Among the Waters Trail Update

Part One

Amanda Garcia

The last few years, the City of Farmington has been interested in acquiring our family property that has been referred to as the “Garcia property” located on The San Juan River, to connect its trail system.  In the past, we were hesitant to sell to the city, because of our deep emotional attachment to our property.  However, over the course of the last 3 months or so, our sentiments have changed.  We are not only happy to see the trail system extended onto our property, but we are looking forward to it.  Once the “Among the Waters” portion of the River Walk is extended onto our land, there will be only one last piece of property remaining to connect it all the way to Berg Park.  My father, Larry Garcia, and myself, Amanda Garcia, welcome the River Walk with open arms.

The yellow line on the photo below approximately indicates the trail on Garcia property.

Feel free to contact me, Amanda Garcia, at: 505-402-8186, bataan@amandagarcia.com

Ranchmans-Terrell Irrigation Improvement and Restoration Project

Alyssa Richmand, San Juan Watershed Group Coordinator
Melissa May, San Juan Soil & Water Conservation District Manager

After five years of planning, funding requests, complex coordination, and multiple phases of construction, watershed partners have successfully completed the Ranchmans-Terrell Irrigation Improvement and Riparian Restoration Project in time for the 2021 irrigation season.

The Ranchmans-Terrell Irrigation Ditch (RT Ditch) diverts water from the Animas River in Flora Vista, NM directly downstream of the County Road 350 Bridge.  The ditch association previously backed up water to their head gate using a cobble push-up dam, which had to be rebuilt three to five times a year after runoff and storm events washed it out.  This created a maintenance headache, increased sediment loads and disturbance to the Animas River, and reduced water delivery reliability for the ditch users.  Erosion problems continued downstream, where the irrigation ditch and ditch access road were threatened by both an eroding riverbank below and precarious sandstone bluff above.  Between the diversion and south bank erosion, dense thickets of invasive Russian olive were inhibiting productive riparian habitat and posing a wildfire risk to the ditch association and local community.  All of these concerns were brought to the attention of the San Juan Watershed Group (SJWG) and San Juan Soil & Water Conservations District (San Juan SWCD) in 2016, and led to this stretch of the river being included as a priority project in the Lower Animas Watershed Based Plan.

The varied problems along this stretch of river required varied funding sources – and innovative partnerships – to begin addressing these concerns.  SJWG and SJSWCD, with neighboring watershed group, Animas Watershed Partnership, assembled a who’s who of federal, state, and private partners to carve up the multiple components of the project and fill in all the funding gaps.  These partners and funders included the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) WaterSMART Cooperative Watershed Management Program, the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) acequia cost share from the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS, NM Association of Conservation Districts (NMACD) and the NM Interstate Stream Commission (ISC), along with additional contributions of funds and expertise from New Mexico Environment Department (NMED), the Nature Conservancy (TNC), NM Office of the State Engineer (OSE), the San Juan Basin Recovery Implementation Program (SJRIP), and other partners.

Contractors Basin Hydrology Inc. (BHI) and Sunland Construction pushed the project over the finish line to get the work done on the ground.  The final suite of projects addressed the ditch’s management concerns, while promoting river resilience and riparian habitat, safer passage of fish and boaters along the Animas River, and providing a win-win example of partner coordination, grant leveraging, and valuable coordination experience for future projects.

Project components, as detailed in the map above, include a new permanent cross vane diversion structure, relocation of the RT Ditch headgate, piping of the first 2,000+ feet of the ditch below the bluff, constructing a new flume, installing J-hook structures along erosion impacted banks, and restoration of over 3 acres of riparian area that was previously infested with Russion Olive and Tamarix species.  All of the ditch improvements and revegetation are complete as of March 2021 thanks to our fantastic project partners and volunteers who assisted in the revegetation portion of the project.  SJRIP will install the final piece of the puzzle in summer 2021 – a solar powered PIT-tag monitoring system to detect the presence of any tagged Colorado pikeminnow and Razorback sucker, both endangered fish species native to the San Juan Basin, whose presence in the Animas is currently unknown.

For SJWG and SJSWCD, this project drove home the critical importance of proactive communication, perseverance through delays, and strong relationships with project partners across jurisdictional boundaries, agencies, expertise, and funding sources.  While challenging at times, this collaborative project will serve as an example for years to come on the benefits of a strong network of watershed partners working together towards a common goal.

For additional information on this project or to consult with the SJWG and San Juan SWCD on planning future projects, contact Alyssa Richmond, San Juan Watershed Group Coordinator at any time.  We look forward to supporting and working with partners throughout the San Juan and Animas Watersheds to improve water quality and watershed health.

Email:  alyssa.richmond@sanjuanswcd.com
Phone:  505-234-6040 X3

The President’s Corner

D’Ann Waters

Welcome to 2021 and to our second edition of the Ripples Newsletter!  I want to start off by saying Thank You to Karen Lupton for her excellent leadership the past 3 years.  Last year was a difficult year having to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to cancel our major events.  Our Board of Directors utilized this time by updating by-laws, identifying current assets, establishing and strengthening partnerships with ORII/MRA and others, producing a policy and procedures manual, and working on developing a stable financial plan.

We started this year by holding our annual Board of Directors retreat just prior to our elections.  As we looked back at 2020 and the strategic planning we undertook and accomplished, we set four new Foundation goals.  This year we will create and put in place a fundraising plan that will support our Foundation.  We will establish a team to process, evaluate, and facilitate our major events.  We intend to create and implement special projects that will further protect, promote, and enhance our riverine corridor.  Finally, we will work on developing and placing into practice a marketing plan that will not only communicate the work of the River Reach Foundation, but will also increase engagement with new members, new donors, and the community in general.

While we are still in the COVID-19 pandemic I am very hopeful that we will soon be able to hold some of our events.  I think that our Board of Directors have created strong Foundation goals and am looking forward to working with them and with our partnerships.

Getting to Know our Board Members

Latest Newsletters