This page is intentionally blank. This page is intentionally blank. COCHIT1 LAKE SANDOVAL N Cochiti Pueblo– r., r -- COUNTY 1 4 ,, 1 c....., ' , N.....to " 41C° °4111 DAll Do Pueblo-1 41-4. Santa I – MO 1 san t -- T -J Pueblo I elope: I SANTA j 1 Puebloir _ ; F E JEMEZ CANYON ,,6=Elio liC O U N T Y Zrueblo .... BERN ILLO I , 1 Location Map AlbuqUerque 1 e I COUNTY 1 I II LsIeta Pueblo 1 i VALENCIA Los Lunas COUNTY I I I _ - 7 SOCORRO COUNTY – – –7 DItAPAO-IE NWR / / / / 1.i V / O 10 20 30 40 rn1 F I I San Martial 1 1 o 20 40 601cm ELEPHANT BUTTE ItSERVOIR Frontispiece: Middle Rio Grande, New Mexico, between Cochiti Lake and Elephant Butte Reservoir MIDDLE RIO GRANDE ECOSYSTEM: BOSQUE BIOLOGICAL MANAGEMENT PLAN October 1993 AUTHORS: Clifford S. Crawford Anne C. Cully Rob Leutheuser Mark S. Sifuentes Larry H. White James P. Wilber TECHNICAL COORDINATOR: Rayann E. Robino Middle Rio Grande Biological Interagency Team: Clifford S. Crawford, University of New Mexico, Team Leader Anne C. Cully, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Rob Leutheuser, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Mark S. Sifuentes, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Adjunct Team Member: James E. Knight, New Mexico State University This page is intentionally blank. PREFACE This Middle Rio Grande Ecosystem: Bosque Biological Management Plan was developed to bring change to the way the biological resources of the riparian ecosystem, from Cochiti Dam to San Marcial, New Mexico, are managed. More specifically, it was our charge to do this "as a first step toward restoring the Bosque's health," as directed by the Rio Grande Bosque Conservation Committee that created our team in 1992. Appendix I gives the background for our work. The plan is directed to agency monngers, scientists, land and water users, conservationists, and just about anyone in the Middle Rio Grande Valley concerned with the way the ecosystem seems to work and might best be managed. It covers a lot of ground: history, existing conditions, the future, and a series of specific recommendations for management—plus some thoughts on the kind of collaborative structure that could do the job and keep this plan alive through the years. As written, the document is much too long to read at one sitting. We recommend, instead, that you first spend a little time with the Executive Summary. Appendix I provides the broadest context for the plan and should also be consulted before moving into the body of the document. Then look at the Table of Contents to get an idea of the plan's specific coverage. If you are a manager, you might wish to go straight to the Recommendations and to focus on only one or a few of them. Or, if you have the time and inclination, you may actually want to start at the beginning and slowly read all the way through. We sincerely hope that the plan will set the stage for a new era in Rio Grande management. We recognize that its implementation will not be easy and that it is sure to undergo changes before much time has passed. But change is what the plan is all about. Biological Interagency Team Middle Rio Grande Ecosystem: Bosque Biological Management Plan U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service P.O. Box 1306 Albuquerque, New Mexico 87103 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We did not write this plan in a vacuum. In fact, we could not have done it at all without the enormous support we got from so many people that we had to list their names in Appendix II. We are deeply grateful to each of them. We also owe much to our employing organizations, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and University of New Mexico; they gave us time and free rein to incorporate statements with which they might not always officially agree. Two individuals must be singled out for their special roles in the creation of the plan. Senator Pete Domenici, in a most bipartisan and supportive way, made the plan, and the entire "Bosque Initiative" that fostered it, possible. Bill deBuys, whose organizational skills and deep enthusiasm for the initiative and the plan never flagged, gave us direction without pressure. This project was made possible by Congressional funding through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 2, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Albuquerque District. John Peterson of the Fish and Wildlife Service handled cooperative agreements and financial matters, assisted by the Ecological Services staff at Region 2 and the New Mexico Field Office. While at Refuge Operations in Region 2, Nita Fuller acted as liaison between the Service, the team, and the Rio Grande Bosque Citizen's Conservation Committee. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Ecology Research Center, at Fort Collins, Colorado, provided background material, developed Geographic Information System data bases for our use, and provided thoughtful assistance throughout the writing of the plan. We thank Lee Ischinger, James Roelle, Barbara White, Robert Waltermire, Diane Schneider, Jan Hart, Dale Crawford, and many others at NERC for their help. Through the cooperation of the Department of Biology and the Museum of Southwestern Biology at the University of New Mexico, and the National Ecology Research Center, Albuquerque Field Station, the team had office space and access to telephones and facsimile and photocopymg machines. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Denver Office, provided maps of the Middle Rio Grande for our use. Don Alberts, Albuquerque Office, provided editorial assistance with the final manuscript. We thank Karl Wood, New Mexico State University, for assisting with information about livestock grazing. Illustrations, figures, and maps were provided by Beth Dennis and Aimee Reese, Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, and by William J. Underwood. John M Mahoney and Stewart B. Rood, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, and James R Creitz, Jr , of the American Fisheries Society Publication Department, Bethesda, Maryland, kindly gave their permission for us to use Figs. IV.17 and N.23, respectively, taken from their publications. Rayann Robino is acknowledged on the title page for her technical and editorial skills; she should also be recognized for her reliable, quick, and patient administrative assistance to the rest of the team, so that we could continue with the business of writing. Although Rayann changed jobs while the plan was being written, her new employers at Refuge Operations, Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 2, allowed her to continue working on the plan through its completion. Without her superb assistance, the plan would never have been completed within the allotted time. The Authors vi EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INTRODUCTION New Mexico's Rio Grande and its riparian forest, the "bosque," were for centuries central to the region's culture and development. Now, despite their importance in the past, the river and the bosque are being impacted by the effects of management and development accommodating needs of the region's growing human population. As a result, some of the last great cottonwood stands, trees that are the integral components of native biological communities, are now confined to the banks of a highly controlled and physically altered river. River dynamics on which the native communities depend have been changed so much that these communities are no longer able to sustain themselves. Compounding the problem are introduced species such as salt cedar and Russian olive that are steadily replacing the aging native trees. Other factors, including a managed water table level in the floodplain, a reduced amount of wetlands, and a fragmented bosque, have also disrupted the original dynamics of the river and the riparian zone. Clearly the ecosystem is stressed. The Bosque Biological Management Plan was created to mitigate that stress in the Middle Rio Grande Valley from Cochiti Dam to San Marcial and to send a message to resource managers and decisionmakers that a new approach is needed. The plan's purpose is to determine conditions and to recommend action that will sustain and enhance the biological quality and ecosystem integrity of the Middle Rio Grande bosque, together with the river and floodplain that it integrates. Here, the term "biological quality" refers to the diversity and abundance of native species in particular, coupled with the environments and ecological processes that support them. "Ecosystem integrity" refers to the capacity of the ecosystem to return to an organizing, self- correcting state following major disturbance. The preparation of this plan was proposed by the Rio Grande Bosque Conservation Committee, a citizen's group formed by Senator Pete Domenici (New Mexico) to examine the bosque' s problems, to solicit public involvement, and to recommend the means for its protection and the continuation of its benefits to human society. An interagency team of biologists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and the University of New Mexico was appointed to develop the plan in consultation with scientists, historians, and other experts on the Middle Rio Grande Valley. The first draft was reviewed by these technical experts. A second draft was sent to a broader audience concerned with managing the ecosystem. The plan's goals are as follows. (1) Synthesize past and present available information about the ecosystem. (2) Identify key species, communities, and ecological processes essential to sustaining the ecosystem's biological quality and integrity. (3) Recommend methods for establishing and maintaining these species, communities, and processes. (4) Recommend procedures for monitoring, conducting research, and managing the ecosystem. (5) Identify procedures for incorporating new information and recommendations into the management plan.