Crisis on the Rio Grande
The Rio Grande existed long before humans. It may not outlive us. Through millions of years, the river is mapped in strata, in oral traditions. More recently, in computer models, too. All tell of rapidly receding waters. A shrunken Rio Grande remains for thirstier landscapes and wildlife drawn to its banks. For people, too. The river is low because people take from it, and because we reshaped it — both exacerbated by climate change. Source New Mexico presents a series of stories that span nearly 700 miles of the Upper Rio Grande, from the headwaters in Colorado to the Forgotten Reach about 100 miles inside Texas, along the U.S.-Mexico border. Loss and heartache flow through them as the river suffers. Eddies of denial surface, and some seedlings of restoration. But even those are under threat. These are the narratives that shape people who live along the river, just as we shape its waters.
Still Pools: Teeming with life at the edge
SUNLAND PARK — Below the crags of Mount Cristo Rey, a string of little pools in the riverbed reflect its steep hills and white cross perched atop the peak. Black-necked stilts pick their way across on shocking pink legs, pushing through vibrant grass. A lone peacock, gone feral, zips through the streambed, interrupting the mountain’s […]
A hidden gem of wetland near the Texas border fence
EL PASO — More than 300 acres of Rio Grande wetland is tucked away at the edge of El Paso city limits, abutting the border fence. The Rio Bosque Park, managed by the University of Texas at El Paso, is a prime example of water use in the West, requiring layers of red tape and […]
‘It’s like a crime scene’ what’s happened to the Rio Grande in far west Texas
SOCORRO, TEXAS — Estela Padilla dreams of the Rio Grande, the river of her youth. In her home shaded by pine and pecan, Padilla, 77, said her heart is broken by the vast changes in what was once a mosaic of wild spaces. “My grandchildren cannot relate to my memory of the river because they […]
Salted earth at the tail of the Rio Grande’s snowmelt
EL PASO, Texas — The Rio Grande is strictly managed, apportioned and allocated beneath Elephant Butte Dam as it makes its way to Texas. Only when the dam is open does the water travel through El Paso, ferried in concrete-lined straight channels to Mexico’s reservoirs or to irrigation ditches downstream. The flows travel, sometimes spreading […]
A procession as the globe warms
CARNUEL, N.M. — The sun beats down on the high mountain church in a rural farming community folded into the crevices of the Sandia Mountains. Smoke rises from grills in the stands outside, as 2005-era Usher and Sean Paul dribble out from a PA system. Only a few people linger inside the cool sanctuary of […]
Rescuing silvery minnows like ‘slapping a Band-Aid on a severed limb’
SOCORRO COUNTY, N.M. — Four people walk the streambed, combing the pools in Socorro County’s San Acacia Reach. Two wade thigh-deep in the bank crook, a seine net strung between them, and tug it through the water. Another calls out temperatures and measures the pool. The fourth jots it down in a notebook. At the […]
‘Not an object to be bartered,’ the Rio Grande is lifeblood for the land
SILE, N.M. — The river is something Phoebe Suina carries with her always. “I look at my hand, and you have all of these veins. They’re all blue, just like a river,” Suina (Cochiti Pueblo) said. “As blood flows through us, so do the rivers and streams across the land from the mountains.” The river […]
Watching the oxbow dry
The Rio Grande is a silver thread ribboning its way through New Mexico, enhanced by a brocade of greenery. It roars to life through the tall pines, curves through the canyons carved by its steadfast course. The river vertically bisects the entire state and touches 14 sovereign pueblos, sluicing into canals and creeping across fields. […]
The patron saint of farming
LAS MESITAS, Colo. — The husk of a church rises up, seemingly scraping the low, heavy clouds. The hollowed-out sanctuary is open to the whipping wind and a smattering of raindrops. Gutted by fire in 1975, the bones of the mission-style San Isidro Catholic Church remain, purple cowslip and grasses sprouting in the aisles. Empty […]
A new mentality of collaboration in a river district
MANASSA, Colo. — Nathan Coombs, who manages the Conejos River District, used to hold beliefs that more water for conservation meant less for farmers. “I was raised on a production ag farm,” he said. “Water was for crops. That was the only use in my perspective.” The farmer from Manassa, Colorado, said his mind was changed […]
Moral questions on a standard San Luis Valley farm
MONTE VISTA, Colo. — A self-described Midwest import from Missouri, 39-year old Kyler Brown is a cowboy, farmer and philosopher. These days, he feels driven by questions of life and death. “Do people feel like they have morality in their occupation? I think people have moral moments, but probably most people don’t question the morality of […]
Drought, plague and fire: What one Colorado forest is up against
RIO GRANDE NATIONAL FOREST — The high alpine forests are a sickbed. Swathes of gray trees are bald on one side, with patches of russet needles fading into scraggly branches. Others show thick strips of bark sloughed off, revealing bleached trunks beneath. Much of the 1.86 million acres of Rio Grande National Forest is dead. […]
Crisis on the Rio Grande
The Rio Grande existed long before humans. It may not outlive us. Through millions of years, the river is mapped in strata, in oral traditions. More recently, in computer models, too. All tell of rapidly receding waters. A shrunken Rio Grande remains for thirstier landscapes and wildlife drawn to its banks. For people, too. The river is low because people take from it, and because we reshaped it — both exacerbated by climate change. Source New Mexico presents a series of stories that span nearly 700 miles of the Upper Rio Grande, from the headwaters in Colorado to the Forgotten Reach about 100 miles inside Texas, along the U.S.-Mexico border. Loss and heartache flow through them as the river suffers. Eddies of denial surface, and some seedlings of restoration. But even those are under threat. These are the narratives that shape people who live along the river, just as we shape its waters.
The River's Path
Colorado
After 15 miles of pockmarked dirt road, the Rio Grande spreads wide in the shadows of the San Juan Mountains. It glitters, aqua, whitecaps whipped up by the wind. But even in the birthplace of the river lay the stark stains of climate change.
New Mexico
The river is a silver thread ribboning its way through New Mexico, enhanced by a brocade of greenery. It roars to life through the tall pines, curves through the canyons carved by its steadfast course.
Texas
The river stretches across the state line. Water seeps into the soil and evaporates under a scorching sun. Salt beads like pearls in a cracked riverbed, invasive saltcedar a thick wall on the bank. This is where the snowmelt ends.
