What is the urgency in dealing with tamarisk now?
Unfortunately, tamarisk has displaced native vegetation on approximately 1.6 million acres of land in the Western United States and continues to spread. It is also a phreatophyte (or a plant that mines the water table). Studies have shown that a mature tamarisk can consume nearly 200 gallons of water a day. Although native trees in wet riparian areas can use more or less the same amount of water, they do not grow in the density that tamarisk does. Consequently, the west is probably losing from 2- 4.5 million acre-feet of water per year. This is enough water to supply upwards of 20 million people with water for one year or to irrigate over 1,000,000 acres of land. Also, tamarisk is susceptible to crown fires several times a year (usually spring and fall). It sprouts aggressively after a fire, thus creating a new fire-prone fuel bed shortly after burning. Because tamarisk is so wide-spread along the river corridor, it poses a major fire hazard in public campgrounds and recreation areas.
