How does walking around in House Rock Valley looking for Tamarisk trees and not always finding them contribute to the conservation of ecosystems in the Southwest?  That work is the first step in a long, tedious, and labor intensive process.  Most importantly, it could not be done without the help of volunteers.   
 
House Rock Valley(HRV) is just nearing the end of the first stage of the process.  Volunteers have mapped all its drainages and identified areas where there are significant tamarisk populations.  The Trust is currently compiling a report that we will use to guide a discussion with the Bureau of Land Management(BLM) about the extent to which the lands they manage are infested with this non-native, invasive tree.
 
The Paria Canyon is one area where previous volunteer efforts are coming to bear. In recent years volunteers meticulously mapped tamarisk populations along the river corridor in the Paria River Wilderness. This information, the same as is currently being compiled for HRV and Kanab Creek, led to the forging of a partnership between the BLM and the Grand Canyon Trust to initiate a 3 year tamarisk removal project on an 18 mile stretch of the Paria Canyon.  This work is funded by an Arizona Water Protection Fund Grant, and will be completed in large part by the outstanding volunteer community of the Grand Canyon Trust. 
 
As another indicator of the effectiveness of these efforts, we can look to the successes of volunteer crews in Grand Canyon National Park.  Here, over 30,000 volunteer hours have led to the removal of over 244,000 tamarisk trees....BY HAND!  In all, over 128 sensitive riparian areas in the Grand Canyon have been restored.  We understand, however, that ecosystems and watersheds to not recognize the borders between the National Park and the Forest Service or the BLM.  The phenomenal tamarisk eradication effort that began in the Grand Canyon National Park needs to be carried on in the tributaries the feed the Colorado River in northern Arizona. 
 
The Grand Canyon Trust will continue to move forward with collaborative, science-informed restoration of riparian ecosystems on the Arizona Strip.  Data collected by volunteers in HRV and Kanab Creek will be used in much the same manner as similar mapping information collected by volunteers in the Paria Canyon. At this moment, the outcomes in these two landscapes are uncertain.  We will work with the Forest Service and the BLM to determine the appropriate courses of action for managing invasive trees in these tributaries to the Colorado River. 

 

As a final note, we would like to thank all the volunteers who have contributed to this massive undertaking.  Whether you have cut trees in the remote reaches of Grand Canyon National Park, mapped for tamarisk in side canyons to Kanab Creek, or monitored vegetation transects in the Paria Canyon, your contribution to this project is essential.