When Trees Become Weeds

1
When Trees Become Weeds

• Republican River Basin Riparian Management Study
  and Demonstration

2
What is a Weed?

• A plant out of place.
• A better competitor for sun, water, etc.
• A prolific seed producer.
• A plant that decreases the value of an area.
• A plant that replaces the desirable species.
• Therefore, it is hard to remove from an area
  after it becomes established.

3
Goals of the Project

• Measure water use differences between well
  managed and unmanaged riparian areas in each NRD.
• Establish long-term management plans to insure
  that areas dont revert to former condition.
• Develop economic uses of wood removed.
• Demonstrate value of good management in riparian
  areas.

4
Measure water use

• Unmanaged area will have invasive growth of red
  cedar, Russian olive, locust, elm, etc.
• Managed area will have invasives removed and be
  managed for a healthy community of natives that
  are beneficial to grazing and wildlife.
• Tree removal will be selective to leave
  beneficial natives by agreement of landowner and
  project partners, including area forester.

5
Measure water use

• Measurement of water use will be under the
  direction of Derrel Martin, UN-L Bio-System
  Engineering, Irrigation and Water Resources.
• Measurement will continue 4-6 yrs.
• Results will be reported in all available media.

6
Long-term management

• Invasives will be cut off at ground level to
  minimize soil disturbance.
• If salt cedar is found, it will be controlled by
  herbicide.
• Consult with project partners to help nature
  re-establish a stable, desirable plant community.
• Assist with secondary management keep invasive
  weeds out!

7
Long-term management

• Ideally, part of each area will be managed for
  grazing and part for wildlife habitat.
• Majority of invasive species are not good
  wildlife habitat, thus all of project should
  improve habitat.

8
Wood Uses

• Create the most lemonade we can from the lemons
  we have!!
• Red cedar- posts, boards, landscape chips and
  mulch, cedar fiber, cedar flour, cedar oil, cedar
  pellets, cedar particle board.
• Russian olive- landscape mulch, wood heat, ??
• Others- lumber?, wood heat, landscape mulch??
• Cellulosic ethanol- all species- 3-5 years away.

9
Demonstration-Education

• Plan at least one field day per year per site.
• Track and evaluate management costs.
• Track and evaluate effectiveness of management
  options.
• Track and evaluate wildlife and grazing benefits.
• Does good mgmt of riparian areas result in less
  ET?
• Does that increased river flow?

10
Project Partners

• Lower, Middle and Upper Republican NRDs
• Dept. of Natural Resources
• University of Nebraska WCREC BSE
• Nebraska Game and Parks Comm.
• Nebraska Forest Service
• NRCS field offices
• SW Weed Management Area
• SW NE Resource Conservation Development

11
Questions???