Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Governor visits bosque restoration area

Jane Moorman News-Bulletin Staff Writer; jmoorman@news-bulletin.com

Los Lunas With 45,000 acres of bosque along the Rio Grande from Cochiti Lake to Elephant Butte Lake, there is a lot of restoration work facing the various agencies.

In Valencia County, that work has been led by the Valencia Soil and Water Conservation District until recently when the New Mexico Office of Natural Resources Trustee and the Mid-Region Council of Government joined in the task of clearing non-native vegetation from 70 acres of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District's land that lies between the levels.

Gov. Bill Richardson visited a site north of the Los Lunas river bridge Tuesday to celebrate the project, which was proclaimed a win-win situation by New Mexico Natural Resources Trustee Martin Heinrich, who also serves as president of the Albuquerque City Council.

"This work has two major benefits for the people of Los Lunas and for their environment," said Richardson. "By removing non-native, thirsty vegetation like salt cedar, we will save water, and this work will reduce wildfire danger. As we saw in Albuquerque a few years ago, the long-term build-up of bosque vegetation can create a tinderbox for fires. Clearing this non-native vegetation will keep the people of Los Lunas safer."

Heinrich added, "This is a win-win for all the agencies involved, but mostly for the citizens who will really benefit from this project. We're heading into what are shaping up to be some very dry months, and this is the kind of effort that could prevent a devastating fire from consuming one of our state's most precious natural resources — our bosque."

Stan Bulsterbaum, project coordinator, explained to the governor that mechanical extraction and on-site mulching of a variety of target plants includes removal of salt cedar, Russian olive, black or honey locust, mulberry, Siberian elm and tree of heaven.

The mulch material is being evenly distributed over the ground and may provide benefit to the soil conditions in the bosque.

"A healthy bosque has an envelope where the trees are not touching," Bulsterbaum said. "If a fire stays on the ground, it can be contained, but, if it gets into the envelope, it burns hotter and faster."

Subhas Shah, executive director of the MRGCD, explained that native cottonwoods and willows and selected trees will be left on site for wildlife habitat. "Some of the standing dead trees and rotting logs will be left in place, but not in concentrations that create fire hazards," he said.

Heinrich added that an avian biologist is being consulted to ensure that long-term habitats remain for the various wildlife that have nested in the bosque.

The project, which must be completed by April 15 in order to comply with the federal Migratory Bird Act to protect nesting birds during the summer months, is funded by Natural Resource Trust funds that were settlement payments by Spartan Inc. for illegal pollution of ground water.

"We have been able to fund 500 acres of bosque restoration with these funds," said Heinrich. "It seems appropriate to use these funds for restoration projects since such activities are preserving the ground water of the valley."

Of the 45,000 acres of bosque along the Rio Grande, MRGCD owns 20,000 acres. Non-native vegetation has been removed from approximately 8,000 acres of the bosque through various methods by different agencies.

As the first agency to coordinate restoration projects in Valencia County, the Valencia Soil and Water Conservation District (VSWCD) has cleared more than 100 acres in the southern part of the county.

"We have cleared land a mile-and-a-half north and south of the Belen river bridge and are completing an area around the Veguita Bridge," said Charlie Sanchez, chairman of the district's board.

VSWCD was mandated by the state legislature to conduct restoration projects. Sanchez said that he and the other board members were disappointed when the Mid-Region Council of Government was named fiscal agent for the latest project.

"It is hard for us to understand how an agency that is involved in the commuter rail, road expansion and other transportation projects is now in charge of bosque habitat restoration," Sanchez said. "Soil and water conservation districts are designed to preserve the open spaces of an area.

"Not only have we gone in and removed the non-native plants, but we've joined efforts with the Los Lunas Plant Material Center to develop a reforest plan that brings back many traditional plants, such as New Mexico olives and screw bean mesquite," Sanchez said.

"We also have a wildlife expert from New Mexico State University studying how much undergrowth needs to be left for the wildlife ecology," he said.

The Valencia Soil and Water Conservation District is responsible for 15 acres of the Los Lunas project. Because of the lateness of the project's coordination, Sanchez said the district will wait until fall to clear its portion.

"Because this is a critical habitat for the Southwest willow flycatcher, we must wait until it migrates in October and November," he said.

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