Española Valley, Rio Grande and Tributaries

Published Nov. 14, 2012

AUTHORIZATION: Flood Control Act 18 Aug 1941, Section 4, Public Law (PL) 228, 77th Congress, 1st Session, H.R. 4911.

TYPE OF PROJECT: Multipurpose project: ecosystem restoration and flood risk management with incidental recreation.

PROJECT PHASE: Feasibility.

NON-FEDERAL SPONSOR: Pueblos of Ohkay Owingeh, Santa Clara, and San Ildefonso.

BACKGROUND: The study area is located in southern Rio Arriba County and includes a small portion of northern Santa Fe County. Study area boundaries currently extend one mile east and west of the centerline of both the Rio Chama and Rio Grande from the northern border of Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo, through the Santa Clara Pueblo lands and to the southern border of San Ildefonso. The Rio Grande tributaries Santa Cruz River, Arroyo Guachupangue, Santa Clara Creek, and the Rio Pojoaque are also included in the study area.

 

City of Española lies within the study area and extends along both the east and west banks of the Rio Grande. Española is approximately 25 miles north-northwest of Santa Fe and 85 miles south of the New Mexico-Colorado border. The 2000 U.S. Census determined that 9,688 of Rio Arriba County's 41,190 people lived within Española.

 

DESCRIPTION: The pueblos of Ohkay Owingeh, Santa Clara and San Ildefonso, in partnership with USACE, are conducting this feasibility study to identify and define ecological degradation, flood risk management and incidental passive recreation resource problems and to develop solutions to rehabilitate the riparian environment, minimize flood risk, increasing human safety, and to improve passive recreation.

 

The primary problem is the severe degradation and loss of riparian habitat along the Rio Grande and its tributaries. The Rio Grande and the Rio Chama once flowed unchannelized and supported substantial growths of cottonwoods, willows, New Mexico olives, shrubs, and wetlands (bosque - the name for areas of gallery forest found along the flood plains of stream and river banks in the southwestern United States. It derives its name from the Spanish word for woodlands.). The Rio Grande and its tributaries carried sufficient water to support early irrigation projects through spring and monsoon season runoff. Increasing appropriation of surface water and groundwater to support expansion of agriculture and growing urban populations, as well as the construction of water and sediment retention projects, has resulted in the transformation of the Rio Grande and Rio Chama to rivers that are highly incised and no longer flood the riparian areas during spring runoff.

As a result of these changes, stands of healthy native riparian habitat, including wetlands, are rare and scattered in the study area. Loss of riparian habitat is extremely significant in the arid southwest..

 

STATUS: The Project is scheduled to complete and be submitted with recommendations to Congress in 2016.