Yampa River Leafy Spurge project wins new federal funding, reports large insect releases in 2024

Project leaders told the Moffat County Board of County Commissioners Tuesday that work to control leafy spurge along the Yampa River watershed continues and received a boost from new federal funding.

John Husband, a local weed-management representative, explained the Yampa River Leafy Spurge Project’s integrated-management efforts and said the project began in 2015. He and ecologist Tamara Nauman described mapping, outreach, educational work and volunteer collection and release efforts.

Emily Spencer of Dinosaur National Monument said the park secured an Inflation Reduction Act-funded grant that will support an "inundative biological control" program across the watershed. Spencer said the six-year grant is a little over $500,000 and will fund large-scale purchase and collection of biological control insects (beetles) for leafy spurge and Russian knapweed. She said project partners released about 183,000 insects in 2024 across private, state and federal lands.

Project volunteers and partners described a recent collection trip to Ashton, Idaho, where teams collected and passively sorted insects for transport and release in the Yampa watershed. The Friends of the Yampa have assumed a larger fiscal-agent role for the program and hired a conservation program manager to coordinate the effort.

The project aims to release 50,000–100,000 insects per year long term and to establish a local insect nursery to support ongoing releases. Presenters asked county officials to continue support; commissioners thanked the project team and noted the county’s consistent financial contributions since 2015.

No formal action was required beyond remarks and acknowledgments.