Make a difference – help restore a living Rio Grande in Southern NM

The Bureau of Reclamation has allocated $60 million of taxpayer dollars to mitigate drought impacts on the lower Rio Grande from Elephant Butte Dam to the state line. The Water Resources Research Institute (WRRI) seeks public input on how to spend this money.

WRRI has an online survey for people to rank strategies (we have some suggestions below!) to mitigate the effect of drought. It would be great if a large number of people (you!) could respond.

Please help to restore a living river by responding! Your input can make a difference. The deadline is June 30, 2025

Quick roadmap of survey

The survey can be completed in just a few minutes – you can do it now! It has 5 pages:

Link to survey

  • page 1: give your contact info and interest in participating in working meetings
  • page 2 : Asks you to rank “strategies” to mitigate drought. It gives 11 such strategies, plus space to add up to 3 others. Our recommended ranking is given below.
  • page 3 : asks for input on “project prioritization”, which gives their proposed evaluation scheme. If you have any comments on their approach, you can provide them in the general comments box on page 5, but no input can be added on this page.
  • page 4 : asks for specific project ideas. You can skip this (unless you have one!).
  • page 5 : final page for “any additional comments” and submission. See here for some possible comments.

We hope that you can at least complete pages 1 and 2 and then submit it (with any additional comments you might have) on the final page.

Link to survey

Our recommended ranking for page 2

For page 2, they provide 11 strategies to rank, and allow for responders to add up to 3 more; you then drag them around to put them in your priority order but, of course, you can modify as you see fit. You will first have to enter the “Other #1, #2, and #3 strategies, e.g., by cutting and pasting from below)

  1. Other 1 : Reauthorize the federal Rio Grande project to allow for environmental flows and environmental water transfers to benefit native wildlife and their habitat
  2. Integrated river management program to restore a bosque, natural river health and functions, and riparian habitat throughout the river corridor
  3. Create and/or sustain areas of bosque (which has river health, wildlife habitat, and recreation benefits), with an emphasis on high quality habitat for native riparian birds
  4. Other 2 : Include more diverse set of stakeholders, including the general public, tribal entities, academic and scientific communities, environmental organizations, and the recreation industry, in decisions related to federal and state water management, administration, and use in the Lower Rio Grande Basin (DRE Project Area)
  5. Other 3 : Moratorium on planting of new pecan and other high water-use, fixed-demand water use crops in the Lower Rio Grande Basin, and implementation of program to incentivize fallowing existing irrigated agricultural lands to establish native grassland, shrub, and riparian habitat in the entire DRE Project Area (not just the Elephant Butte Irrigation District)
  6. Policies and programs to voluntarily incentivize farm water demand reduction and conservation (e.g. cover crops, shifts to profitable low-water use crops)
  7. Aim to achieve groundwater resiliency for today and future generations (recharge to the aquifer is balanced with groundwater use by combinations of strategies)
  8. Restore upper watersheds to reduce floods and sediments washing into the valley, including grazing management to advance and support restoration and respond to droughts
  9. Program to improve and coordinate regulations that limit development in flood zones
  10. Projects that recharge groundwater aquifers through capturing a portion of stormwater/flood flows (maintaining flows for downstream riparian areas)
  11. Use of stormwater/flood flows as an alternative water source for agriculture and bosque riparian areas
  12. Improve EBID infrastructure to conserve water
  13. Reduce flood risks and sediment transport through improving built infrastructure
  14. Add ability for flood control dams to store stormwater for agricultural and recharge use

Please help to restore a living river by responding! Your input can make a difference. The deadline is June 30, 2025. Do it now!

Link to survey