This study employs functional diversity metrics and guilds—suites of species with similar traits—to assess the influence of an invasive tree (Tamarix spp.) on riparian plant communities in the southwestern United States. Nine distinct guilds were identified with a gradient of functional diversity related to both tamarisk cover and environmental conditions. The identified guilds can be correlated to specific site conditions and can be used to anticipate plant community response to restoration efforts and in selecting appropriate species for revegetation.

  The Western Governors’ Association (WGA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), under a Shared Stewardship Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), agreed in June 2019 to pursue an effort to meaningfully address the large-scale infestation of invasive annual grasses on western forests and rangelands. The spread of invasive annual grasses – such as cheatgrass, medusahead and ventenata – is causing major damage to western working lands.
Executive Summary Utah is experiencing a dramatic invasion of an aggressive European subspecies of the common reed (Phragmites australis subsp. australis). This invasion is threatening recreation resources, wildlife habitat, and native wetland ecosystems. In this study, we used genetic tools to determine how, and to what extent, introduced Phragmites is spreading among major Utah wetlands. We also assessed native Phragmites (Phragmites australis subsp. americanus) spread to put our

Click the link above to access the Russian knapweed fact sheet produced by Colorado State University Extension.

      Choked Out: Battling Invasive Giant Cane (Arundo Donax) Along the Rio Grande/Bravo Borderlands   Mark Briggs1*, Helen M.
      Common Reed (Phragmites australis): Nativity and Determining Lineages Using Genetics and Field Characters in Southeastern Utah (and Parts of Southwestern Colorado)   Kelli Quinn1*, Liz Ballenger2   1Southeast Utah Group National Park Service, Moab, Utah, USA; kelli_quinn@nps.gov

This document describes the biology and management implications of reed canary grass, a rhizomatous perennial grass that is currently found in all but six of the lower 48 states.