Category: Past Projects

Santa Fe, NM Our 2021 and 2022 willow and cottonwood plantings along the Santa Fe River continue the work of a previous replanting effort in 2019 within this same reach, following the destruction of riparian plantings in the 100-year flood of 2018. These planting efforts support additional, complementary habitat restoration and improvement efforts all along … Continue reading Santa Fe River

Canadian River Canyon, NM, 2021 This planting of willow, cottonwood and Gooddings willow within the Canadian River Canyon follows years of previous restoration efforts along the river. Rio Grande Return has been involved in restoration along the Canadian River beginning in Mills Canyon with a 2019 planting project, followed by another round of planting in … Continue reading Canadian River: Alamita Canyon

Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, NM, 2020 - 2021 This 2020 - 2021 project encompasses the removal of non-native vegetation and revegetation with native cottonwood and willows surrounding Coyote Springs and along the adjacent Arroyo del Coyote. Work was funded by Oklahoma State University and supported by Kirtland Air Force Base. Summer 2020: Removal of … Continue reading Coyote Springs

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, San Antonio, NM, 2021 2021 removal of salt cedar and Russian olive from 362 acres of palustrine emergent wetland, floodplain forest, and floodplain savannah, including screwbean mesquite wet meadow. Restoring this habitat will provide important forage and habitat for the waterbirds, shorebirds and raptors of the Bosque del Apache. Salt cedar and Russian olive trees … Continue reading Bosque del Apache

Valles Caldera National Preserve, NM Goals of this project include improving alluvial fan function and wet meadow/wetland health, mitigating fire impacts, stabilizing the degrading channel, improving water quality, and re-establishing and protecting riparian vegetation. Funding for this work was provided by The Nature Conservancy and the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, and was … Continue reading Redondo Meadow

Carson National Forest, NM One of 10 BDAs installed in June 2020 This project on the Rio San Antonio spans approximately 3 miles and employs a diversity of restoration techniques aimed at improving water quality, specifically reducing stream temperatures and E. coli loading. Work was completed with funding from the NM Environment Department and support … Continue reading Rio San Antonio

Santa Fe National Forest, NM In 2020, we expanded upon previous restoration efforts along San Antonio Creek in the Santa Fe National Forest between the western boundary of the Valles Caldera and the San Antonio hot springs. We installed 9 BDAs and 17 log baffles within the stream channel, and protected a 10 acre swath … Continue reading San Antonio Creek

Bernalillo County, NM This extraction of non-native trees is a continuation of previous years of restoration efforts along the west side of the Rio Grande in Albuquerque aimed at removing non-native species, restoring native vegetation, and increasing ecosystem resilience to fire disturbance, flood, disease, and other climate change related impacts. Using an excavator, we removed … Continue reading State Land Office: Rio Grande Bosque

Eddy County, NM This planting project included pole plantings of 17,500 Coyote willow, 125 cottonwood and 30 Gooddings willow within a moist soil unit as well as along the Pecos river in the Huey WMA. Project goals include providing quality habitat for migratory birds and other wildlife, as well as increasing bank stability and stream … Continue reading Huey WMA

Kiowa National Grassland, NM Phase 1, 2019 One of our biggest planting areas from 2019 below the iconic Shiprock formation. The cottonwood and willow are exploding with vigor, thanks in part to a beaver dam just downstream of this site. Photo taken 8/23/21. This massive revegetation project was completed in partnership with NM Department of … Continue reading Canadian River: Mills Canyon

Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge Cooperative Agreement I 2020 Planting cottonwood poles with 60 volunteers from the Albuquerque Wildlife Federation 

2017  Planting 1000 cottonwoods & Goodings willow, 15,000 coyote willow, 400 native forage plants & 12,000 saltgrass plugs at the Valle de Oro NWR

2014 Removing non-native trees and creating a large cross vane in the Canada Ancha Arroyo in Diablo Canyon

2014 The non-native trees have been removed and the trails along the Rio Grande are now more accessible

2010 A collaborative project with Keystone Restoration Ecology to help restore a degraded arroyo at Hamaatsa - Larry Littlebirds Wild Land Sanctuary.