DR. JAMES TATE, SCIENCE ADVISOR TO THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR, BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON FORESTS AND FOREST HEALTH

OF THE COMMITTEE ON RESOURCES,

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

REGARDING

H.R. 2707, THE SALT CEDAR AND RUSSIAN OLIVE CONTROL

DEMONSTRATION ACT

July 24, 2003

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, I am Jim Tate, Science Advisor to Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton. I want to thank you for providing the Department of the Interior (Department) the opportunity to testify before you regarding H.R. 2707, legislation to promote the control and management of the invasive species saltcedar, or tamarisk, and Russian olive. The Department supports the goals of H.R. 2707, and we are committed to working with you to ensure that the programs it establishes will be both efficiently delivered and effective.

Let me begin by providing you with some background on this issue, followed by brief comments on the legislation.

Background

In the late 19th century, importation of several species of the genus Tamarix, commonly called tamarisk, which now interbreed in the United States, and Russian olive came just as the Department began efforts to mediate land speculation and work closely with western governors and Indian tribes during the turbulent settlement of the West. The scientific expeditions of John Wesley Powell (which carried out the Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain region in 1874) set in motion the still-evolving paradigm that wise development informed by science provides the best hope for conservation and future use of our Nation’s natural resources.

The Department is one of the Nation’s principal conservation agencies, charged with protecting and providing access to our Nation’s natural and cultural heritage. Today, Departmental authorities provide for the management and protection of resources in an area of the West now increasingly under pressure as population densities mushroom and water resources are increasingly stressed. This region of the country also has seen the greatest impact from the species addressed in this legislation.

Scope of the Problem

Russian olive is a hardy, fast-growing tree native to Europe and western Asia. It was introduced into the United States in the 19th century and was promoted as windrow and ornamental plantings. It grows along streams, in fields, and in open areas. It is shade-tolerant, and it grows well in a variety of soil and moisture conditions. While Russian olive is primarily found in the West, it also is present in the Eastern United States.

Tamarisk comprises a suite of several species also imported to the United States in the 19th century for use as windbreaks and erosion control plantings. It now covers approximately 1.6 million acres of riparian lands within all the seventeen western states (as far north as Montana). The spread of tamarisk, estimated at 50,000 acres per year, is often supported by its flammability. It rapidly produces dense biomass and secretes salt on the soil that suppresses native plant seed germination and seedling growth.

Preliminary studies have shown that dense tamarisk stands utilize more water on a daily basis than native cottonwood-willow plant communities. There is more total surface area on the leaves of tamarisk plants than on cottonwood and native shrubs growing in a given area, and tamarisk continues to release water through the pores in its leaves during mid-day, whereas native cottonwoods shut this process down to conserve water. Tamarisk growing in the streambed can also slow the water flow, allowing additional time for percolation of the water into the alluvium. Water released for irrigation purposes from an upstream reservoir may thus not get to its intended destination when tamarisk is blocking the channel.

Estimates of the value of water lost – for irrigation and municipal uses, flood control, and hydropower production – run between $133 million and $265 million. Irrigation losses alone are as much as $120 million annually. See, e.g., Zavaleta, “Valuing Ecosystem Services Lost to Tamarix Invasion in the United States,” in Invasive Species in a Changing World, ed. Harold A. Mooney and Richard J. Hobbs (Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2000), 261-300.

The growing abundance of tamarisk along western rivers has led resource managers to seek to control it in order to: (1) increase the flow of water in streams that might otherwise be lost to evapotranspiration and percolation; (2) restore native vegetation along the banks and floodplains of rivers and shorelines of reservoirs or lakes; (3) reduce hazardous fuels; and (4) improve wildlife habitat.

As you know, the Department, through the Bureau of Reclamation, has a significant role in the distribution of water throughout much of the West and Southwest. Because of its significant impact on water resources alone, the Department has a strong interest in the control of tamarisk as part of its management efforts. For this reason, much of the remainder of my statement will focus on control efforts for this species.

Current Departmental Tamarisk Management Efforts

Current Departmental programs and activities focus control and management efforts for tamarisk on areas with resources at risk. Some areas are so heavily infested that expert “strike” teams have been used to remove the dense vegetation. For example, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is in the process of establishing such “strike teams,” modeled after the National Park Service’s (NPS) Exotic Plant Management Teams (EPMT), to combat invasive species, including tamarisk, in the Southwest. Areas vital to wildlife resources are cleared using mechanical, chemical, and physical means. Comprehensive conservation plans are used to guide these efforts and to indicate the areas of highest priority for waterfowl, endangered species, or other wildlife habitat values. In some cases, resources potentially at risk from tamarisk incursion are spot-treated early enough to keep the plants away, thus avoiding costly control efforts. This early detection and rapid response model is receiving increased attention as a means of preventing the spread and establishment of tamarisk.

Place-based Research and Testing

Departmental land management operations focus significant funding for tamarisk control on refuges, national parks and monuments, and along irrigation canals under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Reclamation. Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge has served as a demonstration laboratory for control and management of tamarisk, including research and development of innovative methods for restoring native riparian vegetation and working with nearby private landowners and Indian Tribes to implement them. Biomass removal, intermittent flooding, chemical treatments, and other mechanical methods have all been tested and measured for effectiveness and efficiency. Cooperating with researchers from nearby universities and other research institutions, such as the Los Alamos National Laboratory, scientists and land managers have also tested methods to reduce the likelihood of later re-infestation by tamarisk.

Because of our role in the management of Western lands, we recognize the need for on the ground management of invasive species like tamarisk. However, we also recognize that there are areas where our control and restoration efforts will benefit from targeted research and development projects. More information is needed regarding the identification of areas or situations that would most likely respond to vegetative restoration projects once tamarisk removal has begun. Such information will also assist in the development of an integrated control and restoration plan – a “best practices” plan that will provide land managers at all levels of government with options for removal, control, and restoration of lands infested with tamarisk.

Programs to Promote Private Partnerships

Various programs within the Department seek to promote partnerships with private landowners to address problem species like tamarisk. One initiative that addresses these issues is the cooperative conservation component of the challenge cost share programs in the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), NPS and FWS. These programs emphasize building partnerships for the conservation of natural resources and provide expanded opportunities for land managers to work with landowners and others to form creative conservation partnerships. This initiative recognizes that nature knows no jurisdictional boundaries and that, through these partnerships, the Department’s land managers can work with landowners and other citizen stewards to tackle invasive species, reduce erosion along stream banks, or enhance habitat for threatened and endangered species. Among other things, in FY 2003 we have funded through this initiative projects that are aimed at the eradication and control of tamarisk, Russian olive, and other invasive plants, and reclamation of impacted lands.

Another program is the FWS’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife, which promotes private landowner cost-share projects for habitat restoration, including funds targeted for control of invasive plants and subsequent restoration. The Partners Program has worked with private landowners across the Nation to remove, burn, biologically control, and otherwise combat invasive plants on thousands of acres of wetlands and upland. Tamarisk control is a focus of technical and financial assistance in the Southwest.

The control and management of tamarisk is part of the BLM’s Partners Against Weeds Strategy Plan, BLM’s Strategic Plan, and the National Fire Plan. The Partners Against Weeds program funds cooperative efforts with landowners to control invasive species. It also funds cooperative outreach and education projects with schools and local and county governments. In one important project, the BLM plans to work with several groups, including Clark County and the communities of Bunkerville and Mesquite in southern Nevada, to remove tamarisk along portions of the Virgin River floodplain. As I noted above, because of its properties, tamarisk poses a potential fire risk to homes, ranches, farms, and recreational facilities in the wildland-urban interface.

This project involves mechanical removal of tamarisk in the project area. The goal of the project is to move away from the tamarisk-fueled, high intensity fires that are now typical of the area concerned and to restore native vegetation, such as the relatively inflammable grasses, sedges, shrub communities, cottonwoods, and willows. Current planning calls for 95 acres of treatment in FY 2004, with an additional 100 acres per year during the following 7-8 years.

The NPS, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and the Bureau of Reclamation partner with the Agriculture Research Service and the U.S. Forest Service, both within the Department of Agriculture, and university scientists to develop and test biological control agents, including the beetles used for biological control of tamarisk in the West, on projects to identify and avoid sites where tamarisk is naturally dying out, to conduct studies of stream flow management for vegetation control, and on studies of hybridization to better predict the potential future spread of tamarisk.

USGS scientists can help identify site potential for water salvage, revegetation, and wildlife value, and develop protocols and measures for prioritizing sites for control or revegetation. The USGS also has partnerships with state and county weed departments, the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA), and the Tamarisk Coaltion aimed at mapping currently invaded sites and identifying new invasions.

The Bureau of Reclamation leads, along with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, the Saltcedar Biological Control Consortium, a task force comprised of over 40 agencies. The Bureau of Reclamation, in collaboration with Los Alamos National Laboratory, also develops new technologies for determining the amount of water lost from the Rio Grande River due to tamarisk.

Crosscut Budget for Fiscal Year 2004

The Administration is also working toward an interagency approach to invasive species control. The President’s Budget Request for Fiscal Year (FY) 2004 contains a performance budget crosscut on tamarisk. Agencies would work together to develop common performance measures. Under this performance umbrella, new and base funds will be applied in the Departments of Interior and Agriculture to control and manage the spread of tamarisk in the Southwest. Within the Department, the BLM proposes to control 2,750 acres of tamarisk with a $500,000 funding increase. The Bureau of Reclamation, utilizing $600,000 in new funding, proposes to control 22,000 acres of tamarisk. The FWS has proposed an increase of $640,000 for treatment of tamarisk and other species on an additional 50,000 acres, and the NPS, utilizing $200,000 in base funding, proposes to treat 1,000 additional acres. A proposed funding increase of $100,000 will help the Bureau of Indian Affairs control tamarisk on 4,000 acres. Finally, USGS proposes two additional research projects in direct support of land management efforts, including the development of protocols and measures to prioritize sites for control and revegetation efforts.

In addition, both Interior and Agriculture agencies are working together with our state and local partners to develop and implement control technologies as part of an integrated approach to pest and weed management. New chemical and biological control methods for tamarisk are being tested under strictly controlled conditions because the endangered southwest willow flycatcher occupies areas now infested with tamarisk that were once occupied by stands of native willows and cottonwoods. The federal agencies are providing support for a multi-pronged approach to tamarisk control utilizing prevention, early detection and rapid response, and other control and management activities to limit the introduction and spread of tamarisk into new areas of the Southwest.

Coordinated Tamarisk Control and Revegetation Workshop

As a means of deciding how to spend the FY 2004 funds proposed in the President’s Budget for tamarisk control, the Department is considering a strategy workshop to be held in the West sometime this fall. The purpose would be to gain stakeholder input for a roadmap containing common protocols (decision criteria) and best practices for tamarisk control and management. The roadmap would provide guidance for selecting on-the-ground projects and research efforts with the twin goals of generating increased water supply and restoring ecosystems through long-term tamarisk control, revegetation, and habitat recovery.

Departmental Views on H.R. 2707

I hope that this overview has provided you with a picture of what the Department is doing to manage the control of tamarisk and other harmful exotic species. With the above discussion in mind, let me briefly turn to H.R. 2707.

The “Salt Cedar and Russian Olive Control Demonstration Act” establishes a two-pronged approach to control of these species. Section 3(a) of the legislation would require the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, to complete an assessment of the extent of infestation by these species in states where the Bureau of Reclamation operates. The assessment is also to include past and present assessments and management options to control these species; the feasibility of reducing water consumption; methods and challenges in land restoration; and the estimated costs of destruction, biomass removal, and restoration and maintenance. Finally, the assessment is to identify long-term funding strategies that could be implemented by federal, state, and private land managers.

We view a comprehensive assessment positively, and believe such an approach helps federal land managers develop a more coordinated, long-term approach to addressing the problems associated with these species. While we agree with the goals of the bill, we have concerns with some provisions.

Subsection 3(b) of the bill would require that the Secretary initiate demonstration projects to determine the most effective control methods, and provides certain criteria that must be included in the project designs. As noted above, the Department is currently working with our partners to develop and implement an integrated approach to management of this species. We recognize the importance of carrying out strictly controlled projects that will quickly provide us with practical control methods that can be used by our land managers on the ground. We note, however, that the language of this subsection, particularly when viewed in combination with subsection 2(a) and subsection 3(d), does not make clear which Secretary would initiate the program. We suggest that this language be clarified.

The legislation would also authorize $25 million for each of fiscal years 2004 through 2007, though the bill does not provide sufficient direction on how the appropriated funds are to be distributed. The Department also has a concern about the overall cost of the programs created under the proposed legislation. While the Administration’s cross cut budget evidences our commitment to control invasive species like those addressed here, the program established under this legislation would have to compete with other priority activities within the context of the President’s Budget. Finally, the Department notes that the actions called for in HR 2707 can be achieved within existing authorities.

Conclusion

In closing, I want to assure the Committee that the Department is prepared and committed to identifying, assessing, and acting to curb the economic and ecological impacts of tamarisk and Russian olive in the West. We will continue to work with our partners, and we agree with the intention of H.R. 2707 to more systematically develop a more effective control strategy. Our goal is to ensure the protection of our water resources and the restoration of important wildlife habitat.

We share the Committee’s concerns and interest in this issue, and offer to work with the Committee to ensure that any legislation promotes an efficient and effective control strategy. Mr. Chairman, this concludes my statement and I am happy to answer any questions that you might have.