A multi-year effort by several agencies and citizen organizations to save important habitats along the Rio Grande in New Mexico would receive a needed boost in funding if federal legislation introduced recently in Congress is passed, reports the Wildlife Management Institute.

The Bosque Restoration Bill was introduced by Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) to address threats to this habitat that is home to many native and endangered wildlife species, such as the southwestern willow flycatcher and the silver minnow. The "bosque," Spanish word for woods, refers to important woody riparian habitats along the river. Conservationists have long recognized the ecological importance of this habitat, not only to wildlife but also to people.

Changes in water flows, including a deepened river channel have reduced available moisture to cottonwood stands that are basic to these habitats. Many trees have died resulting in downed wood with invasion of non-native vegetation and undergrowth. Also human populations have encroached on the bosque via houses, freeways, bridges, and dams. This combination makes the habitats vulnerable to wildfires that are threatening not only to wild animals but to human safety as well.

The proposed funding would authorize $10 million in fiscal year 2008 for ecosystem restoration activities. There are a number of other initiatives and federally supported programs the proposed legislation could compliment. Most notable would be the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) that must be reauthorized. Both the House and Senate passed this legislation in 2005 and 2006 respectively, but negotiations on the final legislative package were not completed in the 109th Congress.

Recent droughts and a burgeoning human population growth are putting severe stresses on rivers throughout the southwest. If these systems are to be sustained, many more efforts requiring significant funding will be required. To learn more about the bosque and associated ecological issues in New Mexico, see www.esri.com/news/arcnews/winter0506articles/middle-rio-grande.html and www.fws.gov/southwest/mrgbi.