{"id":49666,"date":"2026-10-09T08:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T15:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/?p=49666"},"modified":"2026-10-09T08:32:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T15:32:13","slug":"tamarisk-beetle-biocontrol-program-falls-short","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/tamarisk-beetle-biocontrol-program-falls-short\/","title":{"rendered":"Tamarisk Beetle Biocontrol Program Falls Short\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>10.9.26<\/strong> \u2013 <strong><\/strong>Two decades ago, officials in Utah and Texas introduced Tamarisk Beetles to the environment as part of a biocontrol experiment meant to thin out the number of invasive tamarisk trees in their states. Today, those beetles have made a home for themselves along the Rio Grande in New Mexico. Freelance environmental journalist and NMiF Correspondent Elizabeth Miller takes us near La Joya, about an hour south of Albuquerque, to follow along with researchers who have been monitoring the beetles for years. This story comes courtesy, in part, of reporting Miller did for bioGraphic, an independent magazine that focuses on biodiversity and conservation around the world.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Correspondent:<\/strong>\u00a0Elizabeth Miller\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Producer:<\/strong>\u00a0Antonio Sanchez\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Camera:<\/strong>\u00a0<br>Jonah McDonald\u00a0<br>Roger Torres\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Guests:<\/strong>\u00a0<br>Kim Eichhorst, Program Director, Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program\u00a0<br>Matt Leister, Science Director, Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program\u00a0\u00a0<br>Matthew Johnson, Colorado Plateau Research Station Director\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>For More Information:<\/strong>\u00a0<br><a href=\"https:\/\/biographic.com\/the-trouble-with-tamarisk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>The Trouble with Tamarisk<\/em><\/a> &#8211; bioGraphic\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>10.9.26 \u2013 Two decades ago, officials in Utah and Texas introduced Tamarisk Beetles to the environment as part of a biocontrol experiment meant to thin out the number of invasive tamarisk trees in their states. Today, those beetles have made a home for themselves along the Rio Grande in New Mexico. Freelance environmental journalist and&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":49667,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5245],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nmif-segments"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Tamarisk Beetle Biocontrol Program Falls Short\u00a0 - New Mexico In Focus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/tamarisk-beetle-biocontrol-program-falls-short\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tamarisk Beetle Biocontrol Program Falls Short\u00a0 - New Mexico In Focus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"10.9.26 \u2013 Two decades ago, officials in Utah and Texas introduced Tamarisk Beetles to the environment as part of a biocontrol experiment meant to thin out the number of invasive tamarisk trees in their states. Today, those beetles have made a home for themselves along the Rio Grande in New Mexico. Freelance environmental journalist and&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/tamarisk-beetle-biocontrol-program-falls-short\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"New Mexico In Focus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-10-09T15:32:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-09T15:32:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Seg-4_Tamarisk-Beetles-1-1024x575.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"575\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Aubrie Moore\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Aubrie Moore\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newmexicopbs.org\\\/productions\\\/newmexicoinfocus\\\/tamarisk-beetle-biocontrol-program-falls-short\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newmexicopbs.org\\\/productions\\\/newmexicoinfocus\\\/tamarisk-beetle-biocontrol-program-falls-short\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Aubrie Moore\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newmexicopbs.org\\\/productions\\\/newmexicoinfocus\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ab2023a134cfe3cad4766a3da928535b\"},\"headline\":\"Tamarisk Beetle Biocontrol Program Falls Short\u00a0\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-09T15:32:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-09T15:32:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newmexicopbs.org\\\/productions\\\/newmexicoinfocus\\\/tamarisk-beetle-biocontrol-program-falls-short\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":156,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newmexicopbs.org\\\/productions\\\/newmexicoinfocus\\\/tamarisk-beetle-biocontrol-program-falls-short\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newmexicopbs.org\\\/productions\\\/newmexicoinfocus\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/10\\\/Seg-4_Tamarisk-Beetles-1.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Segments\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newmexicopbs.org\\\/productions\\\/newmexicoinfocus\\\/tamarisk-beetle-biocontrol-program-falls-short\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newmexicopbs.org\\\/productions\\\/newmexicoinfocus\\\/tamarisk-beetle-biocontrol-program-falls-short\\\/\",\"name\":\"Tamarisk Beetle Biocontrol Program Falls Short\u00a0 - 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