| 11/23/2006 10:33:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Study gets weeded
Chaffee County tamarisk management already in place
by Jason Starr
Mail Staff Writer
Upon advice from the county weed manager Tuesday, Chaffee County Commissioners refused a request for financial support of a tamarisk management study.
The request during the commissioners' regular meeting in Buena Vista was from the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District of Pueblo.
Weed manager Larry Walker told commissioners the county is already part of a successful tamarisk control group.
"I think there are good intentions, but it's already being done," Walker said, "and I really don't see where we are going to see anything from sending money downstream … . There's no sense in re-inventing the wheel on this stuff."
The Southeastern district was seeking money from counties in the Arkansas River basin to seed a grant application for tamarisk management from the Department of Local Affairs. The district needs $50,000 to seed the $150,000 grant. The money would produce a strategic plan for tamarisk control in the valley.
The Pueblo Chieftain reported Sunday the Southeastern district put its grant application on hold until spring because it couldn't secure matching money from area counties.
Reed Dils, the Chaffee County representative on the Southeastern district board, said he agreed with Walker's assessment that the county should stick with its existing tamarisk plan. But he requested in-kind support for the Southeastern plan in lieu of money.
Commissioner Tim Glenn said the county will send a letter to Southeastern offering in-kind support for the program.
Tamarisk is blamed for sucking large quantities of water from the ground, decreasing stream flows and crowding out native plant life.
Walker said the eight-county Upper Arkansas Cooperative Weed Management Area, which began tamarisk control in 2000, has removed almost all known tamarisk plants in Chaffee County. Tamarisk is more prevalent in Fremont County, he said.
In other business, commissioners:
• Approved a replat request for Lazy Daze subdivision on CR 120 west of Salida.
• Acknowledged the October report from Chaffee County Clerk Joyce Reno.
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