salt cedar - building material

The invasive species Salt Cedar, has proliferated through large portions of the Big Bend area (where the Rio Conchos joins the Rio Grande), and is known to consume large quantities of water. One monoculture of Salt Cedar is believed to have choked 150 miles of the river corridor downstream of El Paso/Ciudad Juarez and may be the most extensive infestation of this species in the world.

source: Rio Grande: Threat of Water Extraction


WWF sponsors to get rid of salt cedar:
Our community-based work joins WWF with indigenous communities as well as small, with self-governing communal land organizations. Moving down stream, WWF is developing a payment scheme for downstream water users who would pay for better upstream watershed management. Along the mainstem, we are working with commercial agriculture interests to develop water conservation techniques for cotton, pecan and chili pepper production.

source: Rio Grande - Rio Bravo: Solutions



 salt cedar is on the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) invasive species list

Salt cedar, Tamarix spp., invading riparian areas in the

United States (Photo: Bugwood.org/1624021/S. Dewey)