My name is Joshua Howerin. I'm the
district manager for Ciudad Soil and Water
Conservation District. Um it's exciting
to see all of you here. The Boske we all
love and hold dear and that's why people
are care so much about it. So thank you
for coming out to um to hear these
presentations and have discussion about
the BOS. What what we're going to do is
um have five different
and then we'll be break into breakout
groups to discuss specific topics and
talk about specific topics. Okay. So
each uh presentation here is going to be
10 minutes. Now managing the BOS is a
collaborative effort which is why we
have people here from state forestry
open space division Albuquerque fire
rescue cudd and water conservation
district. um the middle Rio Grand
Conservancy District and I'm probably
missing some. So, this is a
collaborative effort to manage uh the
BOS and so it takes takes all of us uh
to be here together. Um just so you
know, there's snacks here, there's
bathrooms right outside over there. Um
there's a sign-in sheet. If you haven't
signed in, we invite you to do so. We're
also aware that not everybody who may
want this information could be here
tonight and so it is being recorded and
will be available to every um on the
website afterwards and CUDA will also
link it on our website as well. Um, so
if you uh are concerned about having the
back of your head recorded, you can
[laughter] move to the sides or
something. But uh just wanted to make
everybody aware that that uh that is
happening. All right. So we'll go ahead
and start with our presentations. The
first one's going to be from Yes.
Will there be any Q&A time?
There'll be after we give the
presentations, we'll move into breakout
sessions and that'll be a more
Q&A. That'll be an appropriate time to
ask questions to the specific people
that you want to ask questions from. You
know, if you want to ask questions about
our breakout sessions will be on
wildlife habitat, one on fuels
prescription and one on um the fire
response. So, if you have questions
about one or other of those topics, you
can go and you can move around between
them and ask your questions.
Does that answer your question? So, no.
All right. Um, so the first presentation
is going to be uh Colleen McRoberts, the
superintendent um in open space
division. So, come on. [applause]
[laughter]
I'm a little shorter. All right. All
right. really great to see you all
today. Uh thank you for being here. I
know I see many familiar faces. I know
that you guys are really dedicated to
you. Most of you live right in this
area. Um and this place is very precious
and important to all of you. It is
important to all of us and we want to do
our best to manage well and that's why
we really do need it to be managed
through community um so through a lot of
partnership and so I just want to yeah
echo what um Joshua just said. All right
my job right now is to give you kind of
a big picture overview of Boske
management and kind of how it became a
state park.
So, just a little bit about the City of
Albuquerque Open Space Division. We
manage over 30,000 acres. We actually
started acquiring property back in 1963,
but it wasn't until 1984 that the
division was actually formalized. Um,
but the city has been involved land
preservation for a very long time,
trying to preserve some of our most
unique, cultural, and environmentally
sensitive places. All the defining
places. When you think of Albuquerque,
you think of the Sandas, you think of
the Boske, you think of the volcanoes,
and all of those are protected locally
protected because of the good because of
how important these places are to our
community. we were willing to tax
ourselves and we were willing to provide
legislation that allow us to do that. Uh
sometimes we manage these properties
directly as um the land um owner and
manager and a lot of times we also do it
in partnership. So the petetroglyph
national monument is managed both by the
national park service and the open space
division. We manage the Rio Grand Valley
State Park in cooperation with the
middle Rio Grand Conservancy District.
They own the the Rio Grand Valley State
Park and were the managing entity. I'll
give you a teeny bit of a history, some
cliff notes on that in a second.
I just love this picture. I always put
it in my presentation because it shows
you if we did not have the forethought
to protect these places, we would just
be another western urban sprawl city.
Albuquerque is an amazing place to live.
We have such a great legacy and we
should just be proud of it and take care
of it all the time because you know we
we have this beautiful place in 10 15
minutes you can be in one of these
places if you live in the city.
Okay. Oh, there we go. All right. So,
for the Rio Grand Valley State Park, I
know the the resolution. Let me see if I
can
I'll do my best.
Um yeah, if I mess with it, I'm afraid
and I can just talk through it. We're
going to put these online too along with
the the recording.
Um, but this is basically a map of the
Rio Grand Valley State Park. On the
northern end, it starts from essentially
the PBLO of Sandia or Corales. And on um
the s I'm sorry, that's the northern
end. On the southern end, it goes to the
PBLO of Eleta. It's over 4,300 acres.
It's about 20 miles. So, it's a pretty
significant area. The entire middle Rio
Grande is about 30,000 acres. and that's
what the Middle Rio Grand Conservancy
District owns and uh it's a big
responsibility. Um but they have some
really great managing entities like us
in this area.
Okay. Oh, and I just wanted I'm sorry
give you a little of this history. So um
I find this history really interesting
and I brought a couple of books that I
am recommending to you all.
All right. It was 1967
that the state actually developed the uh
Rio Grande State Park plan. That plan
identified that this area should be
managed more than just for irrigation
and for its water resources, but it
should also be managed. It should also
be preserved and managed for recreation
facilities and there should be a nature
center. So that was identified back in
1967 and it took a long time to make
that a reality. Um, the idea for the
nature center actually was that it would
be at the San Antonio Oxbow across the
river. And just so that you guys know
this, we're about to open up that
property to the public next Saturday.
So, please come out for a big opening.
We've got a flyer there. In 1977, the
city was able to purchase what we know
as the Candelary Nature Preserve. And
then it became identified that this was
the spot for the nature center. and we
came into a an agreement with the state
uh forest I'm sorry with the state parks
to have the nature center here and they
do an excellent job and I just want to
thank them for allowing us to have this
meeting here and hosting us today. We
really uh value our nature center. It's
one of the most prized places in the
city and they do great great
programming.
Um, in 1982, the city was able to pass a
quarter cent tax that was inspired by
the acquisition of Elena Gyos and try
and and more than that about 7,000 plus
to preserve what otherwise would have
been developed in Sandas. We had a very
interesting deal with the state court
with uh I'm sorry, US forestry and with
the academy and we were able to pass a
quarter cent tax and we were able to get
the majority of that land which was over
7,000 and give it to the US Forest
Service. They took that and designated
as wilderness and gave us a bunch of
trade land. We used that trade land to
sell it across the state and to develop
a trust. This allowed us finally to have
the funding to manage all this land that
we were acquiring. And on the top of our
priority was to designate this area as a
state park. So the city went to the
state and said, "Hey, the Bos Society
and the city and many other people have
been wanting to have this area
preserved. we'd like it designated as
the Rio Grand Valley State Park and we
can help manage it because we now have
this this money and lo and behold in
1983 March this was designated by state
uh statute as or the state act as the
state park and um that is just a
tremendous story because it would have
been completely different had that not
happened. And how did that happen?
through the hard work and dedication of
our community and our legislators and to
make that happen. So, it's a really
tremendous story. Um, and then a couple
years later, we actually became the open
space division, which was really
exciting. Uh, we were able to develop in
1993 the BOS action management plan. And
then, uh, just recently we updated that
in 2023. It's now called the BOS um I'm
sorry BOS assessment update
prioritization
and we were also then able to come into
a formal agreement with MRGCD. So that's
just kind of a little bit of the
history. The two books I want to
reference that I um actually it is on
this slide uh but you can't read it.
Anyways, this is that the BOP the BOS
updated I'm sorry assessment BOS
assessment and updated prioritization.
It's a mouthful. You don't have to say
it, but you can look it up online and
it's free and you could download it to
read it. It's got a great history of the
state park and of our management
responsibilities and areas that we've
been prioritizing over the next five
years. This was finalized by city
council just recently. And then this one
is a blank spot on the M map. This is
also on our web page. And this is the
history of open space, including the
story that I just gave you, written by
the two previous superintendents,
Matchmater and Rex Funk. A really great
read. If you haven't read this yet,
please do so. It's right online.
All right. So, this this is a huge list
of all of the partners. Um, so first
off, I just want to say what do we
manage the BSK for? It's for the just
general day-to-day operations, trash
cleanup, maintaining recreation
facilities, the parking lots. We do um
we're involved in maintaining
restoration projects that other partners
like the core or the water authority
have put in place. Um, and also doing um
our own direct restoration projects and
in low uh supporting low impact
recreation and education. There are many
other entities who have a role within
the BSE. Uh the middle Rio Grand
Conservancy District of course uh has a
major role and I know Casey Casey Ish
who is the director of the lands and
conservation program a new office that
they have developed is here. He was
sitting over there so I don't see him
now. Okay. And so if you have questions
specific to MRGCD uh Casey is a
wonderful person to talk to and he's
going to be sticking around during our
breakout sessions. Um, we also have the
AMAFA, the Albuquerque uh met
Metropolitan and Royal Flood Control.
They have their drainage areas come into
the BSK. Bernal Leo County and uh the
city of Albuquerque Department of
Municip Municipal Development have
drainage areas, storm water outfalls
that go into the bals. We have the APD
conservation officers, Albuquerque Fire
and Rescue, Bernalo County, New Mexico
State Forestry, New Mexico Game and
Fish, New Mexico State Land Office, New
Mexico Interstate Stream Commission, US
Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of
Reclamation, Bos Ecosystem Monitoring
Program, SUAD and more. And we also, you
know, a lot of us are part of one group
called the Middle Rio Grand Endangered
Species Collaborative. So, we are
sharing best practices and having
science-led decisions uh through that
collaborative. that's been in place for
a long time. They have a great website
and um that's been a really big way for
us to communicate and um you know share
practices not just for this section of
the boss.
All right, but we have a lot of
challenges. Um our partners up and down
the middle Rio Grand Valley have
challenges. We have some very unique
challenges here in the Albuquerque
Bernalo County area because we are in
the heart of the city. The biggest
population is right here. How lucky are
we to have a river that runs through the
heart of our city? But there's some
challenges to that, right? Well, what
are the challenges? We're dealing with
persistent drought and drying now of the
river. That is a huge issue for all of
us and we see it right now. The the now
fires and the fuel loads, forest health
in general, storm water pollution,
recreation impacts. We love recreation.
We want people to use the BSK, but use
it responsibly. use it responsibly and a
lot of unauthorized uses whether it's
ATVs or encampments or you know other
things that you know are not allowed but
they're happening.
This is highlighting a lot of the work
that we've been doing to try to address
those issues and it's pretty extensive
and this is just the recent stuff. So um
because you can't read this well I'm
just going to do a quick read and I'm
almost done because I think I'm close on
time. Okay. So, we started a Bowski
Stewards program. We have a robust
volunteer program and our volunteer
coordinator is here, Jonathan Donovan in
the very back. He's going to be sticking
around too for people who want to
volunteer. We have the trail watch
volunteer program, a fire watch
volunteer program, and now a dedicated
Bossy Stewards program. That's in
addition to big events that we do like
the one we recently had, the National
River Cleanup or the upcoming one in
October, which is Dia Del Rio. two big
events we have, but we have events
happening year round all the time. We're
engaging volunteers, youth crews, uh
students, uh people of all walks of life
in the BSK to help us to steward and
care for this place. So again, it takes
a whole village. It truly does. Um the
postfire remediation hazard uh hazardous
fuels reduction and infrastructure.
Recently, we're here to talk about the
project we've just done here. We also
were busy trying to or removing the
wires from the jetty jacks in
preparation to remove the jetty jacks
here and we'll be doing that work
elsewhere. Um, and we've also been
dealing with where there had been big
fires like over at Publo Mano and
continuing to deal with, you know, weed
encroachment, hazardous trees, all that
kind of stuff. and continuing to work in
the central area where we had a big FEMA
project that gave us a million dollars
to do a big thinning project of about
200 acres. In fact, I know our our staff
and partners were out there just today.
Restoration and habitat improvements. Um
well we had 788 students uh and that
doesn't even include the adults over a
hundred that just for the winter months
uh were out through this river exchange
program that we do with CUDA to bring
out students in the BSK and help us with
planting and seeding and doing other
restoration work. Again, we have our
youth crews out there year round doing
really amazing work, getting life skills
that they can turn into employment while
we are getting the support we need for
projects um and and working with a lot
of contractors. We've been doing low
impact recreation, improving trails,
bridges, and uh stairs. Just a little
teaser, we're going to be doing a
designation for a Cliff Crawford trail
uh for his birthday on July 30th. I'm
going to be sending out a flyer soon.
And I would love for you all to attend
that if you know who Cliff Crawford is
who started the BOS ecosystem monitoring
program. Wonderful human being. Um and
then we also have a lot of the regular
operations and management. I am really
proud to say that the city has stepped
up to provide more support specific to
the BSK. We have a number of new
positions that we either have recently
filled or about to fill. a boss manager,
our current project coordinator who
you'll meet here soon, our forester
who's in the room, we have a biologist
we're going to be hiring for soon. We
have two full-time technicians and four
temporary technicians. That is in
addition to the rest of the staff that
we have who also come at time in times
to support the Bowski management. And
then we were given dedicated funding by
our city council and supported by the
administration over $700,000 in this
current fiscal year. And thanks to a lot
of advocacy of uh the public, we have
money, I know uh coming into this next
fiscal year, too. Um so, you know, we're
just going to keep doing all the good
work that we do and you're going to
learn more about the specifics of that
work that we specifically are doing and
our partners are doing with these next
presentations. So, thank you all. Thank
you very much.
[applause]
All right, our next presentation is um
about postkefires response and
management with Lieutenant Karina
Hernandez.
So come on.
[applause]
Good evening. Thank you all for being
here. I'm Lieutenant Karina Hernandez. I
am the AFR wildland coordinator and I
oversee all wildland operations for the
department. So um I'm just going to
touch on uh the Bosa fires just the
challenges that we face that when we
come in and uh try to suppress these
Bosa fires.
So these are some common um wildland
fire causes. Uh the two main ones it's
human and lightning. uh back in uh '09
when I first started uh wildland
actually it was in ' 07 uh the
the main cause of uh wildfires was uh
lightning strikes and that was at 70%
with human cause 30%. Uh now uh human
cause here in the metro area we're about
90% of human cause fires and 10%
lightning. So, uh, another cause is
just, uh, chainsaws. Um,
so anytime there's high winds, um, winds
exceeding 15 mph, uh, we ask that, uh,
if you are cutting, um, you stop until
the winds, uh, calm down. So, uh, just
sparks. So, any sparks will also cause,
uh, wildfires.
Uh, so these are just the challenges
that we face. So just the heavy uh
vegetation here in the bos jetty jacks
um just the limited access that we have
in the boss. So um in the metro area our
bos it's kind of uh remote for us to get
our our units in. Uh we don't have very
many access uh particularly on the west
side. uh east side we have some access
points but um access uh it's very
limited and that's another challenging
um part of to uh suppress uh basket
fires.
So with the prevention and risk
reduction, so uh no burning allowed uh
in the metro area, open space, city of
Albuquerque, we are level one uh
restrictions. So that's uh no burning,
no campfires, um
uh no camping, uh trails are still open,
um and no firework use.
And another prevention would just be the
the fuel reduction projects that um will
be um ongoing at some point. Thank you
to Open Space um parks and wreck and
their partners.
So just a little bit about the
wildfires. Uh traditionally, uh wildfire
season is from March till November. Here
in the metro area, just because of our
uh dry conditions, um high temperatures,
uh windy conditions, um it's year round
for the metro area. So, um we don't have
a traditional fire season. It's it's
year round.
Uh these are just the resources that AFR
uh has. We do have five dedicated
wildland fire stations and it's a it's a
task force. So with the task force, if
they are activated, it's going to be the
five wildland engine trucks. Uh we do
have two uh suppression UTVs and then
it'll be myself. So um with the task
force it's a total of 35 personnel and
with
uh additional if we need additional
resources would be the the mutual aid.
So in Albuquerque, that is what the task
force is would be the the five Wland
engines uh including myself.
And then also with uh being red carded
uh everyone is red carded to fight
wildland fires at the basic level. Uh so
that's over 750 members that I do have
to uh red card annually. So it takes
about a couple of months to red card
them. So, every year we uh do an annual
pack test refresher. Uh the cadetses uh
they get put into the wildland week and
they come out of the academy certified
at the basic level. I do have over 180
advanced firefighters with probably um
over 50 that go above the advanced
level.
So just with the AFR response uh with
AFR you know it's a rapid response uh so
uh seconds means uh something that we
you know getting there on scene
immediately so rapid response and um
we're the task force is ready and
available uh all year so 365 days out of
the year 247 so all three shifts They
staff these trucks all year at the five
dedicated wildland stations.
This slide just shows the level uh fire
restrictions. So stage one, two, and
three, but we're always at a one all
year. Um
if we do get to uh level two then we
will have to close trails down. So um
last year we did get fairly close um but
we were on hold. We we made some other
mitigations just to prevent uh
wildfires.
And this is what the public can do. Um,
so if you see smoke, fire, report it
immediately. 911. Um,
when reporting these fires, just try to
give the exact location. A Latin long
works perfect for us. But if you don't
have those capabilities, just some type
of uh major intersection, uh, the axis,
uh, but a Latin long is the most
accurate points to get us there
immediately for rapid response. And uh
if you see any suspicious activity, uh
you would just call 242 cops. Uh don't
approach the individual. Uh 242 cops is
where you would report suspicious
activity.
And if we do have an active wildland
fire, if we do uh have a fuel reduction
project, uh we just respect
the trail closure
and so we can keep uh those perimeters
safe when there's it's a it's a hazard
zone.
And then just the uh community
awareness. It's important that on this
one. Yep. Oh, so this one is a
is an app that you guys can upload on
your smartphones. Uh instead of calling
the 311, you have the option to call
311, but the app uh you can like if
you're going to report the uh fire,
suspicious activity, uh any type of
hazard in the bos uh the app is
accurate. um when you pull up the app
and you're there um it'll give you the
accurate Latin longs and you're able to
also take pictures. Um so I do recommend
you guys uh uploading this app. It's a
little bit quicker than calling 311.
Uh these are just some uh platforms uh
that I also uh recommend suggest that
you guys upload on your smartphones. Uh
so with uh watch duty uh watch duty um
it wasn't only firefighters but seemed
to at the time uh it was firefighters
that were we were the ones that uh were
keeping track of wildland fires. Uh as
of last year with the California fires
they did put those on the billboards on
the highways for uh the public to stay
informed of large complex wildfires. And
this uh app will give you uh real time
um data that it will if
an area is going to go into evacuation,
it'll have like the the uh green,
yellow, red evacuations and kind of
notifying uh the public that you know
you're in a evacuation category one,
two, or three.
Uh the other two it's um the Smart 911
app. Uh that one is for the city of
Albuquerque, that one uh you would
create a profile and you would select
all the alerts that you would like to
get alerted for. So if you want to be
alerted for wildfires,
uh any uh floods, uh you name it,
there's a long list and you would get
notified. And that's for the city of
Albuquerque metro area. the Everbridge.
Everbridge is Bernalo County. I just
also recommend that you upload that app
and create a profile and you would also
get alerted that anything close to our
jurisdiction uh Bernalo County, you also
get alerted uh for their wildfires. Um I
do after the break um after the
presentation on the breakouts I do have
a hard copies on how to upload these
apps
and that's all I have questions or are
we going to save it for the breakout?
Okay.
Can you tell us if
smoking?
Smoking.
Yeah, we see somebody there and they're
in there smoking. Legal or not?
Um for critical conditions right now.
Um, no because any yeah any any little
spark and even if they throw their body
the fuels are extremely dry. So um in
February
we had a fire after midnight and light
winds and very dry fields and we had a
quarter acre fire. So there that right
there told me that we were going to have
a very busy season. So uh no smoking. So
it's something that um it's kind of out
of our control. It's just us to educate
the public and so
yeah. So don't
ask questions after the breakouts you
guys can ask.
Yeah. So the next presentation. Yes.
Thank you. [applause]
The next presentation is Yueno Padia and
he's with um New Mexico State Forestry
to give us a state perspective on boske
hazards and fuels reductions. So come on
up.
[applause]
Yeah.
Awesome. Good uh good evening everyone.
Uh, thanks for having me. Um, so as
[clears throat] as Jacob mentioned, um,
my name is Uho Padilla. Uh, I am a
project forester for the Bernalo
district with the New Mexico Forestry
Division. Um, so yeah, thanks for having
me.
Cool. So just a quick overview of the
presentation I have for you today. Um so
objectives of the objectives of treating
the boske history of the boske boske
fire regime native plant species in the
boske non-native invasive plant species
in the bos
louder.
Yeah.
Okay. Thank you. Appreciate that. Sorry
about that guys.
Um yeah anyhow so the overview um it's
just objectives of treating the boke
history of the boske boske fire regime
native plant species of the boske
non-native invasive plant species of the
boske [music] and then boske vegetation
treatments um endangered wildlife um
habitat improvement.
So as I mentioned why me why treat the
boske? Um so our objectives of treating
the boke are to reduce catastrophic fire
wildfire risk. Um retain and improve um
native plant species vigor.
Remove targets invasive plant species
and reduce fuel load. Improve overall
skate ecosystem health. Um increase
public safety.
improve boske aesthetics.
So just to touch um the history of the
Boske um the his uh the Boske
historically used to flood um Jetty
Jacks implemented um to stabilize soils
um and channelize the Rio Grand um and
then this also created a cohort of
cottonwood um stands.
Um and then also just to touch on fire
as well. Um
the boss is not a fire adapted
ecosystem. Native species such as
cottonwoods are not adapted to fire. So
even low intensity and low severity fire
can kill a cottonwood and or create uh
hazardous uh conditions from from the
cottonwoods.
Um and so you know removal of the hazard
trees um are to reduce public risk um
due to the hazards.
Um and then also we will leave some
snags um and standing dead. So typically
we see like 6 to 12 um snags left for
wildlife.
Um and then I have another section here.
So class C invasive species such as salt
cedar and Russian olive have the ability
to vigorously respout.
Um so invasive species they create a
ladder fuel under the cottonwoods. Um
and so we we like to remove those. Um
and also encourage native species to
grow. Um and so with more frequent and
severe wildfires eventually if no if not
treated and this um ongoing wildfire
frequency occurs
um you know native species are no longer
um retained and the non-native invasive
species kind of take over. Um and so
that's not the goal. And so we like to
re retreat and and maintain the boss.
Um so this is just a list of native
species. Um and just a few of them. So
cottonwood, um peach leaf, willow,
coyote willow, four-wing salt bush,
false indigo, um New Mexico olive,
backris, yabbervansa, and then salt
grass.
And then so this is also just a list of
the native or of the non-native target
species. Um so class C um invasives is
salt cedar, Russian olive, Siberian elm
and then um tree of heaven and then I
have reveness also in there um as we
also maintain and uh treat those.
And so then here's just a breakdown of
um bowki vegetation treatments. And so
basically the three boxes are what
occurs on initial treatment. And so we
have hand thinning plus cut stump which
is um herbicide application and then um
slash management which is either
chipping or firewood piles and then
basically removing that material out of
the bow to reduce fuel loading.
Um, and so you can't really see the
photos very well. There's a couple u on
the left here. Um, they're cut stump
treatment showing blue dye, which means
that herbicide was applied. Um, and and
then in the on the third photo, there's
a masticator back there. Um and it's
actually uh re rehabilitating
uh dozer line on the unified fire um
which happened in March.
Um and then here on the right is you
can't see it at all,
but there's a there's a few um tamar in
the back um getting herbicide and it's a
folure spray application. And so there's
no cutting, just folure spray on on the
leaves.
And then lastly, um just wanted to
mention the endangered and threatened
wildlife species. Um so the southwestern
will fly catcher, the Rio Grand silvery
minnow, and the yellow bill caku. Um and
so basically our management of the boke
are are helping to retain their habitat
um not losing it to fire um and also um
even potentially planting um and and
making that habitat larger.
And that's it. That's all I got. Thank
you.
All right. Next is uh Dustin Chavez
Davis with the open space division. Um
he's going to talk about the Bowke
restoration and wildlife habitat plans.
Um he's a project coordinator with the
open space division.
All right. Uh good evening everyone.
Thanks for being out here. Thanks to all
the partners who put in work on uh the
boss and on this project that we're
talking about tonight. And um yeah, just
grateful that everyone's out here
expressing their opinions and you know,
learning about what's happening and our
management and some of the challenges
and some of the the vision for the
future that we have. And so, um you
know, I was asked to speak about
wildlife habitat. And I think um you
know, the first thing to think about
really is why are we all here here in
Albuquerque, right? It's because of the
river. It's because we have water,
right, that supports us, supports life
here. And um you know, the the river,
the Rio Grande corridor is an important
habitat um for many different species.
Um you know, when we're talking about
about habitat, we're we're not just
talking about, you know, mammals, right?
Humans, but um all of our non-human
relatives, too. So, all the way down,
right? That's the fish in the river, the
birds up in the sky and in the trees.
And uh you know in the soil too the m
the the insects, the microbes, the fungi
that are out there uh decomposing the
the wood and you know providing that
that cycle that we all rely on, right?
Uh [clears throat]
so we've done um a lot of studying of
the life that that lives along the
river, right? And so we're not making
these decisions in a vacuum just, you
know, single-mindedly focused on on one
thing. We're looking at the whole
ecosystem together in its entirety,
right? Um, and so we've we've worked
with a lot of partners to do these
studies, right? Ecologists, biologists,
uh, folks who are experts in wildlife,
folks who are experts in soil health.
Um, and so we've, you know, Colleen
mentioned the Bowske assessment and
update plan. Uh, we we've been working
off of the Bowske action plan for the
last 30 years, but we have an update now
that's looked at the current conditions,
right? And we're looking at the water,
uh the depth to the groundwater, right?
We're looking at uh the vegetation cover
um you know, what is the structure of
that vegetation? Is it open meadow and
grasslands? Is it densely uh vegetated
with non-native invasive species? Is it
open cottonwood? Right? There's lots of
different variety within the boss. And
so we want to, you know, support a
variety of different habitats for
different uh wildlife.
Um, you know, Yueno mentioned the
threatened and endangered species. I
think that's uh an important thing to
keep in mind, right? We all know that uh
we do have some of those species that
live in our in our Bose case ecosystem.
Uh from the silvery minnow, right, in
the in the water to the um fly catcher
and the cuckoo that are the endangered
birds in the system. Um, you know, we've
also done some some projects and
planning around supporting our
pollinators, which are another important
um aspect of the the wildlife habitat
that we're trying to preserve. So, you
know, we did the um river for monarchs
planting where we planted uh milkweed
and provide providing habitat for those
insects, bees, and um you know, other
you know, the monarch butterfly which is
also uh threatened, right? Um so, yeah,
we worked with GSA on our habitat uh
action plan. um that looked at this area
here uh between Campbell Road and
Montano. Um we also have done a thinning
project down between Central and Bridge
where we have done a lot of studying as
well. Um you know assessing what um
vegetation is out there where we might
need to address uh invasive or noxious
weeds and you know just kind of overall
assessing the health of the of the boss.
And um you know we did target this area
because of some heavy fuel loads because
of dense invasive uh vegetation that uh
existed there.
Um
so yeah we we did mapping. We looked at
inundation zones as well. So like where
is the water going to go if we do get
good runoff? Um you know what is the
depth to the groundwater because that's
really important for our native
cottonwoods and willows to rely on that
connection to the groundwater table. Um
and we did a lot of this field work. you
know, it was boots on the ground. Us
with open space and with our uh partners
looking at, you know, learning how to do
soil auguring and and you know, looking
at the texture. Is it clay? Is it sandy?
You know, is it going to be able to
support um a cottonwood or whatever we
may decide to plant there.
So um trying to advance the next slide
here but the outcome of this plan was
you know a lot of data and you know some
of that data we were able to present in
maps that told us a story about what's
happening right and so this you know
example is looking at the vegetation
structure and so assessing you know is
there a healthy canopy is there open
areas is there annual weeds um and
trying to make some, you know,
management decisions based on that. Uh,
next, um, getting into a little more
detail here on the Campbell to Montano
section, we looked at, um, the fuel
loads, you know, so these areas in red,
and we have a a poster print out here
where you can see we assessed that there
was heavy fuel load in there, heavy
invasive species mostly, but, you know,
that was an area of concern that was
brought to us by neighbors here and we,
you know, collected some data. We looked
at what's out there and we agreed, you
know, there was some work maybe that
needed to be done to reduce the risk of
a of a catastrophic fire here. Um, you
know, we talked with Karina about uh
fire response as well. And so that's why
we mapped out where the jetty jacks are
and you know working we've been working
with um the state historic preservation
office and our partners with MRGCD and
with um the Bureau of Reclamation and um
Army Corps of Engineers to get approval
to remove them to increase you know
access and make it safer and easier for
first responders to respond to a fire if
there is one.
Um, so we've started the first phase of
those removals, pulling out the wires
that tie the jacks together, and we'll,
you know, continue that work in the fall
after, uh, migratory bird season is um,
completed.
Um, so really, you know, we're looking
at greater
uh, diversity of our vegetation. Um, we
want to see things that are going to
support, you know, different species
and, um, you know, reduced dominance by
those invasives that we've mentioned,
right? Um, so, um, we're trying to make
a more sustainable system, right? It's
it's about the diversity being more
resilient and, you know, helping us to
create this habitat that we're we're
shooting for. So, next,
um, and we're doing it, you know, with
lots of partners. Again, we talked about
some of these target species that we've
been removing. Um, we've been working
with Rocky Mountain Youth Corps in this
area, reestablishing the trails, you
know, removing some of that dead and
down wood out, chipping it up. We hauled
out, you know, tons of of of mulch from
the site. And that mulch is going to a
lot of good places, working with, you
know, our local farmers and community
gardens and school gardens. Um, other
restoration areas where we need a little
bit of ground cover to help hold in
moisture. Um, you know, so that mulch is
going to a good home. It's not just, you
know, going to the landfill or
something, but, you know, we're actually
reusing it and trying to, um, recycle
that material.
Um, you know, this is kind of the reason
why this project again was focused on um
removing some of those invasive species.
They form really dense colonies. It's a
monotypic stand, right? So, we know
there's less diversity. There's less um,
you know, structural diversity for that
wildlife rely on. So, you know, these
are some of the reasons why we targeted
some of this thick Russian olive and and
tree of heaven that that's in growing in
this area.
And what we're shooting for is a mosaic
of different habitats. So again, it's
probably not going to be a straight
stand of cottonwood trees in the future.
We'll see more diversity in there.
There's going to be shrublands. There's
going to be grassland. There's going to
be uh you know, hopefully open water,
you know. Um but those that's kind of
what we're looking for in the future is
to see, you know, diversity of different
species, diversity of different
ecosystem, you know, function and and
types.
Um, and that's what we're going to be
focusing on, you know, for the next
couple months and years. Like, this is a
long-term plan. Um, and we're seeing,
you know, some of the seeds that we've
planted are growing, right? So, we
planted, um, over 800 backeras within
the last year. That's a native shrub
that flowers that brings in a lot of
pollinators. Um, you know, we planted
Rocky Mountain bee plant in our mix
that's coming up. There's, um, you know,
grasses and and ground cover that's
getting established. So, um, you know,
I'm hopeful that we'll see things
growing back in areas that we've treated
quickly. Um, if we get rain, like it a
lot of it is dependent on, um, getting
our monsoons, you know, that we're
praying for. So, um, that's, yeah, some
of the things we're looking at with our
restoration work going into the future.
And there's always a role for volunteers
to play. Colleen mentioned that. We've
got Jonathan here, our volunteer
coordinator. So, you know, we want to
engage people in that process as well.
And yeah, if there's any questions, you
know, I'll be with the wildlife habitat
group. So, thanks.
[applause]
All right, we have one last presentation
before we'll have the opportunity to
break into groups and have uh more
targeted discussions about these
different topics. So, the the last
presentation is Ricky Reedi. He's the
forest health manager for SEU doad soil
and water conservation district and he's
going to talk about the prescription for
uh fuels reduction in the post.
Hey everybody um I'm Ricky
[clears throat]
not used to talking to a microphone. Can
you hear me? Cool. Um so yeah I'm the
forest health manager with CU do soil
and water. This is Joshua. He's my boss.
Um, and yeah, so,
uh, just to start out, um, want to give
a little bit of background on who we are
and why we're involved. So, we are your
local soil and water. Can I take this
off of you?
did something.
Sure did.
Sorry.
I don't know.
So, uh we're CU dot Soil and Water
Conservation District. Um we cover most
of Bernalo County as well as the
southern half of uh Sandaval County to
the north. Um so there's a map up there
showing in yellow our district
boundaries. We are beyond those
boundaries with various partners at
different times as it makes sense for us
to um and we're a local special district
and we're tasked with conserving and
improving natural resources in the
metropolitan area um to those boundaries
and beyond. Um, our program areas
include forestry, watersheds,
agriculture, youth education, adult
education, and more. Um, I've got
another photo, um, map up here. I know
it's all hard to see, but um, a lot of
folks are pretty familiar with the
Bernalo County um, shape there. And this
map is a composite risk map for wildfire
that's taken from our community wildfire
protection plan, which was developed in
2022. Um, covers the entire county. And
what this map is showing is not just
risk of fire due to vegetation or due to
proximity to resources, but it's also
considering um those things in addition
to about eight other criteria filtered
through. The more red on the map, the
more at risk. So east mountains, lots of
red. We all know that. Um but in here,
we see a lot more red through this
strip. And that's the Bosi. Um so we
have really similar um identified fire
risk through that area um along the Bosi
as we have in the East Mountains. Can
you
Thank you. Um and again uh so as far as
forestry at CUDAD um we complete forest
health and wildfire wildfire fuel
reduction projects with various partners
on upland and riparian forests all
through the east mountains cedar crest
to Harris Ponderosa pine down here on
the Bosi and Carneua on the um
tributaries to the Rio Grand as well. Um
we assess project sites forestry project
plans and provide project management.
Um, a main thing that, um, we do to
complete all of those projects is
maintaining a list of qualified forestry
contractors. Um, and so everyone who
works with us is on a professional
services agreement with us. It's a high
bar for them to get on that list. Um,
and they work um, that agreement that we
have with all of them defines the scope
of work that they might do within our
programs. Um this map here on the
um slide is again showing uh some data
from our CWPP, our community wildfire
protection plan, and those are all
identified um distinct communities at
risk. Um so we're looking at um southern
half of Albuquerque here and again um
we're seeing a lot of identified risk um
in communities directly adjacent to the
BOSI and that's due to um the difficulty
for firefighters to get in there and
address fires when they do start as they
frequently do. Um and also the amount of
vegetation loading that is in there. Can
you go to the next? Um, so then we get
into the actual prescription for
Campbell to Montano. Um, so open space
division um in part from feedback from
the neighborhoods started working with
geosystems analysis to develop a
vegetation plan for this area. Um part
of that plan um [clears throat] outlines
high, moderate, and low priority areas
in regards to fuels reduction fuels,
meaning those invasive species that a
few presenters before talked about um
that are typically not natives, but not
exclusively. Um and also all the
accumulation of dead and down that we
see. Um so from that plan um open space
GSA New Mexico Forestry Division and
Sead worked collaboratively together to
write a prescription for one of our
contractors to come in and do a fuels
reduction project here that achieves
[clears throat] those objectives of
fuels reduction protects other values
and follows the parameters of the
professional services agreement we have
with our contractors.
So, from that, I wanted to show a couple
of lines from um that prescription. Um
if I slapped the whole thing up here,
you definitely couldn't read it. Um but
some of the things we're doing is we're
not cutting any alive cottonwood or
other native species in these stands
unless necessary for personal safety. Um
stockpile areas for chip material or
removed logs are coordinated with open
space. Um, so a big aspect of these
projects is removing the overall fuel
load. And we talked a lot about the
non-native species, but also there's a
lot of scessing, dying back of the
cottonwoods and other natives. So
there's a lot of dead and down on the
ground. I know a lot of you have been
out there um chipping away at some of it
over the last couple years yourselves.
Um, so thanks for for doing that. So you
know how hard it is, how much there is
out there. Um so another aspect of these
projects is that dead and down removal
component and it's a lot of work to deal
with that but really critical. Um so we
have all dead and down material 4 in or
greater in diameter should be removed.
So that's a spec we look for within
these projects. And then ultimately no
fuelwood slash slash meaning the
branches that might come off of trees
that are small um smaller trees um and
chips will be left inside project site
acres um because we're trying to remove
that fuel risk component um from the
BOSI. And then at the end of each of
these projects a full inspection is
conducted by New Mexico Forestry
Division personnel. typically a project
forester such as Uenoyo. Um so those are
some highlights of the prescription.
These are like five bullet points out of
like 45 that go into a prescription
plan. Um and we have an image here of
some of the work in progress. So um
there's some larger uh target species
tree that's cut there still on the
ground yet to be removed. You can see
some of the blue dye there. The reason
that's used is so um the contractors and
us and the inspectors can see exactly
where has been treated and they know
things aren't getting hit twice and we
know that we're hitting the target
species. So that's why that blue dye
gets used. Um next
uh just a couple more photos of the work
in progress. um a little tough to see um
tonight, but um this one on the right is
from this most recent 16 acres that we
were able to complete in the time frame
that we had. So that's another thing we
have to balance all the time is
available funding and time frames. So um
it was kind of tight on this one and we
did as much as we could in a really
tight window to um pretty good effects
considering um we are running right up
to spring. Um, and so can't see too
much, but um, a lot of invasives have
come out of that photo. On the right, on
the ones on the left, we see some
temporary chip piles that get staged. A
lot of you have probably seen those um,
throughout these projects. And those get
removed um, as they can throughout
projects. And then just one more.
Um, so I don't know how well this is
coming through either, but um, this is a
before and after. This is actually from
the FEMA project a couple years ago.
This is right by Tingley Beach. Um, and
the red circle you see this is the exact
same photo point um on the left as it is
on the right. And that's just before
treatment where we see really dense
under midstory um of Siberian elm and
other target species. Um, and then on
the right just a short time later where
it's much more open. you can see um to
the base of the remaining trees and
there's actually a lot of um understory
trees that you can't see in that photo
because it's winter time. Um so
conditions where we are in a lot of
places currently on the left and then
we're moving towards on the right there.
Thank you.
I think it will be
available
online. It will be
all
tax and so we paid for this project. So
I don't understand why we are not
allowed to ask questions in a large
session and we have to
because I think of things to say
much more
than one of the
different
individuals.
Well, um that's that's our plan here is
that we want to um let you talk to each
of these individuals. That's why we were
hoping we could break into groups so
that you could go from one group to the
next to ask questions to each of them.
If we're all here, we have to go one by
one and some people may just have a
question for one person and then want to
leave. So that was the that's the idea
is to give more access to everyone um to
all of the speakers that are here today.
So that's that's our goal.
Like to hear from each other
and bounce ideas off and what they have
to say to you and hear you respond back.
Much preferred over
you've taken quite a bit of time to to
talk and you've given us a lot of in
our
and we do want to hear that input. We
will have also our plan is we're having
somebody in each of those sessions
taking notes so that we'll have all of
everybody's questions written down so
that we can share it back.
Will that share it online?
Yeah, we can share it online.
Absolutely.
All right. So, the plan is to um have
wild wildlife
habitat and restoration planning um up
in this corner.
We can do more more of these sessions.
We do have the opportunity to come back.
We don't want to be here all night, but
we can do more sessions. Um, we want to
give everyone the opportunity to to ask
questions to the people that are here.
Give us an opportunity.
That's what
So that answer
so that we can all hear the answer
because if you're in one group and you
don't hear the answer from the other
I think we would have the opportunity to
to answer all the questions with this
many people if we have the opportunity
to break into groups. So and please go
from one group to the other. If you want
to hear from each other you can have
those conversations. Um, we want to make
sure that there's access for everyone to
be able to talk to each other. Um, to
talk to all the people here. If we just
are doing one at a time, it's going to
take much longer and we won't have the
opportunity to hear everyone.
We have 20 minutes.
We have 20 minutes before the place
closed down. Closes down. So,