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| Small Artificial Ponds Along the River Offer a Glimpse of a Time Long Ago |
August 14, 2007 |
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By John Fleck
Journal Staff Writer
Out in the woods beyond Tingley Beach, a heron took flight Monday morning as a small group of visitors crested the berm holding back a small, man-made pond.
Tiny fish darted beneath the pond's surface, while buzzing insects skimmed above.
"There must be 10 different species of dragonflies out here," said Lynette Giesen, a water resources planner with the Army Corps of Engineers.
Located on the flank of the Rio Grande just a mile from Downtown Albuquerque, the artificial wetland is a glimpse of a time long gone. A century ago, an unconstrained river wandered a broad flood plain through what is now Albuquerque, leaving cattail marshes in the bends of its lazy meanders.
Without the river to do the work, the Army Corps of Engineers, with help from the city of Albuquerque, has stepped in. Completed in 2005, the new wetland is part of a broad effort to restore wildlife habitat in the woods that flank the river. In addition to building the ponds, project workers have been clearing dead woods and non-native trees.
Giesen and other Corps of Engineers officials arranged a tour Monday for Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., who helped arrange federal funding for the work.
The wetland is still a work in progress. Its two ponds have been completed and the bats, dragonflies, heron, ducks and cattails have been quick to move in, but more planting is still planned, according to project biologist Ondrea Hummel.
At the south end of the second pond, a trickle of water is feeding what has grown into a five-acre cattail marsh— something rarely seen any more in the bosque.
"This is just fabulously successful," Giesen said.
The federal bosque funding also includes money for fire weather monitoring stations, one near Central and the other near Montaño.
The stations provide real time data on wind, temperature and humidity, giving firefighters an early warning of potentially dangerous conditions, according to John Kay of Daniel Stephens and Associates, the company that maintains the stations for the Corps of Engineers.
The fire weather stations are part of a federally funded response to fires that devastated Albuquerque's bosque during the summer of 2003. Firefighters can log in over the Internet to check fire conditions.
Wilson took advantage of the tour to talk about her efforts to beef up funding for the work. She pushed for a $2 million earmark for the work in 2008.
Earmarks are sometimes referred to as "pork barrel" spending. Members of Congress single out special projects for funding, often in their own district.
Wilson was unapologetic Monday about pursuing earmarks for the bosque work. "I don't have a problem with earmarks," she said.
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