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BOARD02617
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BOARD02617
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Last modified
8/16/2009 3:17:30 PM
Creation date
10/4/2006 7:17:52 AM
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Board Meetings
Board Meeting Date
3/24/2003
Description
CWCB Director's Report
Board Meetings - Doc Type
Memo
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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />soil salinity, hindered endangered-fish recovery efforts and added to wildfire danger with its highly <br />flammable leaf litter. <br /> <br />Simply cutting down tamarisk won't kill it. The roots quickly send up new shoots. And it can't be <br />confined to specific areas. It produces too many seeds and roots that can stretch up to 50 feet. It is <br />resistant to disease and has no natural enemies in the U.S. The lack of natural enemies explains why <br />the U.S. Department of Agriculture is experimenting with one Chinese and one Israeli insect that feed <br />on tamarisk. The Chinese leaf beetle attacks the foliage of tamarisk, and the Israeli mealy bug eats the <br />stems. The USDA has been looking at these bugs for tamarisk control since 1987 and is testing the <br />beetles in Utah and in the Arkansas River Valley near Pueblo. <br /> <br />The most successful eradication effort and the one most widely used in Western states at this point <br />involve chain-sawing or bulldozing tamarisk and immediately painting an herbicide on the stumps, <br />This labor-intensive method is expensive - upwards of$3,000 an acre. In Colorado, the National Park <br />Service has used this technique for several years at the Colorado National Monument. The Nature <br />Conservancy has carried out a successful "cut stump" project, as this method is called, along the San <br />Miguel River near Telluride. <br /> <br />Exec Order: <br />D 002 03 <br />EXECUTIVE ORDER <br />Directing State Agencies To Coordinate Efforts for the <br />Eradication of Tamarisk on State Lands <br /> <br />Pursuant to the authority vested in the Office of the Governor of the State of Colorado, I, Bill <br />Owens, Governor of the State of Colorado, hereby issue this Executive Order directing the <br />Colorado Department of Natural Resources, in consultation and cooperation with other <br />appropriate state and federal agencies, to coordinate efforts to eradicate the tamarisk plant on <br />public lands. <br /> <br />1. Background and Purpose <br /> <br />The State of Colorado, like the rest of the Western United States, faces the immense challenge <br />of dealing with noxious weeds that cause harm to the ecosystem, The most destructive non- <br />native invasive species in Colorado is the tamarisk plant, also known as salt cedar. <br /> <br />Tamarisk is rapidly spreading throughout Colorado and the surrounding region. Efforts to <br />control this aggressive plant species have been unsuccessful. It is now estimated that the plant <br />has overcome native species on 1.5 million acres throughout the region and it is has become <br />apparent that the plant is causing serious ecological and environmental problems within the <br />State of Colorado. <br /> <br />The tamarisk plant consumes an enormous amount of water. A single tamarisk tree can <br />transpire up to 300 gallons of water per day. As a comparison, an average acre of native <br />cottonwood trees uses 845,000 gallons of water per year, while an acre oftamarisk uses 1.3 <br />million gallons of water per year. An accumulation of tamarisk plants close to a watershed can <br />effectively limit or dry up an entire water source. The disproportionate consumption of water <br />by a non-native invasive species is cause for serious concern for Colorado as it continues to <br />endure one of the worst droughts in state history. <br /> <br />In addition, tamarisk species are inedible to most animals. As a result, wildlife over browse the <br />surviving native plant species, further speeding the tamarisk invasion process, Finally, tamarisk <br />trees produce extremely flammable leaflitter that promotes the incidence of wildfire. <br /> <br />Given the devastating effect of this non-native species, I am directing state agencies to take <br />appropriate measures to eradicate tamarisk on public lands. <br /> <br />11 <br />
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