Salt Cedar

2022 Project Report - Download the full report with pictures (pdf)

Project:
The 2022 Yellowstone River Salt Cedar Project started around the end of August due to hot temperatures earlier in the month. The 2022 Yellowstone River Salt Cedar Project picked up where the 2021 project left off which is located around road 24 North in the Huntley Project Area in Yellowstone County. The mature trees were treated using the basal bark I.P.T. (individual plant treatment) method with Remedy Ultra/Impel via 4-wheelers and backpacks. Mason Industries provided three applicators, 2 atv's and 1 utv for the project.

Conclusions:
We are noticing that as we continue eastward on the Yellowstone River, we are noticing more areas are becoming ultra-concentrated with Salt Cedar trees. Some of these areas include the old river channel areas that I refer to as the old oxbow areas of the river but also include areas where the present river channel is today. Some of the areas that are ultra-concentrated with salt cedar trees are also home to native species which makes control efforts very difficult due to the likely potential of collateral damage. We do our best to limit the damage to native species but don't always have control over what happens when you have ultra-high concentrations of salt cedar trees mixed with native species. One good thing that we have noticed from past projects is that the native species do recover a year or two later after the salt cedar had been treated. It seems like the native species come back even stronger in those areas. I'm going to continue to express how important it is that the old oxbow areas are a very important part of the floodplain of the Yellowstone River and if we do not continue to control the salt cedar in these areas of the river and let these areas fill in with salt cedar we will see drastic and detrimental flooding during the spring runoff which will affect many landowners throughout Yellowstone County that own acreage along the Yellowstone River Riparian Area. I will continue to preach that without this project and the funding that we receive through 223 grant we would be looking at some very detrimental effects from not controlling Salt Cedar along the Yellowstone River in Yellowstone County.

In concluding I would like to emphasize how important this project is. Its so important for us to go back into old project areas and recheck for any missed or any new growth trees because if we don’t, we just increase the chance for these old project areas to reseed and become reinfested again over the years and therefor losing everything that we did gain through the initial treatment process.

Opportunities for project continuation of expansion:
We will continue to monitor and maintain past project areas every year and then we will move into the new untreated areas. This project needs to continue as indicated earlier the Salt Cedar density is increasing more and more as we move eastward downriver. This project needs to be permanently funded as we are dealing with a very invasive species that seems to be getting more aggressive at spreading throughout the Yellowstone River Corridor.

2018 Project Report - Download the full report with pictures (pdf)

Project:
The 2018 Yellowstone River Salt Cedar Project kicked off on August 28, 2018. We started off by revisiting prior year's project areas and surveying and spraying any Salt Cedar trees that were missed or new trees that established due to seed sources that were missed in prior years. Mason Industries supplied 2 applicators, 1 atv, 1 utv, and 1 jet boat. Yellowstone County Weed District provided one full time applicator and the Centaur for the 2018 project. During the 2018 Salt Cedar Project approximately 900,000 Salt Cedar trees were sprayed within the project area. We treated approximately 846 acres out 1189 acres surveyed for salt cedar trees. The 2018 Yellowstone River Salt Cedar commenced on October 24, 2018.

Conclusions:
The 2018 Yellowstone River Salt Cedar Project in Yellowstone County covered 9.14 river miles with 1189 acres surveyed with 846 acres of infested acreage being treated with an estimated treated tree population of 900,000. Tree density definitely increased exponentially over the 2017 project. The drastic increase in tree density has increased the amount of herbicide used in order to obtain a 98-99 % mortality rate. The project commenced around Road 11 North in the Huntley Project Area and the Cabin Creek Ranch on the North side of the Yellowstone River. We do have one island in the project area that still needs a little attention at the beginning of the next project.

As we head eastward into the old oxbow areas of the Yellowstone River we are finding that these areas are becoming more concentrated with Salt Cedar trees. These old oxbow areas are a very important part of the floodplain of the Yellowstone River. If these concentrations of Salt Cedar trees continue to increase without any control efforts we are going to see an increase in flooding in areas downriver where the high-water is pushed due to choked off floodplain areas. We will also experience a river channel that will be cut deeper and deeper. These old oxbow areas act as relief valve during the high-water season. The number of Salt Cedar trees that we are finding in these areas is incredibly astronomic and require a large amount of herbicide and man hours to control. The island sizes are going to vary as we continue downriver but one thing for sure is that the density on the smaller islands is a lot larger compared to some of the bigger islands from past years. With this type of density starting to occur it really slows down the project and the amount of herbicide used increases drastically on these areas. Without this project and the funding that we receive through the trust fund grant we would be looking at some very detrimental effects from not controlling salt cedar along the Yellowstone River.

Opportunities for project continuation of expansion:
All cooperating agencies agree that this project needs to be continued for several years to insure eradication of the Salt Cedar infestation. Future treatment areas have been visited and the Salt Cedar population is growing at an alarming rate. With that kind of population increases and densities that we are encountering this project will continue to become more challenging in future years. Upstream and downstream counties are intending to use Yellowstone County's model for additional Salt Cedar Treatments.

2017 Final Report - Download the full report with pictures (pdf)

Project:
The 2017 Yellowstone River Salt Cedar Project began approximately around August 10, 2017, with a cleanup campaign that started on July 31, 2017, which consisted of revisiting prior year's project areas and surveying and spraying any Salt Cedar trees that were missed or new trees that established due to seed sources that were missed in prior years. The cleanup campaign commenced around August 7, 2017. On August 10, 2017 we kicked off the main project picking up where the 2016 project commenced which was just southwest of the Eaglebend area on the Yellowstone River near Shepherd, Montana. Mason Industries joined the fight this year by supplying 2 applicators, 2 atv's, 1 utv, and 1 jet boat. Yellowstone County Weed District provided one full time applicator, 3 seasonal applicators and the Centaur and John Deere Gator for the 2017 project. During the 2017 Salt Cedar Project approximately 550,000 Salt Cedar trees were sprayed within the acre project area. We treated approximately 210 acres with 548 acres covered and surveyed for salt cedar trees. The 2016 project covered 736 acres with 585 acres treated. We noticed that our acres covered are down but our tree populations definitely increased. The island areas were much smaller but the tree density was much higher than compared to the larger islands from the 2016 project year. The longer more slender islands that we are treating right now tend to be more catchalls or big nets for the seeds from the trees upriver. Some of these longer more slender islands are probably more prone to flooding than the larger wider islands of past project areas.

Conclusions:
The 2017 Yellowstone River Salt Cedar Project in Yellowstone County covered 5.63 new river miles with 548 acres surveyed with 210 acres of infested acreage being treated with a tree population of approximately 550,000 trees. Tree density definitely increased exponentially over the 2016 project. The drastic increase in tree density has increased the amount of herbicide used in order to obtain a 98-99 % mortality rate. The project commenced around Road 11 North in the Huntley Project Area. We do have a couple of islands in the project area that we were unable to access due to high water. We decided to put these islands on hold until next year and we moved down river to use what resources we had left wisely. These islands that were left out due to access issues will be top priority for the 2018 salt cedar project.

As we head eastward into the old oxbow areas of the Yellowstone River we are finding that these areas are becoming more concentrated with Salt Cedar trees. These old oxbow areas are a very important part of the floodplain of the Yellowstone River. If these concentrations of Salt Cedar trees continue to increase without any control efforts we are going to see an increase in flooding in areas downriver where the high-water is pushed due to choked off floodplain areas. We will also experience a river channel that will be cut deeper and deeper. These old oxbow areas act as relief valve during the high-water season. The number of Salt Cedar trees that we are finding in these areas is incredibly astronomic and require a large amount of herbicide and man hours to control. The island sizes are going to vary as we continue downriver but one thing for sure is that the density on the smaller islands is a lot larger compared to some of the bigger islands from past years. With this type of density starting to occur it really slows down the project and the amount of herbicide used increases drastically on these areas. Without this project and the funding that we receive through the trust fund grant we would be looking at some very detrimental effects from not controlling salt cedar along the Yellowstone River.

Opportunities for project continuation of expansion:
All cooperating agencies agree that this project needs to be continued for several years to insure eradication of the Salt Cedar infestation. Future treatment areas have been visited and the Salt Cedar population is growing at an alarming rate. With the kind of population increases and densities that we are encountering this project will continue to become more challenging in future years. Upstream and downstream counties are intending to use Yellowstone County's model for additional Salt Cedar

2018 Project Report - Download the full report with pictures (pdf)

Project:
The 2018 Yellowstone River Salt Cedar Project kicked off on August 28, 2018. We started off by revisiting prior year's project areas and surveying and spraying any Salt Cedar trees that were missed or new trees that established due to seed sources that were missed in prior years. Mason Industries supplied 2 applicators, 1 atv, 1 utv, and 1 jet boat. Yellowstone County Weed District provided one full time applicator and the Centaur for the 2018 project. During the 2018 Salt Cedar Project approximately 900,000 Salt Cedar trees were sprayed within the project area. We treated approximately 846 acres out 1189 acres surveyed for salt cedar trees. The 2018 Yellowstone River Salt Cedar commenced on October 24, 2018.

Conclusions:
The 2018 Yellowstone River Salt Cedar Project in Yellowstone County covered 9.14 river miles with 1189 acres surveyed with 846 acres of infested acreage being treated with an estimated treated tree population of 900,000. Tree density definitely increased exponentially over the 2017 project. The drastic increase in tree density has increased the amount of herbicide used in order to obtain a 98-99 % mortality rate. The project commenced around Road 11 North in the Huntley Project Area and the Cabin Creek Ranch on the North side of the Yellowstone River. We do have one island in the project area that still needs a little attention at the beginning of the next project.

As we head eastward into the old oxbow areas of the Yellowstone River we are finding that these areas are becoming more concentrated with Salt Cedar trees. These old oxbow areas are a very important part of the floodplain of the Yellowstone River. If these concentrations of Salt Cedar trees continue to increase without any control efforts we are going to see an increase in flooding in areas downriver where the high-water is pushed due to choked off floodplain areas. We will also experience a river channel that will be cut deeper and deeper. These old oxbow areas act as relief valve during the high-water season. The number of Salt Cedar trees that we are finding in these areas is incredibly astronomic and require a large amount of herbicide and man hours to control. The island sizes are going to vary as we continue downriver but one thing for sure is that the density on the smaller islands is a lot larger compared to some of the bigger islands from past years. With this type of density starting to occur it really slows down the project and the amount of herbicide used increases drastically on these areas. Without this project and the funding that we receive through the trust fund grant we would be looking at some very detrimental effects from not controlling salt cedar along the Yellowstone River.

Opportunities for project continuation of expansion:
All cooperating agencies agree that this project needs to be continued for several years to insure eradication of the Salt Cedar infestation. Future treatment areas have been visited and the Salt Cedar population is growing at an alarming rate. With that kind of population increases and densities that we are encountering this project will continue to become more challenging in future years. Upstream and downstream counties are intending to use Yellowstone County's model for additional Salt Cedar Treatments.