PASO DEL NORTE WATE SHED INTEGRATED IVER ESTORAT ON LAN DRAFT PROP SAL FOR LAN DEVELOPME T I Elephant Butte Dam- ------i : ' Sierra Co NeN MexIco RIO GRANDE, r ELEP-HANT BUTTE TO [JonnAr ~ Co tl w Me"co FORT QUITMAN EI Paso (,0 Texas .........:......,.,.:. cl 1..11.,(1 IIudspelh Co rexas Chihuahua MexIco ~ N ..... ~Miles o 4 8 16 24 32 40 Fort Quitman 11 August 2005 Paso del Norte Watershed Council 11 August 2005 CONTE TS INTRODUCTION ........................................... .. I The Paso del Norte Watershed Restoration Project Area. ............................... .. 1 What Have We Lost? :......................................... 1 Native Fishes. .............................................................. .. 3 Riparian and Wetland Habitats 5 Avifauna 8 Water Development Projects and Their Ecological Impacts 9 A PLAN FOR ACTION. ........................................................... .. II What Are the Benefits of Restoration? ............................................. .. II Why Develop a Plan? II STAKEHOLDERS 13 The Paso del Norte Watershed Council 13 PREVIOUS PLANNING EFFORTS 15 SCOPE OF WORK 16 Introduction .................................................................. .. 16 Existing Conditions ............................................................ .. 16 Description of Stressors 16 Restoration Goals 16 Identification and Prioritization of Strategies. ....................................... .. 18 Development of Restoration Tasks ................................................ .. 18 Time Line and Milestones. ...................................................... .. 18 Implementation and Administration 19 Literature Cited ............................................................... .. 19 Estimated Cost of Preparing the Plan .............................................. .. 19 LITERATURE CITED 20 DRAFT Proposal for Development of an Integrated RNer Restoralion Plan for the Rio Grande - Elephant Butte to Fort Quitman Page; 1I Augus/ 2005 TABLES Table I. Status of the native fish fauna in the project area 4 Table 2. Main-stem dams of the Rio Grande Project ...................................... .. 9 Table 3. Members of the Paso del Norte Watershed Council and other stakeholders 14 FIG ES Figure I. Location of the Paso del Norte Watershed Restoration Project Area 2 Figure 2. Flathead catfish is a large predator native to the Rio Grande ........................ .. 3 Figure 3. The canopy of mature cottonwood trees in a gallery forest along the Rio Grande. .. 5 Figure 4. Changes in vegetation of the Rio Grande floodplain in the Mesilla Valley, 1859 to 1999 7 Figure 5. Summer Tanager occurs in mature cottonwood forest 8 Figure 6. Elephant Butte Dam 10 Figure 7. Wetlands in the Rio Grande at the confluence of the Picacho Drain 12 Figure 8. Conceptual models of riparian vegetation patch dynamics 17 DRAFT Proposal (or Developmenl o( an Integra/ed River Restoration Plan for the Rio Grande - Elephant Bulte /0 Fori Qui/man Pageii Paso del Norte Watershed Council 11 August 2005 I RODUCT ON To look at the Rio Grande between Elephant Butte about 186 miles, including about 86 river miles in Dam and Fort Quitman today is to look at a New Mexico, mostly in Dona Ana County, and disabled ecosystem. Much like a person who has 100 ri ver miles in El Paso and Hudspeth counties, suffered terrible injury, the Rio Texas. The portion of the Rio Grande is in critical need of care Grande in Texas constitutes the and rehabilitation. The history of "Clearly we do love our international border with Mexico. great water bodies: We our relationship with the Rio flock to them to live, work, Grande has been a story of and to play. They are part What Have We Lost? maximizing its utility with little to ofour heritage, part ofour consciousness. Let us no regard for its intrinsic value. vow not to let their glory Knowledge of the ecological pass from this good Earth." However, we have grown culturally status of the Rio Grande in the to recognize the intrinsic value of William K. Reilly, Administrator of project area is essential to natural ecosystems, and it is not too the Environmental Protection Agency, 1990 understand the degree of late to focus our attention on the ecosystem degradation that has Rio Grande and begin maturing our occurred. I Without such relationship with it to one of knowledge, one may look at the enlightened respect and care. Rio Grande and think "its not that bad" or "its always been like this." The Paso del Norte Watershed Restoration Project Area But the Rio Grande hasn't always been like this. Consider just three features of the riverine This proposal addresses development of a ecosystem: the fish conununity, riparian and restoration plan for the Paso del Norte Watershed, wetland vegetation, and avifauna. which includes the segment of the Rio Grande extending from Elephant Butte Dam in Sierra County, New Mexico to Fort Quitman in I Discussion of the ecological status of the Rio Hudspeth County, Texas (Figure 1), hereinafter Grande from Elephant Butte Dam to Fort Quitman is not referred to as the project area or simply as the Rio intended to imply that restoration is defined by ecological authenticity alone. Rather, restoration, in the context of the Grande. This reach of the Rio Grande comprises Rio Grande, refers to balancing of ecosystem integrity with the instrumental value of the river. DRAFT Proposal (or Development ofan Integrated River Restoration Plan for the Rio Grande - Elephant Butte /0 Fort Quitman Page 1 Paso delNorte Watershed Council 11 August 2005 Figure I. Location of the Paso del Norte Watershed Restoration Project Area. The yellow-shaded area shows the boundaries of the watershed in the U.S. .. PASO DEL NORTE 'WATERSHED RESTORATION AREA DONA ANA CO EL PASO CO CHIHUAHUA MEXICO ,6 N ~Miles o 5 10 20 30 40 50 DRAFT Proposal for Development ofan Integrated River Restoration Plan for the Rio Grande - Elephant Butte to Fort QUitman Page 2 Paso del Norte Watershed Council 11 August 2005 Native Fishes The native fish fauna ofthe Rio umbrella species qualities of these fishes. Grande in the reach from Elephant Butte to Fort Flathead catfish exhibit large-scale movements on Quitman likely consisted of about 29 species a seasonal basis and require unfragmented big­ (Table 1). This diverse fish community included river habitats (e.g. Vokoun and Rabeni, 2005). species from 10 families. Included in the native Flathead catfish still occur in the project area but fish community of the Rio Grande were big-river are uncommon. The species persists in Elephant species such as shovelnose sturgeon, longnose Butte Reservoir, where the state record flathead gar, blue sucker, smallmouth buffalo, blue catfish, catfish, weighing 78 pounds, was caught in 1975. flathead catfish, and freshwater drum. These big-river fishes required the diversity of habitats provided by an unregulated, naturally­ functioning Rio Grande: deep pools, swift-flowing chutes, riffles, and quiet backwaters. The capability for these species to move throughout long stretches of the river to find preferred habitats was an essential feature for their survival, given the dynamic nature ofthe river channel and the natural variability in stream flows. In river ecosystems such as the Rio Grande, these big­ river fishes are akin to large mammals in terrestrial ecosystems, such as grizzly bear, and may aptly be considered umbrella species. Figure 2. Flathead catfish is a large predator native to the Rio Grande. It requires deep, quiet pool habitat and tolerates turbid water. For example, blue catfish are known to move seasonally to areas with suitable water temperature (Pflieger, 1975: 213), and shovelnose The native fish fauna also included a suite offive sturgeon, blue sucker, and freshwater drwn all minnow species (family Cyprinidae) adapted to exhibit spring movements or migrations to the main-channel habitats of the Rio Grande. spawning habitats (Lee et at., 1980: 396; Pflieger, These species included Rio Grande silvery 1975: 325; Smith, 1979: 13, 148). Flathead minnow, speckled chub, Rio Grande shiner, catfish exemplifies the habitat requirements of phantom shiner, and Rio Grande bluntnose shiner native big-river fishes in the Rio Grande and the (Table 1). DRAFT Proposal for Development of an Intagrated River Res/oration Plan for the Rio Grande - Elephant BuNe to Fort Quitman Page 3 W !ff. "".., ~\ Paso d.,Nod. Wa'e~hed Coun'" 11 August 2005 Table 1. Status of the native fish fauna in the Elephant Butte to Fort Quitman reach of the Rio Grande. A blank in the "Status" column indicates species that still occur in the river. The note (Caballo) in the "Status" column indicates that these species may persist only in Caballo Reservoir and no longer occur in the river. The note (Below El Paso) in the "Status" column indicates that these species are native to the reach of the Rio Grande downstream from El Paso. Sources are Lee et at. (1980), Miller (1977), Stotz (2000), and Sublette et al. (1990). COMMON NAME SCIENTIFIC NAME STATUS shovelnose sturgeon Scaphirhyncus platorhynchus Extirpated longn058 gar Lepisosteus ossaus Extirpated American eel Anguila rostrats Extirpated gizzard shad Dorosoma cepedianum Mexican tetra Astyanax mexicanus Extirpated red shiner Cyprlnella lutrensis roundnose minnow Dionda episcopa Extirpated Rio Grande chub Gila pandora Extirpated Rio Grande silvery minnow Hybognathus amarus Extirpated speckled chub Macrhybopsis 88stivalis Extirpated Rio Grande shiner Notropis jemezanus Extirpated phantom shiner Notropis orca Extinct Rio Grande