Santa Ana Pueblo: Where the Bosque Remembers

Elders at Santa Ana Pueblo remember the Rio Grande as a playground, open cottonwood forest and moving water. Generations of levees and channelization changed that, until thickets of tamarisk and Russian olive grew so dense a rider on horseback could not pass through.

Since 1998 the pueblo’s Bosque Restoration Division has been bringing the old forest back along the six river miles that cross its land, clearing about 1,500 acres and restoring habitat for the silvery minnow and the southwestern willow flycatcher. People throughout the Middle Rio Grande Valley now look to Santa Ana for guidance. As the climate warms, the crew is adapting too, planting drought-hardy native shrubs where cottonwoods may no longer thrive. Restoration here is less a project than a relationship.

Sources: Bosque Restoration Division (Pueblo of Santa Ana) · The future of New Mexico’s beloved bosque (High Country News)