Navajo River Improvement Project
Jerry Archuleta1
1Natural Resource Conservation Service
The San Juan Conservation District (SJCD) and the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) partnered with local landowners to help alleviate the consequences the Oso Diversion is having on the Navajo River’s ecosystem.
The Oso Diversion was installed in the 1960’s to divert water from the Navajo River to the Rio Chama Watershed for domestic and agricultural use in New Mexico. This diversion eliminated flushing flows and the Navajo River now consistently flows 55-85 cfs. Sediment that passes through the Oso diversion is very fine, causing the stream channel to become embrocated (like concrete). These lower flows have resulted in shallower stream depths and a higher temperature environment less suitable for aquatic habitat. The diversity of habitat structure types is limited and the river, for the most part, is one long riffle with few deep pools. The riparian area along the river has been reduced to a thin strip along the banks, due to the absence of periodic flooding of the floodplain, management practices along the river and development pressures. This has also adversely affected the off-channel wetland habitat within the river system.
NRCS, in conjunction with the San Juan Conservation District and other partners, held several meetings with property owners along the Navajo River to discuss their concerns about the current state of the river. Meetings were also held with potential partners of this project including the Bureau of Reclamation, Chama Peak Land Alliance and US Fish and Wildlife Service. A field review was conducted of the current condition of the river and this data was used to develop a plan with treatment alternatives for restoration of the river. These alternatives, along with cost estimates, were presented to the property owners for their consideration. The landowners then chose from the alternatives, based on their concerns and financial resources. The San Juan Conservation District then submitted a Targeted Conservation Proposal with the total project cost estimate to NRCS to restore this portion of the Navajo River.
Requested funding was used to provide assistance to the landowners along the Navajo River, to implement practices to improve the instream aquatic habitat, riparian and wetland areas. Diversity was created in habitat structure by installing rock and wood structures to increase channel depth, pool habitat and in-stream meandering. The riparian area was increased and improved by fencing out livestock along the river to control grazing and through the planting of woody vegetation, such as willows and cottonwoods. Shallow wetlands were created by enhancing low areas and installing small channels to and from these areas to the river. These wetlands, along with the entrance and exit channels, provided fish spawning habitat and increased habitat for the Northern Leopard Frog and migratory waterfowl.
We are working in a landscape that is fortunate to have a network of landowners working collaboratively across their fence lines. The Jicarilla Apache Tribe has completed significant amounts of stream restoration work on lower portions of the river in NM targeted at development of Roundtail Chub habitat, so we are in a sense coordinating across borders.