Yampa River leafy spurge project loses federal funding; partners ask Moffat County for flexible use of $1,000 and advocacy

Presenters on Tuesday told the Moffat County Board of Commissioners that a planned boost to the Yampa River leafy spurge eradication effort has been paused after a federal funding award to Dinosaur National Monument was frozen, and they asked the county to allow more flexibility in $1,000 the county contributed this year and to help advocate for reinstating the funds.

John Husband, a local project participant, introduced a team that included Tamara Nauman (formerly with the National Park Service and identified in the meeting as a scientist and botanist), Ben Bell, Jesse (first name only in the record), and Emily Burke, conservation director for Friends of the Yampa. Emily Burke told commissioners the collaborative Yampa River Leafy Spurge Project has worked for about 10 years using integrated management, notably inundative biological control — collecting and releasing beetles that…