{"id":20233,"date":"2025-07-31T17:52:26","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T00:52:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/?p=20233"},"modified":"2025-07-31T17:57:02","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T00:57:02","slug":"tamarisk-y-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/2025\/07\/31\/tamarisk-y-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Reducing the tama-risk of flood and fire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>NEWS RELEASE <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PHOENIX \u2014\u00a0 An ongoing tamarisk removal project by the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) and its partners in the Lower Gila River Collaborative (LGRC) is aiming to restore the river&#8217;s riparian corridor, lowering fire and flood risk and allowing native plants, wildlife and outdoor recreation to thrive.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Introduced to the lower Gila River in the mid-1800s to combat erosion and stabilize riverbanks, tamarisk, also known as salt cedar, soon created more problems than it solved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe lower Gila quickly became overtaken with invasive tamarisk encroachment, and now the vast majority of the Lower Gila River has become dense monocultures of tamarisk which provide minimal opportunities for wildlife and public recreation,\u201d said Bobby Lamoureux, AZGFD\u2019s habitat, evaluation and lands program manager for region 6.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dense stands of tamarisk altered water flow in the river, stifled the growth of native species, and caused flooding in nearby farms and developments\u2014many of which were historically outside the floodplain and unprepared for high water events.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arizona isn\u2019t alone in battling tamarisk. The invasive plant has become a problem across much of the Southwest, especially in arid and semi-arid regions where it has overtaken river corridors, wetlands and riparian zones.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn 2001, six states released an insect that feeds on the tamarisk, called the northern tamarisk beetle, in an attempt to control the invasive plant species,\u201d said Lamoureux.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the beetles weren\u2019t released in Arizona, they soon made their way here and began feeding on\u2014and killing\u2014large areas of tamarisk. Eating only on the leaves, the beetles leave behind dry, dead branches that are highly flammable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEven when alive, tamarisk burns hotter than native plants,\u201d said Lamoureux. \u201cBut the dead, dense tamarisk branches are like matchsticks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2018, AZGFD joined with communities and other organizations to form the Lower Gila River Collaborative, with a shared goal: remove tamarisk and restore the river\u2019s riparian corridor. But removing tamarisk is not an easy task.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou have to use heavy equipment to rip it out, or utilize multiple applications of herbicide,\u201d said Lamoureux. \u201cAnd it\u2019s able to grow back from even a small fragment, so we often follow up physical removal with herbicide or fire treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even after removal, tamarisk continues to affect the areas where it was present. The plant pulls salt from the soil and releases it through its leaves, creating a highly saline environment over time that lingers following removal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe have to wait about a year after removal to begin planting native species,\u201d said Lamoureux. \u201cThat\u2019s how long it takes for the salt to be washed away and for the soil to return to a healthy state for plants like cottonwoods and willows.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once native plants are reestablished, the area is monitored for at least three years to treat any tamarisk regrowth.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Removing an invasive species at this scale is also an expensive prospect. Fortunately, one of the LGRC partners\u2014the Department of Forestry and Fire Management\u2014has provided a substantial portion of the funding for these efforts and assists with project planning and implementation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe currently have two active projects, with one completed and three more planned, all thanks to the funding provided by the Department of Forestry and Fire Management,\u201d said Lamoureux.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>AZGFD is involved in tamarisk removal projects throughout central and southern Arizona, including work at Robbins Butte, the Lower San Pedro River and other locations. But Lamoureux is particularly pleased with the department\u2019s work on the Lower Gila River, along with partnering agencies\u2019 work within the collaborative, with roughly 1,000 acres planned across all projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m really proud of the amount of work we\u2019ve completed on this stretch of the river,\u201d said Lamoureux. \u201cIt\u2019s great to see native vegetation coming back\u2014and to see wildlife and outdoor recreationists have access to this river again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/content.govdelivery.com\/attachments\/fancy_images\/AZGFD\/2025\/07\/12076156\/6341690\/before-and-after-tamarisk-removal_crop.png\" alt=\"before and after tamarisk removal\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><em>Top photo shows tamarisk invasion. Bottom photo is post tamarisk-removal, showing the reintroduction of native plants and open space for water to flow and wildlife and recreationists to access the area.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Removing this invasive plant species benefits wildlife and outdoor recreationists. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":20235,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[92],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main-site"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Reducing the tama-risk of flood and fire - Arizona Game &amp; Fish Department<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/2025\/07\/31\/tamarisk-y-business\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reducing the tama-risk of flood and fire - Arizona Game &amp; 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