Outdoors Volunteers start attack on invaders
By Elva K. Österreich Alamogordo Daily News
ALAMOGORDO -- Traveling across Southwestern states with chainsaws and poison, a youthful team of warriors are out to eradicate aliens.
The aliens being attacked are herbacious in nature, insidiously spreading their roots and seeds across the U.S., damaging natural resources, landscapes and native plants and animals.
The primary target of the Chihuahuan Desert Southern Shortgrass Prairie Exotic Plant Management Team is the tamarisk tree, also known as salt cedar.
The tamarisk, originally brought to the U.S. about 150 years ago for erosion control and as a windbreak, can consume 300 gallons of water a day each, said southern New Mexico's White Sands National Monument Biologist David Bustos. The tree takes over and thrives in salty conditions. Wildlife doesn't benefit from it, and it spreads easily.
Tamarisks at WSNM could be changing the larger dunes, causing them to blow away as the water is sucked up, Bustos said.
In a river system, tamarisk infestation can spread 100 miles a year. At White Sands, the water table lies only a few feet under the surface, so the plant can go about anywhere.
So earlier this month, the Chihuahuan Desert team spent long hours at the monument wielding their chainsaws in the battle against the tamarisk.
Part of the National Park Service Biological Resource Management Division, the five-person team is one of 17 Student Conservation Association crews which form the Native Plant Corps, working to control invasive foliage in the U.S.
This team alone is traveling to four states, including 11 sites, working eight- to 10-hour days fighting the weeds. The teams work with NPS personnel.
SCA team members are from all across the U.S. Working at WSNM were Project Leader Jarred Shaw, Christina Cornett and Mike Messier.
"We (the SCA) bring people from different parts of the world to work on different land based issues," Shaw said.
The SCA was developed almost 60 years ago by a woman, Elizabeth Titus Putnam, who wanted to help out the National Park Service. Putnam still works with the group, speaking and volunteering her time.
"This is the largest student conservation program in the country," Shaw said. There are 40,000 SCA alumni.
"All the young people are so energetic and so dedicated to take this time out of their life getting real field experience," Shaw said of his volunteers. "You don't have to be a student to apply for internships."
Cornett signed on because she is interested in learning about Southwest ecology and sees it as a great opportunity to travel.
Many SCA alumni go into resource management fields, Shaw said.
"It's one way to get your foot in the door," Messier said.
"This is a good opportunity to do hard work with restoration," he said. "It's one of the most important things you can do in the parks."
The team attacks the tamarisk by sawing it down and applying a mixture of vegetable oil and Garlon4, a selective herbicide. Before going into the field, the team gets both chainsaw and herbicide training, Messier said.
"In certain places it's easier to tell the impact," Messier said.
The team's effort have been positive for the monument, Bustos said.
"They have been a huge help in the park," he said. The plant is established in about 5,000 acres of the monument, he said.
Through Bustos' efforts and those of various volunteers, including the SCA team, tamarisk is mostly out of the interdunal areas, he said.
"I think we've slowed it down a lot," Bustos said. "When the plant team came out we could see a real difference."
By Elva K. Österreich Alamogordo Daily News
ALAMOGORDO -- Traveling across Southwestern states with chainsaws and poison, a youthful team of warriors are out to eradicate aliens.
The aliens being attacked are herbacious in nature, insidiously spreading their roots and seeds across the U.S., damaging natural resources, landscapes and native plants and animals.
The primary target of the Chihuahuan Desert Southern Shortgrass Prairie Exotic Plant Management Team is the tamarisk tree, also known as salt cedar.
The tamarisk, originally brought to the U.S. about 150 years ago for erosion control and as a windbreak, can consume 300 gallons of water a day each, said southern New Mexico's White Sands National Monument Biologist David Bustos. The tree takes over and thrives in salty conditions. Wildlife doesn't benefit from it, and it spreads easily.
Tamarisks at WSNM could be changing the larger dunes, causing them to blow away as the water is sucked up, Bustos said.
In a river system, tamarisk infestation can spread 100 miles a year. At White Sands, the water table lies only a few feet under the surface, so the plant can go about anywhere.
So earlier this month, the Chihuahuan Desert team spent long hours at the monument wielding their chainsaws in the battle against the tamarisk.
Part of the National Park Service Biological Resource Management Division, the five-person team is one of 17 Student Conservation Association crews which form the Native Plant Corps, working to control invasive foliage in the U.S.
This team alone is traveling to four states, including 11 sites, working eight- to 10-hour days fighting the weeds. The teams work with NPS personnel.
SCA team members are from all across the U.S. Working at WSNM were Project Leader Jarred Shaw, Christina Cornett and Mike Messier.
"We (the SCA) bring people from different parts of the world to work on different land based issues," Shaw said.
The SCA was developed almost 60 years ago by a woman, Elizabeth Titus Putnam, who wanted to help out the National Park Service. Putnam still works with the group, speaking and volunteering her time.
"This is the largest student conservation program in the country," Shaw said. There are 40,000 SCA alumni.
"All the young people are so energetic and so dedicated to take this time out of their life getting real field experience," Shaw said of his volunteers. "You don't have to be a student to apply for internships."
Cornett signed on because she is interested in learning about Southwest ecology and sees it as a great opportunity to travel.
Many SCA alumni go into resource management fields, Shaw said.
"It's one way to get your foot in the door," Messier said.
"This is a good opportunity to do hard work with restoration," he said. "It's one of the most important things you can do in the parks."
The team attacks the tamarisk by sawing it down and applying a mixture of vegetable oil and Garlon4, a selective herbicide. Before going into the field, the team gets both chainsaw and herbicide training, Messier said.
"In certain places it's easier to tell the impact," Messier said.
The team's effort have been positive for the monument, Bustos said.
"They have been a huge help in the park," he said. The plant is established in about 5,000 acres of the monument, he said.
Through Bustos' efforts and those of various volunteers, including the SCA team, tamarisk is mostly out of the interdunal areas, he said.
"I think we've slowed it down a lot," Bustos said. "When the plant team came out we could see a real difference."
