The banks of the Rio Grande in northern New Mexico see a lot of pressure. A new cleanup program is trying to change people’s attitude about the river. Photo © Jim Bones.

By Rebecca Clarren
Forest Magazine, Fall 2003

The Guadalupe River carves a thin ribbon of reprieve through the arid landscape of central New Mexico. Running red in the spring, its waters flow past the Santa Fe National Forest’s Jemez Mountains and bands of red and orange rock, dense piñon forests and wide meadows, eventually emptying into the Rio Grande. All this beauty lures: on weekends, the Guadalupe’s banks are choked with visitors, most of whom make the less than two-hour drive from Albuquerque to fish, camp and soak up the sound of a running river.

“In New Mexico, people are starving for water; they’re aching for it,” says Sean Ferrell, a fisheries biologist on the Santa Fe National Forest. “People just love it here.”

Apparently, they love it a little too much. On holiday weekends, more than 20,000 visitors come to play and the vast majority stay in nondesignated campsites. The camping is not illegal, but that doesn’t mean it’s okay. Tents and RVs perch on the river’s edge, causing erosion that degrades fish habitat. In one three-mile stretch of stream, there are more than125 fire rings. In another streamside area, the U.S. Forest Service hauled away ten dump truck loads of trash. In the past, the agency directed the public to the designated campgrounds and closed the area, allowing native trees and wildlife to recover—simultaneously creating a horde of disgruntled recreators. This summer, the Forest Service implemented Restore the Rio, a proactive restoration and education program.

On weekends, a team of interns with clipboards, posters and surveys asked visitors what they wanted from the resource and provided information about the area’s needs. Sites will not be closed or changed until the public is informed of agency decisions and has been given the chance to voice their response.

“We want to try and empower the public to change and take ownership of the land,” says Ferrell. “It’s education and outreach first, then restoration.”

Respect the Rio has wide support. Local environmental groups and state agencies ponied up funds for education materials and restoration work. At the national level, educators and agency staff are calling the program a model for public lands near urban areas.

“Many places in the nation need programs like this to deal with recreation impacts on our rivers,” says Don Virgovic, the national Naturewatch coordinator for the Forest Service. “The public [owns] this land; it’s great to get them caring about the resource.”

The faith that many have in the program is based on the success of its predecessor, Respect the River, a program to protect prime salmon-spawning habitat in the headwaters of the Columbia River. Ferrell started that program nearly a decade ago on Washington’s Okanogan National Forest. Under his direction, staffers talked to more than 9,000 visitors a summer, posted signs at campsites explaining how to avoid degrading habitat and made barriers to block cars from fragile river banks. It’s working. Since the program’s inception, visitors have created no new illegal roads, renegade campsites or unofficial trails. There is less trash and human waste. Bank erosion and firewood cutting have dramatically decreased. Campsites are smaller and people are keeping their vehicles away from stream banks. Most important, say agency staffers, the area remains open to the public.

“It’s a very simple idea that works,” says Becky Studen, Respect the River coordinator for the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. “People will respect the signs and barriers if we talk to them first.”

Although much of the educational information seems obvious to many agency biologists (leave no trace, pack out your garbage, don’t dump gray water), the majority of users at these sites are urban dwellers who have never been exposed to the environmental concerns that visitation raises. Demographic studies indicate that more people are moving to cities, increasing the importance of programs like Respect the Rio.

“As people grow up in cities, they lose their tie with the land,” says Jeff Uebel, a Forest Service fisheries biologist who is promoting the program at the national level. “It makes sense that when they come to recreate in the forests, they don’t have any sensitivity for how to act in the natural world.”

Such education has far-reaching effects. Respect the Rio helps people understand the importance of restoration work, even when it crimps recreation, says David Zafft, the chair of the American Fisheries Society. The potential for wider impacts is part of the reason his organization gave Respect the River its 2003 Forest Service Award of Excellence in Riparian Management.

“Much of the restoration work done by federal and state agencies is driven by funding, but until the public buys into the idea that habitat is important, funding will continue to dwindle,” says Zafft.

“Respect the Rio is an outstanding example of how to stop problems before they escalate.”

Still, there are questions about whether Respect the Rio can survive the pendulum swing of national politics.

“We make plans with the Forest Service all the time and then things change in Washington—a new direction, a new budget—and nothing happens,” says Norm Siegel with New Mexico Trout. His organization helped fund Respect the Rio because it wants to help restore threatened Rio Grande cutthroat trout. “We’ll try and keep an eye out for the program as best we can, but it’s hard because budgets are not in the control of local Forest Service staffers. As an outside group, it’s frustrating.”

Ferrell says that the program’s dependence on local support will insulate it from national politics. Funding for the program comes from grant money delivered by both the state and local foundations. Even if Respect the Rio hits the national circuit, it will be grassroots support that ensures the program’s future success.

“You can never rely on the government to take care of things,” says Ferrell. “We will always rely on the public for this to survive, so it can’t miss. We all love this watershed. I have total faith that Respect the Rio will stick.”

Forest Magazine | FSEEE