Neighbors concerned with environmental impact of tree removal along Rio Grande

LOS LUNAS, N.M. — Crews are taking out trees to let the Rio Grande flow better but neighbors in Los Lunas are concerned about the environmental impact.

Their top concern is more trees are coming down than originally planned. They say that leaves them with more questions than answers.

“This is a project by the United States Bureau of Reclamation. They are taking islands out of the middle of the river. And then they want to build up this levee you see behind me,” resident Guy Dicharry said.

The River Mile 163 Project is underway with the goal to help with flood control.

“The stated purpose of the project is to improve the conveyance through this reach of the Rio Grande as part of a measure to improve the delivery of water to Texas under the Rio Grande Compact,” an environmental engineer said.

Neighbors say it’s gone far off the grid.

“We were pretty much well reassured, what, okay, they’re going to lose some cottonwoods but they’re going to minimize the impact. They even talked about taking the spoils from the river and putting them along the base of some of the larger cotton woods. So they wouldn’t have to take them down. Earlier this month, that all changed,” Dicharry said.

Dicharry, said the plan was to take down trees from a width of 30 feet, two miles off the levee road. He said, in reality, it’s 60 feet.

“What they described was something with a much more modest impact on the trees here. So now they’ve been, knocking down trees with a big excavator since early February. There’s piles of slash everywhere. We’ve had unseasonable temperatures way above-average and low relative humidity. We haven’t gotten any rain or snow. So we have a huge fire risk right now and we’re getting into nesting season and obviously this is a big nesting area this is a major fly away,” Dicharry said.

Another neighbor said if they’re going to double the area of vegetation removal, there should be another study.

“How many additional acre feet of water are you going to be able to deliver to Texas, as a result of doing this work? What is the net benefit for the damage that you’re going to cause? They don’t know,” he said.

Jennifer Faler, the area manager of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for the Albuquerque Area Office, sent us this statement:

“The Bureau of Reclamation, together with the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission and the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, has been planning the Rio Grande River Mile 163 River Maintenance project for several years. This important project will reduce fire and flooding risk in the surrounding community while improving water conveyance. Reclamation is working to minimize impacts to the bosque and preserving as much mature, native vegetation as possible.” 

Faler also referred people to the attached FAQs.