Current work in wildlife, rivers, public lands, and climate

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – To right the wrongs of the past decade and in pursuit of restoring dynamic flows and diverse communities of plants and animals in the Rio Grande in central New Mexico, WildEarth Guardians today warned federal agencies that their current ad hoc water management scheme threatens the survival of endangered species in violation of the Endangered Species Act.

“The plan of the past decade has failed to provide an ecologically sound alternative to remedy the impacts of a diverted, dammed and depleted river,” said Jen Pelz, Wild Rivers Program Director at WildEarth Guardians. “A new bold plan and leadership on the part of the federal agencies to secure flows for the river and its growing list of imperiled species remains necessary for the Rio Grande to survive into the future.”

On February 22, 2013, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service entered into legally mandated discussions to develop a new water management plan for the Rio Grande with the goal of maintaining conditions in the river that would support the survival and recovery of the endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow and Southwest willow flycatcher among other native species. Nearly a year later, no new plan has emerged from the Service.

The group’s notice details the broken promises of the past decade and focuses on how the extension of the 2003 plan went wrong last summer. In 2013,Reclamation and the Service supported “emergency measures” that eliminated the minimum flow requirements through Albuquerque and instead routed water through the District’s infrastructure to provide habitat in a few geographically isolated pools. Those measures coupled with the dry conditions resulted in the drying of 37 miles of the river and over 230 dead minnows in just 30 days. Even after the summer monsoons came and flows in the river began to rebound, the minimum flow requirements in Albuquerque were not reinstated.

“Based on what occurred last summer, we anticipate the agencies will attempt to piece together a make-shift plan this year violating their duties under the Endangered Species Act,” added Pelz. “The federal agencies overreached last summer and we do not plan on letting that happen again.”

The January 2014 forecast for the Rio Grande near the Otowi Bridge indicated conditions 72 percent of average, but the preliminary forecast for February shows a drop to 50 percent of average. This sharp decline puts the2014 forecast on target with the February 2013 forecast. However, New Mexico’s reservoirs this year contain little stored water compared to last year, which likely means another perilous summer for the minnow and flycatcher in the middle Rio Grande.

WildEarth Guardians believes that establishing a water acquisition program in the middle Rio Grande is a long-overdue solution for securing water for the river. A water-leasing program would operate to compensate farmers for agreeing not to divert water in a given year, the water that goes unused by the farmer would be used to keep the river flowing in times of drought. Such a program gained momentum recently when a congressional spending bill was passed in January directing Reclamation to develop and implement a pilot-leasing program.

The group’s notices of intent to sue Reclamation and the Service are the third and fourth notices filed in the past 30 days under the Endangered Species Act as a part of Guardians’ campaign to protect and restore the Rio Grande,America’s third-longest and one of its most iconic rivers. Guardians warned the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the State of Colorado of their Endangered Species Act violations in January.