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 feed on leafy spurge — and public outreach such as river “Show Me Floats.”

Burke said the project collected almost 90,000 beetles in 2024 and planned to collect and purchase at least 50,000 insects in 2025, with a substantial portion of staff time and travel covered by nearly $540,000 Dinosaur National Monument received through the Inflation Reduction Act. She told the commissioners that, as of about a month before the meeting, that funding had been frozen. As a result, Dinosaur National Monument staff cannot travel on river releases under current restrictions and the project lacks funding for staff time, seasonal hires, and travel costs tied to an Idaho beetle-collection trip and river releases.

"We don't have any funding for staff time and travel," Burke said during her presentation, describing how the freeze affects the ability to collect and release insects in parts of Dinosaur National Monument that are accessible only by river.

Presenters outlined a smaller, volunteer-supported version of the Idaho trip this year if volunteers can cover their own travel and lodging. They said youth outreach events are likely to be curtailed and that Dinosaur staff and Friends of the Yampa involvement will be reduced without restored funding. Project partners asked Moffat County to allow the county’s $1,000 contribution — not previously earmarked to a specific line item — to be used flexibly for project management and continuity, and they asked commissioners to join Routt County in a joint letter advocating for reinstatement of the frozen IRA funds.

Commissioners thanked the presenters, and one commissioner said the county had already received a letter from a commissioner in a neighboring county and indicated support for signing on to advocacy. Presenters emphasized the project’s earlier reliance on county-level weed-management roles (noting county responsibility by state statute) and past smaller Colorado Department of Agriculture grants that helped start the effort.

Project partners said volunteer labor has been essential and that dedicating some paid staff time would help sustain the project as older volunteers become less able to manage labor-intensive work. The presenters said the Noxious Weed Advisory Committee will join a Show Me Float on June 12, and that the committee is meeting in Craig around the same time. The presenters closed by asking commissioners to allow flexible use of Moffat County’s contribution and to help advocate to restore Dinosaur National Monument IRA funding.

The board did not take a formal vote on additional funding at the meeting; presenters requested flexibility on the existing county contribution and asked for advocacy support.