In 2016, to address flowering rush regionally, the Washington Invasive Species Council requested funding through a nationally competitive program administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. With this funding, it helped to coordinate the Columbia Basin Cooperative Weed Management Area.
This area seeks to work cooperatively and collaboratively to address cross-boundary invasive species issues focusing on flowering rush, in the Columbia River basin. The council held a regional flowering rush summit in Spokane in 2018 that brought together more than 90 participants from Columbia River basin states and provinces.
In addition to sharing best management practices, the forum participants developed an basin-scale action plan for addressing this species that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will implement with America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 funding. Flowering rush is a habitat issue on the Columbia River and is conducive to salmon predators, such as northern pike.
Learn more about the Columbia Basin Cooperative Weed Management Area.