One of the initial management goals of the Coalition was to increase cooperation on mapping efforts. Over a one-and-a-half-year period, Kelly Sharp (MidDakota Vegetation Management; Miller, SD) assisted the Coalition with the creation of a Current Extent of the Problem map (top right) that includes major rivers, key reservoirs, state boundaries, and estimated acreage of saltcedar by county. He developed a data-entry sheet and a web-accessible downloading system, which documents: State, County, and estimated saltcedar acreage, or 0 for absent, or -1 for no data.

The state of Colorado joined this project in late 2007. Getting counties to share their updated data, and thus allowing for the completion of the map, has been a slow process. In response, the Coalition asked CIPM to assist with the coordination of MRWC mapping efforts in 2008.

The Mapping Workgroup met in conjunction with the Fall 2008 MRWC meeting in Billings, MT with two outcomes: (1) CIPM contracted with JHS, Inc. of Helena, MT to complete Montana’s saltcedar mapping effort; and (2) CIPM was to work closely with Kelly Sharp and JHS, Inc. to complete the six-state, saltcedar map for MRWC outreach purposes and publications.

The outreach map (middle right) was completed in February 2009 and has been used for MRWC outreach purposes and publications. Future MRWC mapping efforts will expand on the saltcedar mapping effort to include additional invasive plant species (in particular, additional aquatic plant species) and inventories and surveys.