Vecinos del Bosque
Neighborhood Association

Rediscovery on the Río Grande

By Jane Mahoney
Member, Vecinos del Bosque Neighborhood Association
    Isn't is strange that after 20 years, I'm finally discovering the river flowing practically through my backyard? The Río Grande. The big river. Waterway of countless western novels and lifeblood of the arid Southwest. Today I'm visiting the Alburquerque Botanic Garden and can't help but notice the soft, green glow of new cottonwood leaves fluttering enticingly just across the fence in the bosque.
    It's my third visit to the river's environs in as many days, unusual considering that I'm lucky to get here even 10 times during the course of an ordinary year.
    The Río Grande is not a complete stranger to me, of course, but it is little more than a pleasant acquaintance. I've walked alongside the river, waded in it, and tossed sticks and stones off its banks. Its muddy irrigation waters keep my grass green and bring deep pink blossoms to my crabapple tree every spring. Our soaring cottonwoods soak up water from the aquifer, and almost daily I walk the irrigation ditches it feeds. Now we have an even better reason to become acquainted.
    Early this morning I walked the levy road along the west side of the river with new interest. My neighborhood association— Vecinos del Bosque, or the neighbors of the bosque— has "adopted" a 10-acre swath of bosque, part of the Río Grande State Park, a cottonwood forest that grows alongside the Río Grande. I've long thought this urban forest was not only Alburquerque's best-kept secret but also one of its greatest assets.
    Recently, about 15 neighborhood residents gathered at the river's edge, posting a sign that proclaimed our helpful intentions for this particular patch of ground. We will join about 25 other groups representing neighborhoods, churches, schools and other organizations that have adopted similar acreage in the bosque. Our vow is to be the "eyes and ears" for the understaffed city's Open Space Division, and to pitch in on annual work projects ranging from wood removal to building trails.
    Truth be told, at first glance I saw mostly devastation along the banks of this fabled waterway. Trying to stay ahead of the drought-sparked fires of last summer, myriad governmental powers are working feverishly to clear the bosque of its deadwood and fuel-laden underbrush. Huge machines have moved in, snapping like toothpicks the salt cedars, Russian olives, Siberian elms and other growing intruders. Scarred cottonwoods reach skyward like war survivors on a bedding of mulch mashed flat by machinery and so thick as to make walking difficult.
    "Close to clear cutting," moaned a neighbor who hails from the forests of Oregon.
    "This is the first, rough run-through," says Jodi Hedderig, the acting volunteer coordinator at the Open Space Division. "A hand crew will be back through."
    The task of our neighborhood association— clearing this tangle of downed lumber, sliced saplings and accumulated trash— seems immense, impossible really. We know it's a project we can measure in years, not months.
    But there is excitement in the air, the unspoken possibilities that we're at the threshold of a worthy project.
    I will come to know this river slowly, I think. But already, over three mornings, I've changed my walk route to become acquainted with some of its creatures. A lone coyote took my breath away as he loped along the conservancy ditch before veering into the bosque. Mallards launched skyward from the ditch as my footsteps crunched near.
    Still, there are countless bird calls and rustlings in the brush that pique my curiosity and stir my imagination. This river has a lot to teach me.
   
Jane Mahoney is a member of the Vecinos del Bosque Neighborhood Association. Bosque on the west side of the river along Sunset Road. Bosque adoptions are open to groups (of 10 or more) such as neighborhood associations, schools, youth groups, churches and nonprofits. Contact the city's Parks and Recreation Department, Open Space Division, at 452-5200.
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