Project Summary:

Saltcedar, giant reed and yellow starthistle are exotic invasive plants that negatively affect several western states. They are known to out-compete beneficial vegetation, and often form dense monotypic stands. They provide poor habitat for other flora and fauna, are excessive water consumers, increase fire hazard, and alter ecosystems to further favor their growth and development over desirable species. The presence of these weeds threatens the economic viability of agriculture and the sustainability of many natural habitats. This consortium proposal seeks funding for research and demonstration activities to address the following tasks: 1) Development of new benefit/ risk evaluation methods for biological control agents used to combat invasive plant species in sensitive environments; 2) Area-wide and ecosystem level research on the impact of target weeds and optimizing the effects that biological and other integrated methods of control have on beneficial flora, fauna and physical aspects of the environment; and 3) Area-wide assessments of invasive species impact, implementation of biological control release and evaluation, natural enemy impact assessment, and evaluation of other weed control methods.This effort uses a team-approach that includes scientists, land managers, economists, and risk assessors from state, federal and private groups. The Consortium will provide expertise across disciplines, and methodologies from basic research to area-wide implementation and evaluation. The program will be managed using a combination of institutional planning, consortium oversight and Cooperative Extension facilitation of project deliverables. Overall, this project will develop control options for invasive plants that will be implemented on government, private and Native American lands.

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Section	Total # of Pages in Section	Page #
A. Application for Funding Cover Page (Form CSREES-661)	1
B. Table of Contents	1
C. Project Summary (Form CSREES-1232)	1
D. Response to Previous Review (for resubmitted proposals)	1
E. Project Description (see instructions for page limitations)      a. Introduction      b. Relevance and Significance      c. Approach      Task 1 - Risk/Benefit Assessment      Task 2 - Supporting Research on Invasive Species and their Control      Task 3 - Area-wide Management Page 5 images Figure 1a - An extensive saltcedar infestation at one of our release sites in Nevada; Figure 1b - Yellow starthistle in flower, note the spiny heads and imagine walking in the dense growth; Figure 1c - A small clump of giant reed growing next to yellow starthistle along Cache Creek in California; Figure 2 - Red areas indicate major saltcedar infestations in the Western US where it is estimated to have displaced over 1.2 million acres of native riparian forest; Figure 3 - The Saltcedar Consortium and its operational committees. Page 13 images   - Saltcedar study sites and biological release areas	20	1
F. Consortium Details and Evaluation	2	21
G. References to Project Description	2	23
H. Collaborative Arrangements (description and appropriate letters)	2	25
I. Time Committment of Principal Investigators, Vitae and Publication List(s)	16	27a-f
J. Conflict of Interest List(s)	6	28 a-f
K Budget (Form CSREES-55)	5	29a-e
L. Project Time Table	.5	29f
M. Budget Narrative	.5	29f
N. Current and Pending Support (Form CSREES-663)	6	30a-f
O. NEPA Documents	4	31
P. Appendix A . Saltcedar Consortium Members	10	A 1-10
R. Appendix B . Cache Creek Letters of Support	4	B 1-4
R. Appendix C . Cooperator Letters of Commitment	20	C 1-20