Dry Run

No water in part of Rio Grande sends biologists running to rescue what's left of endangered fish

Endangered silvery minnows get the emergency treatment in 2012.

By Laura Paskus

While Phoenix is currently underwater from last night’s epic rain storms, the Rio Grande in central New Mexico has dried to a halt.

This morning, fish biologists were mucking around in the muddy river bed about 50 miles south of Albuquerque. Although summer rain storms had kept the river flowing continuously since the end of July, on Sunday the state's largest river disappeared below the San Acacia Diversion Dam.

When the river dries, federal fish biologists seine any remaining puddles for endangered Rio Grande silvery minnows, a rare fish that has been protected under the Endangered Species Act since 1994. Typically, crews hit the riverbed early before the sun warms and shrinks the puddles too drastically­ and check for any minnows still alive among other species such as carp, catfish, mosquitofish and red shiners.

Biologists then pluck the minnows from the nets, load them into makeshift tanks and truck them to a flowing stretch of river.

But as of this morning, crews had yet to find any minnows—just lots of mud, clay and dry conditions.

According to Mary Carlson, public affairs specialist with the US Bureau of Reclamation, which manages water flows and operates dams and other diversions, the agency has released 16,000 acre-feet of water from upstream reservoirs to supplement the natural flows of the river and still has about 19,000 acre-feet of supplemental water left in storage.

The Rio Grande just north of Albuquerque is low and slow—but it is still flowing, unlike a stretch about 50 miles south of the city. (Laura Paskus)

Experts say the endangered fish is doing better this year than last. But that's not saying much. Last year, when biologists sampled for minnows at 20 sites from north of Bernalillo to Elephant Butte they found the species at only two sites. This year, minnows were present at about half the sampling sites. But there were just a few at each spot.

"If you compare July this year with July of last year, it's better," says Thomas Archdeacon, a fish biologist with the service's New Mexico Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office. "But it's still really bad."

An environmental advocacy group called WildEarth Guardians has sued two federal agencies over the fate of the fish, claiming the government has failed to manage the river and conserve water in a way that protects the minnow, a rare species of bird and the imperiled river.

This report is funded in part by the Institute for Journalism & Natural Resources.

Santa Fe Reporter

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