Science, Education & Stewardship
 

Background: The Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program (BEMP) is long-term ecological research using volunteers (mainly K-12 teachers and their students) to monitor key indicators of structural and functional change in the Middle Rio Grande riparian forest, or “bosque”. Started with fewer than 200 students in 1997, BEMP now has over 2,500 students participating in field data collection, lab processing, and follow-up classroom activities – all helping to increase their understanding and appreciation of science and the riparian ecosystem and all supporting science education reform efforts.

Participants: Students from over 40 schools have been involved with BEMP either directly through their school or through such institutions as the Rio Grande Nature Center and NM Museum of Natural History, from Rio Arriba, Sandoval, Bernalillo, Valencia, Socorro, and McKinley Counties. BEMP involves traditional public, charter, parochial, private, and home school students. Preparatory teacher workshops are held in the fall and a seminar-type student congress, in which students make presentations on their sites and projects, is held at the end of the school year.

Research: Abiotic data collected and analyzed includes groundwater level, water quality, river flow, water level in ditches, precipitation, and air and soil temperatures. Biotic data include native plant and exotic plant productivity, surface-active arthropod activity, vegetation cover, and woody debris/fuel loading. Such monitoring provides insight into the biological quality and hydrologic connectivity of the (at present) 22 BEMP sites spanning 140 miles of the Rio Grande. These sites are located on public, private, pueblo, and federal state park lands. Included are post-fire recovery sites, actively managed sites, potential flooding sites, six sites that bracket Albuquerque’s drinking water diversion dam, and two sets of paired sites (an experimental cleared site adjacent to a control forested site) in Valencia County used for measuring the effects of clearing/thinning on groundwater (quality, level) and vegetation. University of New Mexico interns, site representatives, and contracted experts provide quality control on all BEMP data.

Results and Applications: BEMP data shows new cottonwood growth within some sections of the bosque and some areas remaining with more than 95% native vegetation. BEMP has also documented the ascendancy of exotic plant communities and tracked the impacts of various intervention and management strategies such as exotic plant removal and mowing. Most BEMP sites have a significant hydrologic connection between the groundwater and river flow, while a few have a significant connection between groundwater and water in the nearby ditches and drains. Resource managers and researchers attempting to restore cottonwood-dominated sites can use BEMP data to locate suitable areas and determine the most appropriate strategy.

Agencies that use BEMP data include: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs and various tribal governments, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NM Interstate Stream Commission, Association of New Mexico Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Bosque Education Guide (update), Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, New Mexico Energy Minerals and Natural Resources Department (State Forestry), and the City of Albuquerque.

Participating students:
Rio Arriba and Sandoval Counties: Ohkay Owingeh Community School, Youth Conservation Corps, and Bernalillo High School.

Bernalillo County: Bosque School, River Rangers, Harrison Middle School, Hubert H. Humphrey Elementary School, Albuquerque Public School’s alternative School on Wheels and Freedom High, CEPi #1, Albuquerque Country Day School, S.Y. Jackson Elementary School, Bernalillo High School Dream Warriors, Adamson Academy, Van Buren Middle School, 21st Century Academy, Albuquerque Home Schools, Young Explorers, Museum of Natural History, the Rio Grande Nature Center’s summer camp program (the Rio Grande Ecology Institute), Zia Middle School, Holy Ghost Middle School, Los Ranchos Middle School, La Cueva High School, Jimmy Carter Middle School, East Mountain High School, Sandia High School, Dolores Gonzales Elementary, and Big Brothers and Big Sisters.

Valencia County: Rio Grande Elementary School, Belen High School, Los Lunas High School, Los Lunas Middle School, and students from the gifted student programs at Katherine Gallegos, Los Lunas, and Mariposa Elementary Schools.

Socorro County: High Desert Home School Group, Cottonwood Charter School, and Sarracino Middle School.

McKinley County: Kennedy Middle School (Gallup), Tohatchi School, and Wingate Elementary School