Integrating and bolstering science to improve restoration outcomes
RiversEdge West collaborates with researchers across sectors to gather data and investigate applied questions that inform restoration objectives. Read more to learn about our Scientific and Technical Partners and our ongoing programs to support tracking tamarisk beetles (Diorhabda spp.), surveying for the southwestern willow flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus), and testing for mycorrhizal associations with willows.
Scientific and Technical Partners
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| Dr. Amanda Stahlke | Dr. Joel Sholtes | Dr. Matthew J. Johnson |
| Scientific Advisor | Technical Partner | Scientific Partner |
Tamarisk Beetle Data
Each year, with the help of partners across the western United States and Mexico, RiversEdge West produces an annual distribution map that notes presence and absence of tamarisk beetles. Since 2007, we have worked with over 70 partners to document observations now ranging from Chihuahua, Mexico to California, and up into Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, and Kansas. You can view previous versions of the annual maps here, in our Resource Center.
These data in no way represent all locations where the tamarisk beetle may exist but give a broad perspective of beetle establishment and dispersal, providing land managers with information that may help with their integrated pest management plans, restoration strategies, and funding opportunities.
Contribute your tamarisk beetle observations
We rely on partners and community scientists to help track the beetle. All observations are welcome! Please send presence or absence observations to tamariskbeetledata@riversedgewest.org, with a unique GPS point (latitude and longitude, as precise as possible) and date. You can use this excel template (previewed below) to help us keep data tidy. We will also accept shapefiles or kmz/kml. Starting in 2023, we also include curated iNaturalist observations under the Tamarisk beetles (biocontrol agents) Project.
We also welcome any photos of tamarisk, defoliation or refoliation, beetles, or what's coming in underneath that you'd like to share.
How to monitor tamarisk beetle populations and impact
In collaboration with the Colorado Department of Agriculture Palisade Insectary and University of California Santa Barbara Marine Science Institute, RiversEdge West formed the Tamarisk Beetle Monitoring Program in 2007 to develop a rapid assessment protocol. The how-to video below outlines how anyone can monitor for tamarisk beetles. The datasheet described to record tamarisk condition and insect abundance can be found here. You can also read and use the Colorado Department of Agriculture, Palisade Insectary Tamarisk Biocontrol Monitoring Protocol, which includes understory plant community composition monitoring.