May 22, 2007:

     Bernalillo County Ditches and Canals Deemed Endangered Places

     The New Mexico Heritage Preservation Alliance has deemed the
     Conservancy's 350 miles of ditches in Bernalillo County as
     endangered places. The Alliance cites unrelenting urbanization as
     the reason.

     Historic Ditches and Canals of Bernalillo County

     This 300-mile ditch and drain network is located in the North and
     South Valleys of Bernalillo County within the administrative
     boundaries of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District.

     Many of the irrigation ditches in the valley date from the
     eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The drains date from the
     1930s.

     Distinguishing characteristics of the irrigation ditches include narrow
     right-of-ways, with banks typically wide enough to accommodate
     only a single-file walker or single maintenance vehicle. They are
     typically dirt-packed, with large cottonwood trees, willows, and other
     vegetation growing in abundance in many places. Where ditches are
     vegetated, a wide variety of birds and other wildlife can often be seen.
     Adjacent land uses are largely residential and agricultural.

     The system is inextricably linked with the cultural and economic history
     of the region. The history of constructed waterways in the middle Rio
     Grande Valley goes back hundreds of years. Ditches were first developed
     to irrigate farms and orchards by Puebloan people and, later, by Spanish
     colonists and other peoples of European descent. In 1923, the Middle Rio
     Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) was formed to consolidate, manage
     and maintain the irrigation system and develop a supportive network of
     flood control levees and drainage canals.

     Threat

     Like most metropolitan areas in the western United States, Albuquerque
     has experienced tremendous growth and development over the past 60
     years. The development has increasingly stressed and threatened the
     ditches and the adjacent semi-rural landscapes and activities they support.
     In the last two decades especially, many hundreds of farmland acres have
     been developed for roadways and suburban land uses. Portions of the
     waterway network have been abandoned and sold to adjacent landowners.
     Old and distinctive cottonwoods, and other trees along ditch banks, are
     increasingly viewed and treated by landowners as hazards or impediments,
     rather than assets. And, concerns over water use and water rights have
     put the future of the ditch system and irrigated agriculture into question.

     The North Valley Coalition recognizes that it is critically important to take action
     to preserve the historic look, feel, and function of the ditch and drain system
     before it is lost. For this reason, project “Ditches-with-Trails” was initiated.
     Participants in this project are studying how a formalized trails system could be
     established along at least a portion of the ditch and drain network, with trail
     management and maintenance programs also put into place.

     For the full report of New Mexico's "Most Endangered Places" see the
      New Mexico Heritage Preservation Alliance website.

      Read the Ditches with Trails Endangered Places 2007 Application.