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Volunteers drive to Idaho to collect weed-fighting beetles

Tamara Naumann, left, a retired ecologist and member of the Yampa River Leafy Spurge Project, works with Dinosaur National Monument employee Juan Pablo Esparza-Limon to collect noxious weed suppression beetles in early July in Idaho.
Yampa River Leafy Spurge Project/Courtesy photo

As regional efforts continue to try to stem the spread of the invasive weed leafy spurge, especially between Hayden and Craig, a group of valley volunteers traveled to Idaho this summer to collect the tiny beetles than can reduce the noxious plants.

The bright greenish-yellow flowering leafy spurge forms dense patches along the Yampa River, in rights of way and on edges of hayfields.

“Leafy spurge is a significant problem in riparian areas along the Yampa River,” said Tamara Naumann, a retired ecologist and member of the Yampa River Leafy Spurge Project. “Mechanical treatments don’t kill it. Some herbicides work for a time but most cannot be used near the river. That is why biocontrol may be a good option for riparian environments.”



Volunteers and conservation professionals from the leafy spurge project are following the game plan of previous biocontrol beetle releases to fight invasive weeds. Biocontrol beetles have been used with success, for example, to suppress tamarisk, also known as saltcedar, along riverways of the West.

The project group received a huge boost earlier this year when Dinosaur National Monument officially secured funding from the Inflation Reduction Act for more than $500,000 to accelerate the goal of watershed-level suppression of leafy spurge.



“The objective of the funding is to establish our own robust insectaries of leafy spurge biocontrol insects here in Northwest Colorado for the long-term management of this priority riparian invasive plant,” said Emily Spencer, natural resource specialist at Dinosaur National Monument.

Organizers say once the beetles are well-established on a local area of public land sometime in the near future, then landowners and land managers will be able to collect some insects for free and release them on infested lands they own or manage throughout the Yampa River watershed.

Volunteer Jordan Beall holds a container of beetles collected in early July in Idaho that will help fight leafy spurge invasive weeds along the Yampa River.
Yampa River Leafy Spurge Project/Courtesy photo

“Leafy spurge must be mitigated proactively with every tool in the toolbelt from both an environmental and an agricultural perspective, as it alters riparian ecosystems by outcompeting native vegetation and because it is toxic to grazing livestock,” said Emily Burke, conservation program manager for nonprofit Friends of the Yampa.

In early July, 13 weed control advocates from the project group, national monument, Colorado Department of Agriculture, Friends of the Yampa and private landowners from Moffat County traveled to Ashton, Idaho, to catch, sort and transport leafy spurge beetles back to the Yampa River. Idaho already has a successful biocontrol program, so officials determined they have extra bugs available to share with other communities.

“We were out there with nets, capturing tens of thousands of flea beetles and longhorn beetles,” said Roddy Beall, restoration ecologist with Zenobia Consultants and a volunteer on the Idaho trip. “But then we had to sort through every single individual beetle, sucking them up with straws into little canisters, to make sure we didn’t transport any bycatch.”

After two days in Idaho, the volunteers returned home as quickly as possible to the Yampa River with large coolers holding 72,500 beetles. They fanned out from Hayden to Dinosaur National Monument to release the weed-eating bugs.

Routt County resident and Yampa River Leafy Spurge Project working group member Ben Beall looks for biocontrol insects in a patch of invasive leafy spurge noxious weeds on June 30, 2023, along the Yampa River between Hayden and Craig.
Suzie Romig/Steamboat Pilot & Today

“The beetle larvae feed on the roots of leafy spurge,” Naumann explained. “This predation suppresses flowering and seed production, which is absolutely necessary to stop the spread of leafy spurge.”

Biocontrol beetles have been released in Routt and Moffat counties for 30 years in small numbers, and the volunteer group has been releasing biocontrol beetles since 2019. Organizers say this summer’s work is the largest single effort to date.

More volunteers are encouraged to help the project. Information is available at YampaRiverLeafySpurgeProject.com. Land owners who have leafy spurge on their property along the Yampa River or tributaries are encouraged to reach out to the group via emily@friendsoftheyampa.com.

Dinosaur National Monument employee Jenny Paulson collects beetles in a patch of leafy spurge invasive weeds in July in Idaho.
Yampa River Leafy Spurge Project/Courtesy photo
Volunteers Roddy and Jordan Beall use aspirators to sort collected beetles in July in Idaho.
Yampa Valley Leafy Spurge Project/Courtesy photo

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