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Bosque Clearing Brings Outcry Over Wildlife Habitat Loss |
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Written by Jeff Radford
Corrales Comment
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Monday, 25 February 2008 |
Mayor Phil Gasteyer has been asked to call for a halt to the vegetation
clearing project in the Corrales Bosque Nature Preserve.
At a meeting of the Corrales Bosque Advisory Commission February 14,
the mayor and several Village Council members heard pleas from
villagers distressed by the ongoing clearing of brush, dead wood and
non-native vegetative species in the preserve.
Intended to reduce the fire threat along the middle Rio Grande riverine
forest, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has contracted out the
clearing project which began two years ago at the south end of the
preserve.
There, a vast area that had been invaded by salt cedar was essentially cleared of all vegetation.
After long delays, the Corps’ contractor moved into the north end of
the nature preserve late last year, continuing to remove brush, salt
cedar, Russian olives, elms and other invasive species, as well as the
steel jetty-jacks installed decades ago to prevent logs and other river
debris from gouging out the sides of the levee.
Clearing at the north end has been extensive —so extensive that
long-time supporters of the preserve assert it has been ruined as
wildlife habitat.
In recent weeks, the work crews had moved to an area of the bosque near
the east end of Dixon Lane, where the jetty-jack removal effort has
been under way.
The crew was said to have about eight days of work left when a
temporary stop-work order was given based on the public outcry over
what was considered excessive clearing.
The Corps’ biologist, Ondrea Hummel, said February 13 the crew were
ordered to pull out until it was clear that Village officials still
wanted the jetty-jacks removed. “We want to make sure the community
still wants us to remove the jetty-jacks,” she said.
Some clearing of brush along both sides of the rows of jetty-jacks has been considered necessary to remove them.
But at the Bosque Advisory Commission meeting February 14, the real
controversy seemed to be excessive clearing of vegetation, not
necessarily that needed to dismantle and remove the jetty-jacks.
Wayne Maes addressed the commission, mayor and councillors to explain
his dismay at seeing the clearing that had taken place since his last
walk in the preserve. He said he is trying to resign himself to the
fact that the preserve no longer exists. He read a eulogy to its
passing.
Maes described in detail the destruction of the natural habitat he had
seen in recent days, declaring “If the clearing continues as it has, we
should abolish Ordinance Number 234 [designating the bosque as a nature
preserve] because the bosque preserve is not being protected in order
to preserve its natural character.”
Jolene Maes distributed a list of eight questions for the advisory
commission to consider. Among them were: “What are the plans for those
sections of the Corrales Bosque Preserve that remain relatively
undisturbed (from the Boy Scout bridge south and from just north of
Dixon Road to Romero)?
“How will the commission monitor and influence future aspects of the project, and when and how will they solicit public input?
“For the areas in which clearing has occurred, what are the plans for
re-vegetation and what are the possibilities that vegetation will
‘take?’”
Two former chairmen of the Corrales Bosque Advisory Commission, Steve
Weiss and Jeff Radford, expressed their own dismay at witnessing the
habitat destruction which has resulted from the Corps’ fuel load
reduction project.
Radford suggested that while everyone recognized the need for fire
protection, the Corps’ vegetation clearing has seriously under-valued
the need for wildlife habitat.
Distributing photographs of clear-cut stretches of the bosque at the north end, he noted, “This is not a nature preserve.”
Radford insisted that Village officials hire a wildlife habitat
consultant to determine what level of clearing is acceptable. He said
he has been asking for more than two years “How much clearing is too
much? No one would answer that. Now I think we know the answer. What
has been done is already too much.”
Weiss said when he chaired the commission, he too expressed warnings
that future wood clearing projects might leave the preserve degraded
for wildlife habitat.
Another former member of the commission, biologist Jim Findley,
lamented the extent of the clearing and called for a determination of
which areas of the bosque were suitable for such intensive clearing and
which are not.
Russell Trujillo, who lives near the bosque at the north end of the
valley, said the clearing has been excessive. “The issue is:
somebody just went nuts” tearing out trees and brush.
Some members of the current commission said they, too, were shocked to
see how much had been cleared at the north end, between the north end
of the preserve and the Harvey Jones Flood Control Channel.
Currently chairing the commission,
Sandra Brown referred to an August 26, 2003 letter from then-Mayor Gary
Kanin to the Corps of Engineers requesting the clearing project. The
letter stressed, “Critical public safety dangers do exist which need
immediate attention. Among those of major importance are:
“• abundant down and dead wood. This is tinder-dry and throughout the bosque. This is a waiting catastrophe.
“• access into the bosque for emergency and fire fighting vehicles is
extremely limited.…Additional crossings [of the Riverside Drain] and
entrances need to be identified and built.
“• Another problem is jetty-jacks with no useful purpose now, that
prevent vehicles and firefighters access into dry areas dense with
fallen wood. Removal of these is necessary to develop a safe condition.”
Kanin closed his letter by asking “Should the Corps of Engineers
receive emergency funding for the bosque as a result of this summer’s
fire, I respectfully request that the bosque in Corrales receive some
emergency funding to address our critical areas.”
The clearing of dead and downed wood, salt cedar and most Russian
olives at the north end of the Corrales Bosque Nature Preserve began
late last year.
Crews then moved south to thin out about 20 acres in the vicinity of
Dixon Road. Hummel said she expected work to “continue into the early
spring.
“We will be thinning out the dead and down and removing the
non-natives. We will also be removing jetty-jacks.” Jetty-jacks are
large steel cross-pieces linked by cable to prevent floating river
debris from eroding the levee. About 50 of them were to be removed in
the Dixon vicinity.
“We will be leaving some Russian olives in various locations, though
there are lots of natives to fill in once the non-natives are removed.
We also do some plantings and seeding when we are done with the fuel
reduction.”
Work at the north end of the nature preserve was from the north end of
Corrales (“North Beach,” or the entrance of the Main Canal into
Corrales) south to the Harvey Jones Flood Control Channel.
Villagers attending the February 14 Bosque Advisory Commission meeting
were also upset to learn that the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy
District intended to resume clear-cutting trees and shrubs along the
Corrales Riverside Drain (“Clear Ditch”) February 19. That clearing had
been called off last year when villagers protested and Hawks Aloft
researchers charged the work violated federal law protecting migrating
birds.
Conservancy District officials have said cutting along the drain is
necessary to keep water flowing and to protect the levee from eroding.
Clearing of “fuel load” from the Corrales bosque began in December 2004
as part of a regional effort to reduce the threat of wildfire.
It started when the Corps’ work crews moved in with chainsaws and heavy
equipment to remove virtually all of the salt cedar and most of the
Russian olives from about 50 acres of the bosque near the Cabezon Road
entrance. Work was expected to take two years, but after many delays
the project has dragged out far longer.
The Corps’ plans for the Corrales bosque were presented at a September
27, 2004 public meeting at the Old Church which included proponents
from the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District and the Corrales Bosque
Advisory Commission.
Project biologist Ondrea Hummel explained that about 50 acres of
woodlands north of Alameda Bridge would be cleared of “fuel load” while
leaving cottonwoods, native shrubs and a few islands of Russian
olive trees as wildlife habitat in that area.
Work on that stretch was also to have included installation of a “dry
hydrant” in the Corrales Riverside Drain (“Clear Ditch”) near the
Cabezon Road entrance to the bosque. Once installed, the hydrant would
allow ditch water to be used more easily to fight bosque wildfires.
Another 70 acres was to be similarly cleared at the north end of the
nature preserve over the following two years. That is what is resumed
late last year.
The plan called for two, possibly three, new crossings of the “Clear
Ditch. A new, gated bridge has gone in at the east end of
Dixon Road; design is starting for another at the south end of
Andrews Lane.
Back in 2004, Hummel said a third crossing might go at the end of East
Alary Road. The additional crossings are intended to facilitate access
to the bosque for fire fighting equipment.
Fire Chief Anthony Martinez said November 7 no dry hydrants have been
installed. In fact, he said he’s not sure he wants them after all. “Now
that we have the Dixon bridge in, I’d like to re-visit the idea of
getting dry hydrants.”
The fire chief said the Riverside Drain is so shallow that a dry
hydrant pump tends to pull in too much sand and gravel which leads to
maintenance problems. Instead, he’s inclined to use more temporarily
installed floating pumps which can better pull water from ditches or
swimming pools.
Martinez said he would rather spend the $5,000 that a dry hydrant would
cost on reducing the fire hazard by “clearing out another half-acre” of
the bosque.
In its justification for the over-all wildfire project, the Corps said,
“In order to maintain the area with a lower density of vegetation to
prevent fires, but also provide wildlife habitat by replanting with
native vegetation, the proposed action is essential.”
In addressing the “purpose and need” for the project, the
assessment states, “Over the past five to ten years, this
[wildfire] threat has grown during drought conditions throughout the
West, causing the build-up of dead material to become extremely dry.
This was apparent during the fires in 2003 and also two fires that
recently occurred: one on June 11, 2004 burning 63 acres in the south
end of the Rio Grande State Park, and one on June 23, 2004 that burned
approximately 18 acres near the National Hispanic Cultural Center.”
The Corps’ project is authorized through congressional legislation in
2003 which contains a provision reading: “The Secretary of the Army,
acting through the Chief of Engineers, is authorized to undertake
appropriate planning, design and construction measures for wildfire
prevention and restoration in the Middle Rio Grande bosque in and
around the City of Albuquerque. Work shall be directed toward those
portions of the bosque (riparian area) which have been damaged by
wildfire or are in imminent danger of damage from wildfire due to heavy
fuel loads and impediments to emergency vehicle access.”
To get rid of undesired trees, the Corps anticipates employing three
methods: manual, mechanical and a combination of both. With the
mechanical methods, “Where possible, trees would be ripped out whole,”
the assessment states. “Otherwise, the stump would be treated
immediately with herbicide.”
It goes on to note: “The most efficient methodology for treatment of
dead material and non-native vegetation is usually a combination of
manual treatment, mechanical treatment and use of herbicide. Some areas
may be very thick and the use of manual methods allows them to be
opened up for machinery to get it.
“The mechanical equipment can take over while hand crews can move ahead
of machinery to keep areas open enough to work in without damaging
native vegetation to remain.”
The section on herbicide use anticipates applying Arsenal, “a
broad-spectrum, nonselective herbicide.” It notes that “Based on test
results submitted to the EPA, Arsenal would be slightly toxic to
rodents, non-toxic to slightly toxic to birds, non-toxic to slightly
toxic to fish and non-toxic to slightly toxic to arthropods.”
But additional caution may be necessary, it points out. When applying
Arsenal to salt cedar in Bernalillo and Sandoval Counties, the N.M.
Pesticide Management Bureau must be notified at least 24 hours in
advance. “The herbicide must not be applied within one mile upstream or
500 feet downstream of drinking water intakes or irrigation water
intakes currently in use.” |
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