Desired Future Conditions for Southwestern Riparian Ecosystems

Human impacts on riparian ecosystems of the Middle Rio Grande Valley during historic times Frank E. Wozniak’ Abstract.-The development of irrigation agriculture in historic times has profoundly impacted riparian ecosystems in the Middle Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico. A vital relationship has existed between water resources and settlement in the semi-arid Southwest since prehistoric times. Levels of technology have influenced human generated changes in the riparian ecosystems of the Middle Rio Grande Valley. The relationship of humans with the riparian levels of technology have been broadly defined but ecosystems of the Middle Rio Grande Valley has specifics have yet to be developed by researchers. been and is complex. The foundations for an These elements should include the introduction of understanding of historic human land uses are to intensive irrigation agriculture by the Spanish in be found in environmental, cultural, political and the 17th century and building of railroads by the socio-economic factors and processes. The relation- Anglo-Americans in the 19th century as well as the ship of humans with the land is based on and impacts of the introductions of plants and animals regulated by resource availability, environmental by the Euro-Americans throughout the last 450 conditions, levels of technological knowledge, years. political and socio-economic structures and cul- In this paper, we will look at the development of tural values regarding land and water and their irrigation agriculture and its impacts on riparian uses. ecosystems in the Middle Rio Grande Valley of During historic times, the riparian resources of New Mexico during historic times (e.g. after A.D. the Middle Rio Grande Valley have been utilized A vital relationship has existed between by three groups: American Indian, Hispanic and water resources and settlement in the semi-arid Anglo-American. While some studies of cultural Southwest since prehistoric times (Wozniak 1987). values regarding land and water do exist, these Levels of technology have profoundly influenced studies have tended to be simplistic. Studies of human impacts on and human generated changes cultural values that do not romanticize certain in riparian ecosystems of the Middle Rio Grande groups and others are a fundamental Valley. At the most simple level, the differences foundation of any understanding of the relation- between stone tool and metal tool based subsis- ship between humans and riparian ecosystems. tence systems are quite significant. This does not The levels of technological knowledge available mean that stone tool technologies would not and and utilized within the Middle Rio Grande Valley did not enable humans to alter ecosystems. The have profoundly influenced human impacts on stone tool technologies of prehistoric Indian riparian ecosystems. The outlines of these varying populations in the Middle Rio Grande Valley did have significant impacts on ecosystems throughout New Mexico. Major transformations in Indian Historian and consultant to the Forest Service, Southwestern impacts did develop as a result of the introduction Regional Office, Albuquerque, NM. of metal tools by Euro-Americans in the late 16th 33 century. With metal tool based technologies, In the Middle Rio Grande Valley, the Anasazi Indian impacts on riparian ecosystems of the developed a successful and diversified subsistence Middle Rio Grande Valley were intensified. The strategy that combined floodwater farming with overall human impacts on these riparian ecosys- hunting and gathering. As a result, they avoided tems were expanded by direct Euro-American the problems inherent in farming on the Rio utilizations of the Middle Rio Grande Valley in the Grande floodplain floods, salinization, dense 17th and 18th centuries. vegetation, disease and Anasazi stone tool With the Spanish colonization of New Mexico in technology was adopted to sandy soils for flood- 1598 came the introduction of intensive irrigation water farming not to irrigation agriculture in agriculture into New Mexico. What is surprising heavy bottomland soils. about irrigation agriculture in the Rio Grande In late 1540, the Coronado Expedition reached Valley is its relative rarity among the Pueblo the Tiquex province that covered most of the Indians before Spanish settlement (Wozniak 1987). present Middle Rio Grande Valley. The contempo- A common assumption exists about irrigation and rary accounts of the Coronado Expedition the prehistoric Pueblo Indians in New Mexico (Hammond and Rey 1940) do not report any which is found in virtually all popular discussions irrigation agriculture being practiced by any of and most scholarly studies on the Pueblo Indi- Pueblo Indians. The expedition narratives did ans, namely that all Pueblo groups in the Rio report irrigation systems among the Indians of Grande Valley engaged in irrigation agriculture in Sonora but none in New Mexico (Riley 1987). prehistoric times and that the Coronado Expedi- Records from late 16th century Spanish expedition of 1540-1542 found the Pueblo Indians en- tions into New Mexico reported that irrigation gaged in the extensive practice of irrigation agri- agriculture was practiced by some Pueblo Indian culture. Neither of these assumptions is accurate communities in some parts of New Mexico and neither is founded on any scientific or docu- (Hammond and Rey 1966). The Rodriquez mentary evidence. Recently, a few researchers Chamuscado expedition of 1581 reported a Pueblo (Cordelll979; Earls 1985; Wozniak 1987) have Indian irrigation system in the lower portion of expressed reservations with regard to the preva- Las Huertas Creek near its confluence with the Rio lent notion that the Pueblo Indians were ancient Grande; Las Huertas Creek was a perennial stream irrigators in the Rio Grande Valley. until developments in the early 20th century. The The Anasazi, who were the prehistoric ancestors accounts of the Espejo expedition of 1582-1583 of the Pueblo Indians, invested considerable reported irrigation in the Piro provenience (near energy in soil and moisture conservation facilities on the sandy bottomlands with water such as check dams, terraces and grid gardens. In being taken from side channels of the Rio Grande their subsistence strategies, the Anasazi engaged (Earls 1985). The Espejo expedition narratives also primarily in extensive agricultural systems based reported irrigation along the Rio San Jose near on ak-chin or floodwater farming. In looking at Pueblo and along Nutrias Creek at Zuni Anasazi agriculture, it is important to distinguish Pueblo. In the late 16th century, some Pueblos between water conservation systems and water engaged in some irrigation agriculture but flood- diversion systems-only the latter are irrigation. water and other forms of farming were the A review of the archeological record for the Rio exclusive form of agriculture among most Grande Valley of New Mexico shows considerable groups and a major component among evidence of a variety of water and soil conserva- those few Pueblos who used some form of irrigation features and of floodwater farming systems. tion (Wozniak 1987). The agricultural commitment However, there is no archeological evidence of any of the Pueblo Indians in the 16th century was to prehistoric irrigation features or irrigation systems extensive floodwater farming systems and other in the Rio Grande Valley. As an aside, it should be strategies of water and soil conservation. The onset noted that the Hohokam in central and southern of Spanish settlement changed this. One of the first Arizona did engage in substantial amounts of recorded activities of Spanish settlers in 1598 was irrigation agriculture which is documented in the the construction with Indian labor of an acequia archeological record. (irrigation ditch) near San Juan Pueblo to provide 34 water for irrigation agriculture (Hammond and that the Spaniards could obtain their customary Rey 1953). foodstuffs even in New Mexico. At least part of the When the Spanish settled in New Mexico at the tribute that the Spanish regime required from the end of the 16th century, they brought with them Puebloans was exacted in the form of wheat, so the new technologies and a variety of new domesti- Indians had to irrigate in order to meet these cated plants and animals. These introduced species demands. Other tribute demands for foodstuffs along with the new political, socio-economic and would also push the Puebloans toward intensive ideological structures which were imposed by the (i.e., irrigation) agriculture during the seventeenth Spanish significantly altered diets, century, with considerable disruptive conse- economic structures and land use patterns. quences for society in New Mexico. Given the vital relationship between water and Irrigation agriculture produced ever expanding settlement in all semi-arid environments of the impacts on riparian ecosystems as the bosques North American West, including New Mexico, it is were cut down to expand the field systems. not surprising that the Spanish of the During the seventeenth century, the Spanish and 19th centuries gravitated to the Rio Grande settlers in New Mexico survived on tribute in food Valley and its tributaries. Spanish settlement and labor collected from the Puebloans under the depended upon irrigation agriculture for its eco- and systems (Scholes 1937, nomic base and, therefore, for its survival. Spanish 1940). The Spanish missions or reducciones concen- missionaries and Spanish government officials trated populations

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