s to serve as ornamental plants, windbreaks and erosion control. The shrubs typically are about 10 feet tall, with slender branches and clusters of feathery blooms.
The runaway invasion began when two tamarisk species that had never met before formed the hybrid that proliferated across the West.
“It’s a pretty tough plant,” said Fred Nibling, an Interior Department botanist in Colorado. “It’s supremely adapted for causing problems.”
In the United States, tamarisk has no natural enemies and an uncanny ability to withstand desert heat, fires, flood and drought. The plants can grow around extremely salty water by eliminating excess salt through the tips of their leaves. Most native insects and birds shun them.
Each shrub produces 500,000 to 1 million seeds each year, allowing it to spread over tens of square miles in a single season. Chop it down, and it quickly resprouts unless herbicide is applied immediately.
Since the mid-1980s, federal researchers have been exploring using Chinese leaf beetles that feed on tamarisk to get the invasion under control. But scientists are cautiously testing the beetles to ensure they wonÂ’t devour other plants.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ESCONDIDO, Calif., June 23 — Past a winery and down a dirt road, jackrabbits and squirrels scamper into the brush near where Mike Kelly grabs hold of a shrub with billowy, pale pink flowers near a small creek bed. His mission: to yank the shrub out and kill as many as he can.
http://a799.g.akamai.net/3/799/388/18ac0748010056/www.msnbc.com/news/1939136.jpg
“PEOPLE DON’T understand why you would want to kill a pretty plant,” said Kelly, a plant-control specialist in San Diego County. But the seemingly innocuous plant, known as tamarisk, or salt cedar, is slowly wreaking havoc across the West.
The Bush administration is spending millions to find the best way to snuff out the water-guzzling shrub, which has spread unchecked across more than a million acres in more than a dozen Western states stretching from Montana to the Mexican border.
One tamarisk can suck up 300 gallons of water per day. Across the West each year, tamarisk sucks up nearly 800 billion gallons more water than the native plants they have replaced, according to a study by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. ThatÂ’s enough water for 4.8 million people, or more than the entire population of Colorado.
COLORADO RIVER INFESTED
The problem is particularly acute along the Colorado River, a drought-stricken waterway serving seven Western states. Tamarisk, which thrives in the areaÂ’s poor, salt-laden soil, now dominates the banks of the Colorado in impenetrable thickets.
“The Colorado River is one of the most heavily affected areas on the continent by tamarisk,” said Erika Zavaleta, an associate professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz who authored the 2000 study published by the royal academy.
On the Colorado River alone, Zavaleta estimates that replacing tamarisk with native cottonwood, mulefat or willows would save as much as 462,100 acre-feet of river water a year, or 150 billion gallons.
ThereÂ’s little opposition to removing tamarisk, with the possible exception of beekeepers, who say the flowers are magnets for honeybees. The main hurdles, however, involve the tremendous cost of getting rid of them and concerns about unintended consequences of what some say is the best way of controlling tamarisk: introducing hungry insects imported from China.
The tamarisk's delicate flowers mask the fact that the plant sucks up 300 gallons of water a day.
Full-scale tamarisk removal along the Colorado River could cost as much as $500 million, said Nelroy Jackson, a member of a panel advising the secretaries of commerce, agriculture and interior on invasive plants.
Given that San Diego County is willing to pay $3.5 billion over 45 years for up to 200,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water annually under a deal being considered by four Southern California water agencies, many view the cost of tamarisk eradication as money well spent.
“It would be very expensive to remove tamarisk from the region,” Zavaleta said. “But I think it’s worth a shot because it could do so much good.”
HOW IT GOT THERE
Native to Asia and the eastern Mediterranean, tamarisk was imported to the United States in the 1830s to serve as ornamental plants, windbreaks and erosion control. The shrubs typically are about 10 feet tall, with slender branches and clusters of feathery blooms.
The runaway invasion began when two tamarisk species that had never met before formed the hybrid that proliferated across the West.
“It’s a pretty tough plant,” said Fred Nibling, an Interior Department botanist in Colorado. “It’s supremely adapted for causing problems.”
In the United States, tamarisk has no natural enemies and an uncanny ability to withstand desert heat, fires, flood and drought. The plants can grow around extremely salty water by eliminating excess salt through the tips of their leaves. Most native insects and birds shun them.
Each shrub produces 500,000 to 1 million seeds each year, allowing it to spread over tens of square miles in a single season. Chop it down, and it quickly resprouts unless herbicide is applied immediately.
Since the mid-1980s, federal researchers have been exploring using Chinese leaf beetles that feed on tamarisk to get the invasion under control. But scientists are cautiously testing the beetles to ensure they wonÂ’t devour other plants.