Nature and Society Relations Commons^™

Weedy Relations: Narratives Of Invasion And Intimacy With Tamarisk In The Chihuahuan Desert, Shannon S. Pepper

Geography ETDs

Tamarix spp., also known as salt cedar or tamarisk, is a shrub that has garnered a notorious reputation in North America as an invasive plant, with widespread policy and research advocating for its eradication in the Southwest U.S. and Northern Mexico. This study examines both governmental conservation documents and news articles to investigate narrative trends on tamarisk in the Southwestern U.S. and Northern Mexico as a contiguous region (the Chihuahuan Desert), expanding on current research to include transborder effects on the perception and management of introduced species. This paper asks: In the last 25 years, how has the movement, …