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<br />I'" .. <br />., <br /> <br />To: Tom Kourlis <br /> <br />Prom: William Smith <br /> <br />~~ <br /> <br />Subject: Arkansas River water (Tamarisk) <br /> <br />At our annual workshop Jtm Borland a horticultural consultant with <br />the Colorado Native Plant Society said that Tamarisk plants can <br />transpire up to 200 gallons of water per day. The Tamarisk plant <br />will transpire more water than it uses for growth and maintenance. <br /> <br />It is approxtmately 50 miles from John Martin reservoir to the <br />Kansas line. I esttmate the Arkansas river bottom has 10 Tamarisk <br />trees per foot for an esttmated 2,640,000 Tamarisk trees in this <br />section of the river. If the trees only transpire 100 gallons of <br />water per tree it would equal 264,000,000 gallons per day during <br />the growing season. This would be about the same amount of water as <br />180 wells pumping 1,000 gallons per minute. <br /> <br />The Arkansas river is highly infestedlfith Tamarisk as far west as <br />Canon City, and at least the lower 10 miles of Big Sandy Creek is <br />infested. The Tamarisk infestation also continues down the Arkansas <br />river into Kansas. <br /> <br />I am sure this plant removes more water from the Arkansas river <br />basin thab pumping of irrigation wells. <br /> <br />Attached is an article from the Jan/Peb 1995 issue of the American <br />Porest magazine. <br /> <br />R F""""~" Ii _.~ '0"" <br />'i!-~:a ~ . ~~.. . ~.".... ~i.."'I: U <br />lil:~~oti'!..... V .&-...::: <br /> <br />JAN 2 4 lSS5 <br /> <br />COlO. DEPT. OF N:;m.:;!JI.TL'RE <br />OOJ.tMSSSCNt:P.'S c;:.."!(,,,E <br /> <br />_u___.____. I <br />-- <br />