Rivers and Fish

Our meeting with the funding agency representative brought a few surprises. Probably the biggest one was that the woody riparian of the river we residence on this side love so much doesn't represent a healthy aspect of this stretch of flowing water. In his opinion, based on his particular specialty, it indicates degradation from the stability of the marsh and grassland that once characterized the Mimbres. Trees along the banks came later and don't respond to floods in the same ways as grasses and sedges do, which put down root systems extending for miles. Those evolved forms of vegetation (his words) can withstand high water because they're flexible and resilient, bending, even flattening when the river floods its banks. Their widespread root systems, though shallow, act as a net holding down the topsoil. These plants have the capacity to bounce back after a high water event and regrowth is fast compared to trees. We've seen what happens when huge cottonwoods fall during a flood. The thick roots are shallow and extend outward under the soil from the root ball. each tree a separte entity, is easily destabilized. When one of these trees with their massive trunks comes down, great chunks of earth are torn away with it, undermining banks and roads. The trees in the February flood were probably 50 or 60 years old, younger than their vast girths would suggest. In this respect they are radically different from a California Redwood. We were advised that what happened to river in our part of it might not be considered a negative occurrence by the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, who "own" this portion of the Mimbres. Stabilizing banks to protect easement access and private property isn't their mission. One especially important priority they have is protecting endangered species such as the Chihuahua chub and what happened in February may have done something to benefit that little fish. The fallen trees choking the waterflow and newly undercut banks create the deeper pools preferred by the chub. That conflicts with human concerns when it washes away easement access and private property.