A monthly series of articles by specialists at the University of Nebraska Panhandle Research and Extension Center about issues of importance

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October's Topics:

• Adult involvement prevents youth violence
• Finding and controlling saltcedar

Creating safe and healthy kids – adults need to get involved

Do race, income, gender and family structure increase the risk of school violence?
In the recent past, those things were strongly associated with an increased risk of violence in schools, but the National Longitudinal Study for Adolescent Health recently found stronger explanations for youth risk behaviors. That study indicated that 20 to 50 percent of all high-risk behaviors among the youth studied were linked to poor academic performance, unstructured free time, and association with friends who engage in risky behaviors. Additional school, community and family factors are also indicated on the website of The Prevention Institute at www.preventioninstitute.org/schoolviol4.html.

While school violence is a hot topic this October, the safety and health of children and teens is on the minds of many. Healthy Kids: Creating Safe Communities and Schools is the theme for National Health Education Week celebrated October 16-20, 2006. Children, Youth and Families Education and Research Network (CYFERnet) has a page on their website listing several articles about preventing youth violence. The web page is found at www.cyfernet.org/hottopic/october06.html.

Teens naturally make more of their own decisions than younger children as they mature. Some of those decisions have life-altering consequences. Decision making, actions and taking responsibility are important for teens to develop autonomy, according to Jamie Goffena, University of Nebraska Extension Health Educator. Parents and teachers can help teens make wise decisions by pointing out the possible consequences of their decisions, listening, and setting consistent limits on behavioral expectations, Goffena said.

Goffena recommends the NebGuide, Development of Autonomy in Adolescence for more information on how adults can help youth develop skills for managing their own lives. This NebGuide and other publications about adolescents can be found at www.extension.unl.edu/publications by clicking on the “Families” button. Health education that focuses on healthy choices beginning when children are young also helps youth develop autonomy. Parents, schools, youth and communities working together can increase health education awareness and decrease risky behaviors such as violence in schools. The National Center for Health Education was created to do just that, and provides information for forming health coalitions. It also lists several health related articles and school health curriculums on their website at www.nche.org.

Whether it is bullying or shooting, violence can be prevented or reduced when adults get involved with kids. Adults can volunteer at a local school, as a 4-H leader or befriending a neighbor’s child.

“Celebrate National Health Education Week and create a safe community and school by helping kids be healthy,” Goffena said. “Get involved for our kids safety.”

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Finding and controlling saltcedar

Fall is a good time for landowners to scout their property along creeks and rivers for an invasive species of plants that deprives the North Platte River of thousands of acre-feet of water every year.

Saltcedar is the newest plant declared by Nebraska law as a noxious weed. A recent aerial mapping project by the University of Nebraska found that saltcedar infests 4,855 acres along the North Platte River, or 2 percent of the total land area. Fall is the time when landowners are more likely to spot saltcedar because this is when many people spend time outdoors along rivers and streams, engaged in hunting or other activities. Fall is also when saltcedar stands out from other plants. Its leaves turn golden yellow, a contrast to the dull brown autumn color of willows, another common streamside plant.
In the United States, saltcedar is estimated to infest more than 1 million acres. In Nebraska, saltcedar infestations are found along the North Platte, Republican, Niobrara and Missouri river drainages.

In the North Platte Basin, the extent of saltcedar infestation was surveyed and reported by Robert Wilson, Weed Specialist at the University of Nebraska Panhandle Research and Extension Center and Sunil Narumalani and Deepak Mishra, both of the UNL School of Natural Resources. A June 2005 flyover produced aerial photographs of the river corridor approximately 1 mile wide and 160 miles long, from the Nebraska-Wyoming border to Kingsley Dam. In addition to the 4,855 acres of saltcedar, the aerial photos identified 3,653 acres infested by Russian olive and 4,927 acres infested by Canada and musk thistle. If the acreage infested by saltcedar and Russian olive were replaced by grass, the increased water flow in the North Platte River would equal 25,000 acre-feet of water per year, the researchers found.

Once established, saltcedar can have several types of harmful impacts:

• It can increase soil salinity, reducing productivity of native plants and resulting in the loss of natural habitat.
• Depending on its density, saltcedar can utilize soil water to such an extent that it may dry up streams, and reduce water levels of rivers and lakes.
• As saltcedar plants mature in late summer, leaves and branches dry, increasing the risk of wild fires.
• Dense stands of saltcedar can increase the chance of flooding during high-intensity rainfall by impeding stream flow.

Saltcedar is thought to have been brought into the United States from southeastern Europe and eastern Asia in the mid 1800’s for use as a landscape plant, in wind breaks, or for stabilizing stream banks. Saltcedar can extract water deeper in the soil than willows and cottonwoods, giving it a competitive advantage. A mature plant can utilize up to 200 gallons of water per day. One acre of saltcedar infested river bank has been estimated to utilize between 4 to 9 acre feet of water per year.

Saltcedar is easily identified in mid summer during the flowering period. The tree will be covered with pinkish to white flowers in clusters 1 to 1.5 inches long and will stand out compared to other trees and shrubs. Saltcedar has alternate pale green leaves that are less than 1/16 inch long and appear scalelike. The leaves turn yellow in the fall and drop to the soil surface during winter. The branches are reddish brown, but may turn white when coated with salt deposits.

Landowners who find saltcedar infestations on their property can get recommendations for control by consulting the Nebraska Guide for Weed Management, available at local University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension Offices.

A new Extension Circular written by Extension Weed Specialists Robert Wilson and Stevan Knezevic is scheduled to be published soon. It will feature descriptions and photos to help identify saltcedar, as well as detailed recommendations for control of this invasive plant.

The Extension Circular contains these recommendations and observations about controlling saltcedar:

• Controlling saltcedar is difficult using a single control method. However, herbicides seem essential and the best option for control.
• Implementing mechanical, cultural, and biological methods in a systematic manner will help achieve significant advances in saltcedar control.
• Develop a site specific control program and adhere to it. Persistence is the key to a successful control program.
• Recheck treated areas regularly for the appearance of new seedlings and resprouting plants.
• Plan to introduce desirable competitive plant species into treated areas to provide ground cover as saltcedar is controlled. Otherwise different noxious or invasive weeds may infest the land if left to re-vegetate on its own.
  

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