New Mexico

Natural Resources

Conservation Service

2002 Report

Pictured: Drip irrigation system for high value crops
Dear New Mexicans,

 In FY2002, New Mexican farmers and ranchers received the greatest assistance in

applying conservation on the ground in this nation’s history. Yet, we know that to the

apple grower in Espanola, chile farmer in Hatch, and beef rancher in Roy the most

important thing may not be history but a better irrigation system, more forage per acre,

and a safer way to handle chemicals on the farm. We share their desire to conserve

resources and live in harmony with our environment.

 The drought we experienced this summer dominated the talk over coffee at the Spic

and Span in Las Vegas and across the fence in Reserve. We were all reminded again

how vital the conservation plans are that our staff develop in cooperation with farmers

and ranchers. It is through such plans that agriculture can weather drought, and capitalize on wet years.

 Our work is gratifying. It is exciting for our staff to see a rancher get fired up about conservation when he or

she see the results of cross fencing and rotation systems. We all respond when grouse and turkeys return to an

area that was once devoid of wildlife.

 These victories by farmers and ranchers in New Mexico inspire us. It is with deep appreciation that we

partner with the private landowner, and support farms and ranches that live well with their environment and are

sound financially. I invite you to read this report and share in the challenges and successes we realized in 2002.

Sincerely,

Rosendo Trevino III

State Conservationist

6200 Jefferson NE

Albuquerque, NM 87109

(505)761-4400

www.nm.nrcs.usda.gov

 One of the products of this year’s horrific fire

season is a growing awareness of defensible space.

Even less known, but equally important, is the

emerging technology of dry hydrants. A dry hydrant is

a steel, iron, or PVC pipe that sticks out of the ground

to give tanker trucks a hose connection. The other end

of the pipe has an intake strainer section and is

submerged in a stream or pond. A pump on the tanker

truck provides the suction to draw the

water from the stream or pond into the

tanker. Since the success of fighting fire

in rural areas, in many cases, depends on

the distance tanker trucks must travel for

water fill-ups, dry hydrants can be critical.

 Because of the Northern Rio Grande

Resource Conservation and Development

Council (RC&D), many small communities in northern

New Mexico are adopting dry hydrant technology. As

a result of the RC&D’s assistance Taos County has

installed 59 dry hydrants, Rio Arriba County 17, and

Santa Fe County 14.

 Homeowners are frequently convinced about dry

hydrants when they understand their insurance rates

may decrease. The insurance rates of homeowners in

El Rito, Rio Arriba County decreased

because of the installation of a dry hydrant.

Dry hydrants are a win-win situation.

Rural fire departments and homeowners

gain. And the state of New Mexico and

RC&D achieve their stated purpose of

supporting the development of rural New

Mexico.

Rural Fire Fighting Just Got Easier in Northern New Mexico
 Parched land, devastating wildfires, the 2002 Farm

Bill, endangered species, hericide contamination, and

survival of a conservation district made conservation a

challenge in New Mexico this past fiscal year.

 The year began with early warnings by NRCS Snow

Survey staff of an impending drought. The Snow

Survey and Water Supply Forecasting program directed by NRCS plays a vital role in data collection of

snow meltwater runoff. The Western mountain ranges

hold snowpack that provides 50 to 80 percent of the

year’s water supply. New Mexico is dependent on the

winter snowpack for irrigation, reservoir operation,

domestic water use, fisheries management, recreation,

and flood control. With an almost non-existent snowpack forecasters predicted the lowest minimum daily

mean flows in the Rio Grande since the 1960s. In the

spring persistent winds and unusually warm weather

further decimated the scant snowpack.

 In March, New Mexico completed the nation’s first

pilot dam rehabilitation project funded under the

Emergency Watershed Program (EWP). The concrete spillway of a dam in the Santa Cruz River watershed had deteriorated due to reactive aggregates.

 Also in March, the Mescalero Apache Tribe completed the largest Great Plains Conservation Program

(GPCP) project which included installing livestock and

wildlife pipelines and drinking facilities, woodland

thinning, fencing, and grade stabilization structures.

 In part because of the drought, New Mexico experienced the worst fire season in memory. Usually its

fire season begins in June, however, this year’s season

began in April with the Ryan Fire near Riudoso. This

fire was rapidly followed by a succession of other

major fires throughout the state including the Penasco,

Borrego, Truchas, and Ponil. The U.S. Department of

Agriculture released Emergency Watershed Program

(EWP) funds administered by NRCS to reseed large

areas denuded by the fires. The EWP funds were also

used for installing jersey barriers, catch basins, and

diversion ditches to mitigate the threat to residents of

flooding during the monsoon season.

 Voters swarmed the polls in June and defeated a

proposed mill levy by one of NRCS’s partners, the

Ciudad Soil and Water Conservation District. The

media and voters saw the referendum as poorly publicized and managed, and labeled the it as a “stealth”

election that only anticipated the turn out of “a few

friends”. As a consequence, a grassroots group petitioned for a referendum

to dissolve the district.

Ciudad launched a

successful public information campaign about

their many activities and

benefits to the community, and voters soundly

rejected the attempt to

dissolve the district in

September.

 The maturity of the

state’s Soil and Water

Conservation Districts

was also demonstrated

by their management of a

large, state-funded conservation project. Salt cedar is

invading New Mexico’s waterways, guzzling water and

depleting the flow available to meet the state’s obligations to Texas. Rather than the state purchasing

agricultural water rights to meet the obligations, the

New Mexico Association of Conservation Districts

successfully argued for funding to treat the salt cedar.

Salt cedar treatment began this summer under the

management of the Soil and Water Conservation

Districts.

 With the advent of summer, came the 2002 Farm

Bill. The 2002 Farm Bill increased New Mexico’s

resources for supporting conservation efforts by

farmers and ranchers on private land. Environmental

Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) funding available

in New Mexico increased from a level of about $5.2

million per year to over $10 million this year. The cost

share with the farmers and ranchers was adjusted to 75

percent NRCS and 25 percent private producers. We

received over 1000 applications for conservation

projects by farmers and ranchers this year, with the

total requests exceeding $30 million. More than 400

projects were funded.

 The Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program also

entered into eight contracts this year. New Mexico

currently has 120 contracts in place for improving

Success Follows Challenges in 2002

NRCS employees review

thinning project near Chama
wildlife habitat on private lands. About $900,000 of

federal funds are committed to these projects. New

Mexico received $122,000 in funding for FY 2002.

NRCS New Mexico had 26 applications made by

landowners and was able to fund eight new projects.

The eight new projects will improve habitat on private

land for elk, turkey, bear, shorebirds, grouse, desert

beghorn sheep, and other species including the endangered willow flycatcher.

 The 2002 Farm Bill also contained a special section

that allowed for additional water savings funding in the

High Plains Aquifer. Water savings meant actions

that improved irrigation systems, enhanced irrigation

efficiencies, and other practices that improved groundwater or surface water conservation. The funds were

provided through cost-share, low interest loans, and

incentive payments.

 As the summer wore on, the drought deepened.

This drought brought home the point more than ever

that farmers and ranchers need a conservation plan for

adapting to drought conditions during dry years, in

addition to plans for capitalizing on plentiful moisture

during wet years. Most of our farmers and ranchers in

their fifties or sixties do this naturally. But we have

new people, and NRCS can buy them some experience

by providing technical assistance and working with

them and doing conservation plans.

 The drought in New Mexico brought three adversaries to the same raft when the city of Albuquerque

offered some of its water to get farmers through the

summer and to help protect the silvery minnow, an

endangered species. The city leased up to 40,000 acrefeet to the Bureau of Reclamation to give the endangered silvery minnows a flowing river. Additional

water was needed, however, as fall came. Federal

courts again intervened in the issue.

 In August it was reported that the herbicide

tebuthiuron had destroyed crops on farms in the

Malaga area. Tebuthiuron had been applied to rangeland in the area by the Bureau of Land Management

and producers who received funding from NRCS

under the program to control invasive brush species.

The application had been done by air in pellet form

based on New Mexico Technical Guide standards.

 The New Mexico Plant Materials Center continued to research numerous projects including technology that provides for a 98 percent survival rate of

transplanted shrubs. Ensuring the survival of shrubs is

particularly important along highway medians and

rights of ways, windbreaks, and wildlife plantings

where conventional irrigation is not available.

 The Soil Survey Program continued to provide

updated soil maps and databases for users in New

Mexico. The report manuscripts were developed and

maps digitized for publication in traditional hard copy

and electronic formats. Digital aerial photograph

mosaics were also available for most counties. The

soil survey data was incorporated into the new electronic Field Office Technical Guide available on the

Internet at http://www.nm.nrcs.usda.gov/.

 Through the many events of the year, New Mexico

NRCS served as a source of technical and financial

assistance as farmers and ranchers sought to husband

their land with care. NRCS is proud to be partners in

the conservation of New Mexico’s natural resources.

A traveling irrigator operates in a small pasture in Espanola