WildEarth Guardians

Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Santa Fe river Waterway deemed most imperiled

Dry riverbed rarely flows
Contact: Staci Matlock The New Mexican

The rarely flowing Santa Fe River today topped a national river advocacy group's list of the most endangered rivers in America.

American Rivers, a 65,000-member nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., put the slender 46-mile river ahead of nine others that rounded out the list, which was released Monday.

David Groenfeldt, executive director of the Santa Fe Watershed Association, said he hopes the listing will drum up more support for a goal he shares with the city's mayor and many others -- returning a regular water flow to the river.

Mayor David Coss said the listing means there's hope for restoring the river. ``The status of most-endangered means the river is still there, and if the community has the political will to do it, we can bring it back to a healthy ecosystem,'' he said.

Rebecca Wodder, president of American Rivers, said river advocacy groups such as the watershed association, nominate rivers for the list. A group of scientists and American Rivers staff evaluate the nominations based on three criteria: significance of the river as a resource, the magnitude of the threat and the nature of a major decision that could impact the river in the next year.

Wodder said the Santa Fe River is an example of a desert waterway facing the dual threat of human water consumption and the potential for drought from climate change.

She said the commitment by Coss, city officials and the watershed association to plan for the river's revival was important in putting it at the top of her group's list.

``We see in the Santa Fe River a tremendous opportunity for a desert river,'' Wodder said. ``It could be a model of how a desert city can keep a river flowing. Rivers are resilient. They can come back to life.''

American Rivers began in 1973. Wodder has headed the group for 12 years. She said rivers were the way Americans explored and settled the country in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the 20th century, ``rivers were harnessed and trashed, to the point they were ignored,'' Wodder said.

``I think rivers are coming out of a blind spot where they've been,'' she said, noting rivers around the world face ongoing challenges from pollution, overuse and climate change.

The complete American Rivers report is available online at: www.AmericanRivers.org/MERPressroom

Contact Staci Matlock at 470-9843 or smatlock@sfnewmexican.com.

Copyright 2007 The New Mexican - Reprinted with permission