View from the old U.S. 80 Bridge by junge1

Photography • Landscape • posted on Feb 04, 2011

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Description

The view from the bridge is downstream toward the southwest and shows the Gila River floodplain mostly overgrown with Salt Cedar. Salt Cedar, also known as Tamarisk, is native to Eurasia. Salt Cedar was introduced to the United States in the early 19th century as an ornamental plant. Here in the American Southwest it was used to stop riverbank erosion and also as windbreaks. The Salt Cedar species here in the Southwest are spreading shrubs or small deciduous trees, 5 to 20-ft tall. It is an aggressive invasive plant and often forms monotypic stands, replacing willows, cottonwoods and other native riparian vegetation. Salt Cedar infestations also have detrimental impacts on wildlife, because their seeds have almost no protein and are too small to be eaten by most animals. A single, large Salt Cedar plant can use as much as 200 gallons of water a day. Because Salt Cedars are phreatophytes (having a deep root system) they can tab into subsurface and/or groundwater tables and can dry up rivers and/or lakes. This picture was taken on 29 January 2011, Sig....

Comments (29)

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MagikUnicorn

5:22PM | Fri, 04 February 2011

Love it...Thanks

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kftate

5:27PM | Fri, 04 February 2011

Great capture and info! Being from New Mexico, I'm VERY familiar with salt cedar. It makes my allergies go crazy every year besides soaking up lots of water. lol.

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annie5

6:14PM | Fri, 04 February 2011

Love the calm of this one! Excellent view & capture :)

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npauling

6:27PM | Fri, 04 February 2011

A lovely capture from this bridge and it is a shame this salt cedar is such a problem. The Tamarisk here has lovely pink flowers and is used as an ornamental tree.

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auntietk

8:28PM | Fri, 04 February 2011

I always hate to hear about an introduced, invasive species. The view is great, though. Are those herons in the river? They make the shot something extra special!

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Minda

8:44PM | Fri, 04 February 2011

excellent capture and great info sig....Have a Nice weekend..

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junge1

8:44PM | Fri, 04 February 2011

@auntietk. Yes Tara. If I had panned out a little more there were dozens standing in the water and sitting on the west end (left side0 of gillespie dam.a

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jocko500

8:57PM | Fri, 04 February 2011

they are hard to get rid of . we call them Tamarisk. a man told me you have to dig into the ground and cut at the root system, then use some oil paint to paint what is left of the roots and then cover the roots with dirt. You may have kill it but if you miss one it will grow back

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