Salt Lake Tribune: Southern Utah Volunteers hellbent on heavenly quest to destroy devilish tamarisk trees

As Printed in The Salt Lake Tribune: August 31, 2024

Aug. 31, 2024, 5:00 a.m.

Editor’s note • A version of this story first appeared in The Salt Lake Tribune’s Open Lands newsletter.

Ivins •

Of all the intrepid dwellers who call southwest Utah home, one might be hard-pressed to find any more undaunted or dedicated than Chuck Warren.

An Oregon transplant, Warren is a weed fiend — not in the illegal stuff some in southern Utah buy across the Nevada border in neighboring Mesquite. No, Warren and his hardy band of volunteer senior citizens are not lawbreakers or remotely evil.

They are, however, hellbent on completing the devilish task of removing tamarisk trees, one of the most invasive and insidious evils to take root in Kayenta, the bucolic Ivins neighborhood situated about 11 miles northwest of St. George.

Avocation to obsession

Tamarisks, which originate from southern Europe and the eastern Mediterranean area, were introduced to North America in the 1800s as ornamentals and also to serve as windbreaks and to stabilize riverbanks by preventing soil erosion.

Alas, tamarisks have evolved since then from welcomed guests to invasive pests in desert riparian areas throughout the American Southwest, choking out native plants, draining down water aquifers and ramping up the risk of wildfires.

Warren, a retired social worker, moved to Kayenta with his wife, Becky, about 10 years ago and became aware of the tamarisk infestation problem while doing some volunteer work cutting trails in the area. After that, tamarisk removal became an avocation and has turned into somewhat of an obsession.

“I can get a bit driven,” said Warren, who logs up to 20 hours a week from September through May each year removing the highly flammable trees that have been choking washes and putting homes in Kayenta at risk for fire.

As the adage goes, “misery loves company.” Warren finds consolation in that he is not alone in his obsession. Since launching the nonprofit Desert Preservation Initiative in May 2022, the organization’s president has found several dozen others — about 50 volunteers ranging in age from 62 to 78 — to shoulder the load.

“It’s hard work,” Warren admitted about the effort aimed at restoring Kayenta’s ecosystem.

Still, volunteers turn up for several hours twice a week during the cooler parts of the year to destroy tamarisks.

“The tamarisks often become so dense that I’ve had to whack my way through some of the washes,” DPI Vice President Dan Beck said. “We had one wash that was wall-to-wall tamarisk and you couldn’t even walk through it.”

Getting dirty, growing muscle

As much as they don’t want to belabor the point, Warren and others want would-be volunteers to know the work is difficult and demanding.

Terrence Walters, a retired botanist and college professor, put it in a post on the organization’s website: ”DPI now offers, at no cost: 1) weight training, 2) endurance training, and 3) muscle development to our Kayenta friends and neighbors.”

Asked what he gets out of it, volunteer Aaron Martin puts it simply:

“Dirty clothes, a (temporarily) sore back, and a big smile on my face,” he is quoted saying on the nonprofit’s website.

There’s little doubt what Kayenta homeowners and outdoor enthusiasts get out of it. Beck said the group has amassed 2,750 volunteer hours over the past two years, clearing 22 large Kayenta properties and removing countless tamarisks affecting homes, washes and trails.

Warren said tamarisk removal springs a great deal of water savings.

“A good-sized tamarisk tree has the capacity to drink as much as 200 gallons day … and draw a huge amount of water away from native plants and the water table,” he said.

Removing tamarisks, Warren added, also heals the soil that can be fouled by the salt glands on the trees’ leaves that deposit salt on the surface of the ground and kill native plants and animals that feed on the flora.

As much as they don’t want to belabor the point, Warren and others want would-be volunteers to know the work is difficult and demanding.

Asked what he gets out of it, volunteer Aaron Martin puts it simply:

“Dirty clothes, a (temporarily) sore back, and a big smile on my face,” he is quoted saying on the nonprofit’s website.

Warren said tamarisk removal springs a great deal of water savings.

“A good-sized tamarisk tree has the capacity to drink as much as 200 gallons day … and draw a huge amount of water away from native plants and the water table,” he said.

Destroying trees, crafting art

After identifying a tamarisk-infested site, volunteers cut the trunks and treat the leftover stumps with an herbicide that kills the tree without putting wildlife in jeopardy. The small leftover debris is chipped and left on site, while most of the larger pieces are carted off to DPI’s storage corral for burning by Ivins or Washington County officials. Walters follows up by monitoring the eradication sites and stamping out any regrowth.

Some trunks from larger tamarisks, which can reach heights up to 25 feet, are donated to members of Southern Utah Woodturners, who craft platters and other decorative art out of the trees and sell them at Gallery 873 in Kayenta.

Part of the proceeds from the sale are donated to DPI, which uses the money to pay for tools, chemicals and other expenses.

For all that has been done, Warren said there’s much more to do.

“Someone recently asked, ‘What will happen when all of us old-timers die? We won’t have this job done,’ ” Warren recalled. “Well, my answer is that we’ll do what we can to build a healthy enough organization to generate even more interest and involvement to make a difference.”

For more information about the organization or to volunteer, email [email protected].

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When Dave Herrero came to Southern Utah to see tamarisk-removal efforts by the Desert Preservation Initiative, an Ivins-based nonprofit, he took one of the key steps to success in the world of nature conservation — learning from other groups with shared values and goals.

Salt Lake Tribune: Southern Utah Volunteers hellbent on heavenly quest to destroy devilish tamarisk trees

Ivins •

Avocation to obsession

Getting dirty, growing muscle

Destroying trees, crafting art

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