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Beetles helping in tamarisk battle
Impact already huge in ridding Montezuma County of invasion
The Cortez Journal
Photo by SAM GREEN/The Cortez Journal
The arrival of the tamarisk beetle is welcomed by the Dolores Tamarisk Action Group, which is fighting the spread of the invasive tamarisk.
The tamarisk leaf beetle recently was discovered on tamarisk plants in the area, and the tiny insect's impact on the weed has been huge.
"It's really exciting," said Jodi Downs of the Dolores Tamarisk Action Group. "We didn't realize they would come in so fast and so strong."
Tamarisk, which often situate themselves near streams or lakes, can use as much as 300 gallon of water per day and can produce 500,000 seeds a year. The Dolores group has been battling tamarisk in the area for years, but now, the group has a bit more ammunition.
For the last two weeks, the tamarisk leaf beetle has been chowing down on the area's tamarisk, cropping up in sporadic locations from McElmo Canyon clear across the county.
Measuring only three-sixteenth of an inch, the beetles feed on and defoliate the tamarisk plant before moving on. The insects are host-specific, meaning "they only eat tamarisk," said Stacy Kolegas, executive director of the Tamarisk Coalition.
"They were tested extensively for 15 years, so eventually, when the tamarisk dies off, the beetles die off, also," Kolegas said. "It's kind of like a rabbit-coyote balance."
Killing off an entire tamarisk typically takes a few seasons of defoliation, and beetles often will leave some of the leaves intact on each plant.
"We really don't know how long it will take for all of a tamarisk to be gone, but it's not realistic to think that beetles are going to get it all," Kolegas said. "Beetles only eat as much as they can. They want to sustain their population."
Which is why other efforts to rid the area of the water-loving weed, such as native revegetation, will still occur. But most of the local tamarisk eradication efforts will be drastically reduced, Downs said.
"We're putting tamarisk removal on hold for now," she said. "We're going to finish the projects we've already started, and we're going to continue heavily with revegetation efforts.
"We want to get willows and cottonwoods and box elders in the area before the tamarisk is completely dead."
How the bugs came into the county is unknown, but tamarisk beetles were released in Moab, Utah, and other parts of Colorado, Downs said.
Reasons for not releasing the insect before now were mostly because of federal concerns for the southwest willow flycatcher, an endangered bird. The flycatcher, which used to nest in willows along riverbanks, now nests in tamarisk.
For residents interested in learning more about the tamarisk leaf beetle's progress, the district will hold a public information meeting in conjunction with the Tamarisk Coalition at 6 p.m. Oct. 12 in Empire Electric's Calvin Denton Room, 801 N. Broadway, in Cortez.
The leaf beetle will go dormant in early October, but residents wishing to report a known population or to ask questions can call D-TAG and the Dolores Soil Conservation District at 565-9045.
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