Salt CedarRussian Olive Control in Riparian Areas

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Salt Cedar/Russian Olive Control in Riparian Areas

• Slade Franklin
• Weed and Pest Coordinator
• Wyoming Department of Agriculture

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Noxious Weed Control in Wyoming

• Who Am I?
• Coordinate with Weed Pest Districts on program
  activities.
• Coordinate state and federal grant programs for
  weed and pest control
• EIMP
• USFS State Private Forestry Grants
• WY DOT Highway Spraying Allocations
• Educate and promote effective weed pest
  management locally nationally

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Noxious Weed Control in Wyoming

• Weed Pest Districts
• One district per county (23 districts)
• Primary function Implement an effective program
  on Designated weeds and pests. W.S. 11-5-105(a)
• Secondary function Implement an effective
  program on Declared weeds and pests. W.S.
  11-5-105(b)

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Noxious Weed Control in Wyoming

• Designated weeds
• Districts MUST implement an effective program.

• Field bindweed
• Canada thistle
• Leafy spurge
• Perennial sowthistle
• Quackgrass
• Hoary cress
• Perennial pepperweed
• Ox-eye daisy

• Skeletonleaf bursage
• Russian knapweed
• Yellow toadflax
• Dalmation toadflax
• Scotch thistle
• Musk thistle
• Common burdock
• Plumeless thistle

• Dyers woad
• Houndstongue
• Spotted knapweed
• Diffuse knapweed
• Purple loosestrife
• Saltcedar
• Common St. Johnswort
• Common Tansy

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Noxious Weed Control in Wyoming

• Declared weeds
• Districts MAY participate in a control program
• Big Horn County 31 species (Russian Olive,
  Halogeton)
• Teton County 16 species (Russian Olive, Orange
  Hawkweed)
• Washakie County 27 species (Russian Olive,
  Squarrose knapweed, Yellowstar thistle)
• Hot Springs County 4 species (Russian Olive, wild
  oats)

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Noxious Weed Control in Wyoming

• Why do we care?
• Economic loss (examples)
• Leafy spurge costs producers and taxpayers an
  estimated 144 million a year in just four states
  alone (Montana, Wyoming and North and South
  Dakota).
• Field bindweed can reduce crop yields 50-60 by
  dense infestations.
• Heavy infestations of Canada thistle growing in
  corn, soybeans and wheat have been shown to
  reduce yields by 81, 95 and 60, respectively.
  Heavy infestations growing in pasturelands can
  reduce native grasses production by as much as
  60.
• It is estimated that 16 - 44 million dollars of
  hydropower generation is lost annually due to the
  salt cedar invasion in the United States.

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Noxious Weed Control in Wyoming

• Why do we care?
• Environmental (examples)
• Noxious key word.
• On National Forest System (NFS) lands, an
  estimated 6-7 million acres are currently
  infested and potentially increasing at a rate of
  8 to 12 per year.
• On Federal lands in the Western United States, it
  is estimated that weeds occur on more than 17
  million acres
• Threatened and endangered species, including the
  bog turtle in the northeastern US, are impacted
  by monotypic stands of purple loosestrife that
  replace native vegetation.
• Sage grouse population declines may be linked to
  invasion of noxious weeds such as cheatgrass.
• Salt cedar consumes water on average 35 more
  rapidly than native vegetation, causing the water
  table to drop, and lowering the level of lakes.
• Spotted knapweed infestations in some areas of
  Montana have reduced winter elk forage by 50-
  90.

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Noxious Weed Control in Wyoming

• Why do we care?
• Human impacts
• Giant Hogweed - the sap can produce painful,
  burning blisters within one to two days of
  contact
• Vipers bugloss, Larkspur, Poison Hemlock
  contact dermatitis for humans
• Leafy spurge causes severe eye irritation and
  possibly blindness in humans

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Salt Cedar
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Salt Cedar

• History
• Native to Southwestern Asia
• Eight Species have been introduced in the US
  since 1823
• Planted as wind breaks and stream bank
  stabilization
• Escaped cultivation by 1870
• By 1920 was becoming a serious problem in the
  southwest

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Salt Cedar

• Identification
• Shrubby bush or tree that can range in size from
  5 to 20 feet tall
• The bark is a reddish brown
• The leaves are small and flat and resemble
  evergreen shrubs
• Flowers are pink to white in color
• Long woody taproot

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Salt Cedar

• Why is it a problem?
• Increases soil salinity
• Secrets salt inhibiting native plant growth
• Creates a monoculture
• Increased wildfire frequency
• Readily burnable
• Capable of thriving in post-fire conditions
• Increased frequency and tendency of flooding
• Impede high flows
• Restriction of water ways increases sedimentation

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Salt Cedar

• Why is it a problem?
• Water Consumption
• Depends mainly on ground water
• ONE healthy mature plant uses approx. 80 to 120
  gallons of water a day.
• Twice as much as most native plants
• The average household water use 69.3 gallons per
  person

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Salt Cedar

• Water Availability
• University of Kansas Quantifying ground-water
  savings by tamarisk control (2005 Kluitenberg)
• 35-40 reduction of ground water use.
• Pecos River, Texas below the New Mexico State
  line
• Preliminary analysis indicates saltcedar control
  may yield as much as a 60 to 70 reduction in
  water loss
• Eagle Borax Works Springs Death Valley
• 8 weeks post controlled burn water raised 1.2
  feet and ponds reappeared after being absent for
  20 years
• Spring Lake, New Mexico
• Salt Cedar dried up a 13 acre lake by 1968, after
  herbicide control in 1989 water table returned

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Salt Cedar

• Wyoming
• 122,000 acres
• Big Horn 50,000
• Laramie, Sublette, Converse lt1
• Colorado
• 55,000 acres
• New Mexico
• 500,000 acres
• Kansas
• 50,000 acres
• 2000 study showed that it was more economically
  feasible to combat salt cedar than to look for
  alternative mechanisms to obtain water. (Zalaveta
  2000)

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Noxious Weed Control in Wyoming

• Riparian Areas
• Salt Cedar
• Missouri River watershed
• Limited control options
• Produces over 100,000 seeds per shrub
• Over 100 million acres in the western U.S.
• Pecos River (Washington) could be dried up by 2010

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Russian Olive
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Russian Olive

• History
• Native to Southern Europe and Asia
• Introduced in US during colonial times
• Promoted for plantings in the west starting in
  1906
• It has been a popular shrub for windbreaks,
  shelterbelts and wildlife habitat in semi-arid
  and saline environments because of its
  adaptability.
• In the west, it was reported as escaping from
  cultivation in the 1940's to 1960's.

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Russian Olive

• Identification
• Large, spiny deciduous tree
• Thorny branches
• Leaves are dull green to grey color
• Mature tree bark is rigid and wrinkled
• In summer blooms yellow flowers
• Berry like fruit
• Deep tap root

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Russian Olive

• Why is it a problem?
• Increased frequency and tendency of flooding
• Out competes native vegetation
• Highly invasive in riparian areas
• Considered inferior habitat for birds and fish
• Consumes high quantities of water then native
  plants
• Creates a monoculture

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Russian Olive

• Very little is know about Russian Olive and water
  consumption.
• One New Mexico study suggests Russian olive
  evapotranspiration rates might by nearly double
  that of cottonwood.
• Most control observations closely associate it
  with a similar impact as Salt Cedar.
• Most research has been tied into Salt Cedar
  research

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• State(s) where reported invasive AZ, CA, CO,
  CT, DE, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, MD, MI, MN, MT, NC,
  NE, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OK, OR, PA, SD, TN, TX, UT,
  VA, VT, WA, WI
• Information from Swearingen, J. 2006. WeedUS
  database, Alien Plant Invaders of Natural Areas.
  Plant Conservation
• Alliance, Alien Plant Working Group.
  http//www.nps.gov/plants/alien/list/WeedUS.xls
• Map generated by http//douweosinga.com/projects
  /visitedstates.

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Recent Activities

• Russian Olive Resolution
• Headwater Coalition
• North Platte River Mapping Inquiry
• Salt Cedar and Russian Olive Control
  Demonstration Act
• Enacted 09/06
• Sponsored by Rep. Pearce (NM)
• Co-sponsored Rep. Cubin (1 of 9)
• No Allocation

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• Questions