http://knau.org en http://knau.org/post/earth-notes-restoring-watershed-one-russian-olive-time <p>Those who have bloodied hands or arms on the inch-long thorns of a Russian olive, or dulled a chainsaw on its dense wood, know that it takes determination and brute force to clear away these tough nonnative trees. Since 2000, this formidable task has been underway along the Escalante River in southern Utah.</p><p>Introduced in the 1940s to combat soil erosion, Russian olives took to the Colorado Plateau with gusto. They have crowded out native willows and cottonwoods, forming virtually impenetrable thickets along hundreds of miles of washes and river bottoms.</p> Wed, 18 Apr 2012 11:00:00 +0000 Alexandra Murphy 12430 at http://knau.org Earth Notes: Restoring a Watershed, One Russian Olive at a Time