Rio Grande ecosystems: linking land, water, and people: Toward a sustainable future for the Middle Rio Grande Basin

Abstract

These proceedings are an outcome of a symposium and workshop held June 2-5, 1998 in Albuquerque, NM. Hosted by the USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Bosque Improvement Group, in collaboration with numerous partners from a variety of sectors, the symposium was designed to report on current research and development activities in the Middle Rio Grande Basin. The purpose of the meeting was to share information and develop ideas for sustaining and conserving Middle Rio Grande Basin ecosystems, especially those from Cochiti Dam to Elephant Butte Reservoir. Experts were invited to contribute oral presentations, posters, and papers that addressed five Basin themes. Theme one's session was designed to identify methods and opportunities to enhance communication and collaboration among researchers, managers, and communities. A second theme explored ideas and approaches for conserving water and riparian resources in relation to human needs and population growth. Theme three discussed how watershed processes form linkages and influence management of upland and river resources. A fourth session identified methods and strategies for restoring and monitoring basin ecosystems and discussed project successes and failures. Theme five reported on status of endangered and sensitive species, biological diversity, and opportunites for restoring and managing habitats to recover species. Management and understanding of the Middle Rio Grande Basin's natural resources and ecosystems require communication and cooperation of partners across cultural, landowner, and organizational boundaries. To produce a shared understanding of the current state and desired future state of the Middle Rio Grande Basin and to outline the steps needed to move toward the desired future, a facilitated workshop was held the last day of the conference. The results of this workshop are reported in the concluding section of this proceedings. The technical coordinators of the symposium and proceedings wish to acknowledge all the partners who have contributed to the research, restoration, technology development, educational outreach, and special events and activities designed to improve human and ecosystem conditions in the Basin. We hope this volume captures at least some of the excitement, ideas, and productivity generated by Basin projects over the past several years.

Titles contained within Rio Grande ecosystems: linking land, water, and people: Toward a sustainable future for the Middle Rio Grande Basin

• Rio Grande ecosystems: Proceedings introduction
• Rio Grande Basin and the modern world: Understanding scale and context
• Dynamic human landscapes of the Rio del Oso: Restoration and the simulation of past ecological conditions in the Upper Rio Grande Basin
• Water democracies on the Upper Rio Grande, 1598-1998
• Resolving resource conflict: A bigger pie
• How great a thirst? Assembling a river restoration toolkit
• Espanola/Canjilon Pilot Study: Economic, social, and cultural aspects of public land grazing on the Santa Fe and Carson National Forests
• "Southwest Strategy" update
• Rio Grande/Rio Bravo Basin Coalition
• Watershed/river channel linkages: The Upper Rio Grande Basin and the Middle Rio Grande Bosque
• Simulation of Rio Grande floodplain inundation Using FLO-2D
• Upper Rio Grande water operations model: A tool for enhanced system management
• Salinity management in the Rio Grande Bosque
• Albuquerque's constructed wetland pilot project for wastewater polishing
• Methods for increasing biodiversity in wetland creation and restoration efforts
• Response of vegetation, soil nitrogen, and sediment transport to a prescribed fire in semiarid grasslands
• Watershed health: An evaluation index for New Mexico
• A constructed wet meadow model for forested lands in the Southwest
• Effect of spatial and temporal variablilty on water relations and growth in pinyon pine: III
• Analysis of change in pinon-juniper woodlands based on aerial photography, 1930's-1980's
• Applications for predicting precipitation and vegetation patterns at landscape scale using lightning strike data
• Trial by fire: Restoration of Middle Rio Grande upland ecosystems
• Effects of livestock grazing on morphology, hydrology and nutrient retention in four riparian/stream ecosystems, New Mexico, USA
• Establishing riparian vegetation through use of a self-cleaning siphon system
• Vegetation classification on the Middle Rio Grande
• Restoration efforts in the Rio Grande Valley State Park
• River bar vegetation mowing response in the Middle Rio Grande
• Establishment of Rio Grande cottonwood seedlings using micro-irrigation of xeric flood plain sites
• Restoration and monitoring in the Middle Rio Grande Bosque: Current status of flood pulse related efforts
• Sevilleta Long-Term Ecological Research Program: Measuring ecosystem reponses to environmental change
• Influence of mycorrhizal source and seeding methods on native grass species grown in soils from a disturbed site
• Using GIS technology to analyze and understand wet meadow ecosystems
• Integrated surface management for pipeline construction: The Mid-America Pipeline Company Four Corners Project
• Maternity roosts of bats at the Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge: A preliminary report
• Bird migration through Middle Rio Grande riparian forests, 1994 to 1997
• Status and migration of the Southwestern willow flycatcher in New Mexico
• Biological diversity in montane riparian ecosystems: The case of the Mexican spotted owl
• Riparian dependence, biogeographic status, and likelihood of endangerment in landbirds of the Southwest
• Arthropods of native and exotic vegetation and their association with willow flycatchers and Wilson's warblers
• Use of saltcedar vegetation by landbirds migrating through the Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge
• Native montane fishes of the Middle Rio Grande Ecosystem: Status, threats, and conservation
• Future of the Middle Rio Grande

Keywords

Rio Grande Basin, conservation, watershed, endangered species, sensitive species, restoration

Citation

Finch, Deborah M.; Whitney, Jeffrey C.; Kelly, Jeffrey F.; Loftin, Samuel R. 1999. Rio Grande ecosystems: linking land, water, and people: Toward a sustainable future for the Middle Rio Grande Basin. 1998 June 2-5; Albuquerque, NM. Proc. RMRS-P-7. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 245 p.