Floodplain Management and Habitat Restoration

1
Floodplain Management and Habitat Restoration

• Socorro Valley, New Mexico

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Historic Active Floodplain
West
East
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Riparian Management Goals

• Biological Diversity/Habitat Quality
• Improved Land/Water Management
• Restored River Processes
• Ecosystem Scale of Effort

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Bosque del Apache NWR

• Control of Saltcedar/Russian Olive

• Re establishment of Native Vegetation

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Current Research

• Focus
• Wildlife use
• Exotic species control
• Riparian vegetation re establishment
• Techniques
• Diversity/dynamics
• Mimicking of natural processes
• Water use

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Taking It to the River

• Draft Restoration Plan on Refuge
• Research
• Monitoring
• Adaptive management

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Active Floodplain Research

• Focus of Research
• Natural processes
• Wildlife use
• Exotic species control
• Other biotic responses
• Water use
• Other

• Focus of Monitoring
• Technique success
• Adaptive management needs
• Surface water/groundwater interactions
• Succession
• Habitat diversity
• Other

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Floodplain Management

• Save Our Bosque Task Force
• Feasibility study
• Conceptual restoration plan
• Implementation
• Partnerships

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Feasibility Study

• Looked at vegetation cover, land ownership,
  flooding potential
• Estimated costs of protection/restoration

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Conceptual Restoration Plan

• Increase Habitat Diversity
• Restore River Processes
• Control of Fire Danger
• Address ES Issues
• Improved Water/Land
• Management

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Technical Assistance

• Planning
• Design specs
• Modeling
• Prioritizing
• Implementation
• Maintenance

• Research Monitoring Focus
• Wildlife use, trends
• Hydraulic/geomorphologic trends
• Biotic trends
• Water balance

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Restoration of River Processes

• Peak flows
• Maintenance flows
• Channel dynamics
• Succession of habitats

13
Limited Channel Capacity

• Trends
• Management needs