As the tamarisk beetle released near Moab has left dead and dying tamarisk bushes in its wake, the Bureau of Land Management, working with the Southeast Utah Tamarisk Partnership, has removed many of the trees to reduce the fuel load. "This winter we treated a lot of those campgrounds, and some of them that were 100 percent tamarisk cover are now clear cut," BLM Fuels Program Manager Brian Keating said. That has left the once heavily-vegetated Goose Island campground looking a little barren, especially in this winter shot, but Keating said the next step will be to encourage native species including willow and cottonwood, which would return shade and privacy to the campsites.
