Oct. 1998 - Dec. 2000 Newsletter Archive

Archive newsletters from October 1998 To December 2000 are contained in this file. Archived 2001 - 2004 newsletters are contained in the 2001-2004 Newsletters Archive option on the menu.

NOW ONLINE

You Can Now Check the Flow of the Ruidoso River Via the Internet At:

http://wwwdnmalb.cr.usgs.gov/rt-cgi/gen_stn_pg?station=08386505

September, 2002

Dear Riverkeeper:

A relatively normal monsoon season has not even dented the drought here in God’s little acre. Even the ostriches ("but all we need is some rain") are paying attention now, as they realize that the last 20-plus years have, in fact, been far wetter than normal and that some experts are predicting that the area could be entering a period like the 1950s and 60s, in which precipitation was below average in eleven of 12 years running!

As a result, the whole state exudes a cacophony of cries from water users from the silvery minnow to the State of Texas. At the same time, the State Engineer is trying to husband all the state water he can. For example, he has tried (unsuccessfully so far) to block the release of more water for the vaunted minnow. He has also gone to court force the Pojoaque Pueblo to cut back its water use and halt plans for a new golf course and luxury hotel. In the meantime, just as he was about to solicit bids to buy water rights on the Lower Pecos (with money already appropriated by the state legislature) to assure the Pecos Water Compact with Texas, the Governor told him to hold back because the state’s reserves were not adequate. And it’s going to get worse.

The good news is that, in spite of a busy the tourist season, Larry Grasmick and his crew at the waterworks were able to keep the water flowing this summer in Ruidoso as if nothing was wrong, which was an incredible feat!!! Not only were the North Fork wells essentially shut down, but flows in the Rio Ruidoso have been less than half of normal this year, yet he and his department have not only gotten us through the summer without a hitch, but also have managed somehow to get a good deal of water back in the Grindstone reservoir for the winter, all while maintaining minimum flows in the river. The bottom line here is what the RRA has contended all along: IF MANAGED INTELLIGENTLY, KEEPING THE RIVER HEALTHY AND USING ITS WATER ARE NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE!

The crisis is far from over, however, because the draw down of the Eagle Creek Basin is still a fact and will take years of tender loving care and normal precipitation to reverse it. Production in the Basin, meanwhile, is down 30% to 50%. Because this source accounts for 2/3rds of Ruidoso’s water, it is imperative that it be made up from somewhere else as soon as possible. But from where? City plans to deepen the wells in the North Fork is only a short-term solution which worsens the problem long-term. "Mining" more water not only dries up more surface water, it also has a "domino effect" downstream (the Alto Lakes Water Corporation, for example, will soon have go to 1200 feet to protect their water in the Eagle Creek Basin). Nor can the village continue to replace the shortfall indefinitely with water from the Rio Ruidoso Basin because, even though the water is there in the downstream wells, the village does not have enough "rights" there to divert very much of it (Remember, the Rio Ruidoso is only the tip of the iceberg of the Rio Ruidoso Basin). This "Catch 22" situation, in which Ruidoso has lots of rights and not enough water in the Eagle Creek Basin, and lots of water but not enough "rights" in the Rio Ruidoso Basin, is an honest-to-goodness dilemma for which there are truly no easy answers.

As far as the North Fork is concerned, the only way to keep an aquifer from being depleted is to draw it down on the basis of a principle called "sustainable yield," which simply means you cannot take more out an aquifer than precipitation puts back into it, or you will deplete it. The first sign that "sustainable yield" is being exceeded is when the streams above it no longer flow. The dry up of Eagle Creek over the past 5 years is a perfect example.

Grindstone Lake, meanwhile, is holding 1060 acre feet of water, which is 16 months of supply at historical usage, but only about 10 months supply if it continues to be used to subsidize the Eagle Creek Basin shortfall. Continuing to use this "bank account" to pay current bills jeopardizes the whole Grindstone concept because if the drought continues, there will be no way to refill Grindstone Lake without drying up the Rio Ruidoso. In that event, we would not only threaten a golden goose, but also a second watershed.

On a brighter note, although this information comes with no guarantee, I thought you’d want to know that the experts think “El Niňo is here,” and that it promises to pay us a visit this winter! Although not every El Niňo is a wet one, the 20 events on record have delivered precipitation in the Sacramento Mountains that averages 29% above normal. That’s the good news. The bad news is that even the El Niňos didn’t help much in the 1950s.

The automated diversion gate in the Upper Canyon will operational 9-21-02..

Finally, with the exception of some monies set aside for the Ski Apache Watershed Management Plan, the $200,000 grant from the New Mexico Environment Department in 1998 is all gone. I have just submitted an application for a new Clean Water Act grant that, if awarded, will allow us to continue our work with restoring the Rio Ruidoso. Please be advised that we will have no outside funding until next summer, even if we awarded a new grant, so the timely payment of your dues and/or donations will be greatly appreciated. We will be advised about the new grant in November.

This backdrop has exposed a big problem for Ruidoso. Allow me to explain.

When drought or overuse of aquifers cause surface water to disappear, water users normally pump down their ground water to replace the lost surface flows. Although this solves the problem short-term, it only compounds it long-term because it draws down the water table, which, in turn, demands that wells be drilled deeper, a process called "mining" water. It is dangerous because, like any other natural resource, ground water supplies are more or less finite. Ideally, if possible, an aquifer should be managed to maintain "sustainable yield," which is pumping the aquifer down only to a level where surface water flow is maintained. That technique allows the aquifer to recharge and it is not "mined."

Earlier this year, the combination of drought and overuse drew the underlying aquifer at Ruidoso’s North Fork well field down to below the well screens and the wells essentially stopped pumping. This field normally provides 2/3rds of Ruidoso’s water. This shortfall was made up by a combination of drawing down the reservoir at the Grindstone Complex and by pumping more out of the Hollywood and Cherokee wells.

December 19, 2000

Dear Riverkeeper:

First of all, I want to thank the overwhelming number of you who responded to our call for dues in my last letter. It is very satisfying to know that you are aware of our continuing need for your support.

My special thanks also to Joanie Holt, Frank Richardson, Ben Mason, Hazel Haynsworth, and Darrell Dodson who have put together a campaign to build up an administrative fund to cover the costs of many other time-consuming that we do (grant applications, membership growth, surveillance of water rights and protests, etc.), but for which we’d prefer not to use regular dues. I personally thank all of you who have once again so generously responded to this call.

You should know that, pursuant to a questionnaire we sent you last Spring, and in an effort to improve the fishery and protect our native brown trout population, the Association has joined with the Village of Ruidoso and the Ruidoso Valley Chamber of Commerce in a letter of request to New Mexico Game and Fish to enlarge the "Special Trout Waters" segment of the Rio Ruidoso up from its current west end at Friedenbloom Drive to the Carrizo Creek confluence at the Chamber of Commerce. Also, because this segment almost always has more flow than the Rio Ruidoso upstream, we have asked Game and Fish to stock this expanded section on a year-round basis. In an additional effort to get more fish into the overall river system on a continuing basis, we have petitioned the Ruidoso Village Council to budget a supplemental fish-stocking program. This would cost about $7,500 on an annual basis, but because our research shows that non-resident anglers already contribute in excess of $2 million annually to the tourism industry, it seems to be a good investment! This petition was favorably by both the Mayor and Council and we have been invited to return with a more detailed proposal after the first of the year.

The "Special Trout Waters" designation mentioned above does have stricter fishing regulations, but it will considerably enhance the quality of the fishery and attract more accomplished fly-fishers. It reduces the bag limit in the "special" stretch from 5 fish a day to 2, and it requires barb-less hooks and no bait. By reducing the "kill" rate for this section of the river, fishing conditions for the accomplished should improve dramatically. Please know that if granted by NM Game & Fish, these new restrictions will only apply to this small special portion of the river. The rules for the rest of the river system will remain as always.

As for the long-awaited drainage plan up at Ski Apache, we came ever so close to getting it done in early November, but just as the hydrology team from Utah was about to get on the airplane, we got that wonderful Election Day snow, so we are now on hold again until the snow melts and exposes the ground next Spring.

Speaking of that early snow, which was indeed very welcome, keep your fingers crossed that it was not the same kind of tease we had last summer when the monsoons came early only to just as quickly disappear.

As for the instream flow of the Rio Ruidoso, it is about normal for this time of year, but it is much more important that the snow-pack build up this winter for a good spring runoff that will recharge the system and refill Grindstone Lake. Grindstone Lake is low right now, but still holding 575 acre feet of water, which is about a 10 month supply for the Grindstone treatment plant at normal rates of production. We remind all concerned parties that Grindstone Lake is a "bank account" of water and that its level should fluctuate over the year. It is not Ruidoso’s main source of water by a longshot—70% of the village rights are in the Eagle Creek Basin and, of the other 30% that are in the Ruidoso Basin, the surface water of the Rio Ruidoso that goes into Grindstone is only the tip of the iceberg. The vast majority of our water in that basin is in the downstream wells. (Incidentally, we are still working with village officials on the final piece of the Grindstone diversion puzzle, which is an electronic gate which automatically opens the diversion to Grindstone Dam when the flow in the Rio Ruidoso is above agreed-upon levels and closes it when it is not.

That having been said, given the fact that we expect little surface water to be available for the Grindstone complex from the Rio Ruidoso until next Spring, we have suggested that village officials husband as much of the water in the reservoir as possible, deferring to other sources in the system. Make no mistake about it, drought conditions are still with us.

As for the river trail through the downtown area, I will be meeting with Mayor Donaldson next week to start the planning process and to locate funding. I would expect that we will have conceptual plans by Spring.
Last, let me take this opportunity from all of us here to wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas and a Bountiful New Year!

September 29, 2000

Dear Riverkeeper:

In looking over the official rainfall reports for the summer in Ruidoso, I am reminded of Woody Hayes’ famous warning quote about statistics: "Always remember that it is possible for a man to drown in a river where the average depth of the water is just 3 inches." Although it was recently reported that rainfall in the 2000 monsoon season was above average, it would be very wrong to conclude this "average" did anything to relieve the drought conditions in Ruidoso. That is because the lion’s share of the total came over a very short time span in late June and early July and was too intense to be captured, either in the aquifers or in reservoirs like Grindstone Dam. When the monsoons are spread over the summer as usual, flows in the Rio Ruidoso will normally run 10-30 cubic feet per second over the whole summer. This year the gully washers in June and early July actually pushed the flow up to over 100 cfs for a couple of days, but it quickly disappeared downstream and flows retreated back to under 5 cfs for the balance of the summer, most in the 2-3 cfs range.

Normal flows in the Rio Ruidoso over the monsoon season should easily refill the Grindstone reservoir over the course of the summer, but the 2000 pattern provide precious few opportunities for the watershed or the waterworks to capture the sporadic high flows. Whereas in 1999, for example, the village had over 50 days to take advantage of high flows to refill the Grindstone reservoir without impacting the Rio Ruidoso, this past summer they provided only 20 such days and even those were very intermittent. Combined with a spring runoff that was only 15% of normal, the result is that the monsoon season ended with only 750 acre feet in the Grindstone reservoir, rather than the 1100 or so that has been historically normal. Nevertheless, this 750 acre feet still represents a 14 month supply of water for the Grindstone treatment plant at 1999 production rates. It is important, also, to keep two other things in mind: 1) the newly-installed pumpback system, for the first time ever, is catching any leakage and returning it to the reservoir, and 2) the waterworks can husband the water in Grindstone at any time simply by returning to the downstream wells to exercise its Ruidoso Basin rights just as it did earlier this year.

Although this atypical precipitation pattern did little to help the watershed, it nevertheless did have a huge silver lining: it put damper on the severe threat of wild-fires that had most of us paralyzed for months in the early summer.

Our annual meeting on August 4 was a great success! Almost 100 people joined us at the beautiful Chamber of Commerce setting for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. Thanking the village for its help and partnership, the first thing we did was to celebrate the completion of the tools in place (the weir, the Grindstone pumpback, the low-flow agreement to use the downstream wells when the river is low) that will keep the river flowing whenever the Lord wants it to. We then turned our attention to future projects to better utilize the river and to make it more attractive: 1) to plan a simple, no frills, natural river trail through the downtown area, and 2) to upgrade the quality of fishing in the watershed so as to add a high quality cold water fishery destination to Ruidoso’s long list of amenities that draw tourists. Mayor Robert Donaldson was on hand to thank the river association for all of its contributions and to pledge support and partnership for the river trail project and Jack Kelly, Chief of Fisheries Management at NM Game & Fish, personally pledged their support to improve the fishery.

Several months ago I mentioned that our association was spearheading the formation of another watershed group, the Upper Hondo Watershed Coalition, that would bring our association into a partnership with other entities in Lincoln County for the purpose of developing an overall watershed management plan for the whole county. That coalition is now up and running and has a steering committee that includes broad representation from across the watershed: Lincoln County, the city of Alamogordo/Holloman AFB, the Mescalero Apache Tribe, the village of Ruidoso, the village of Capitan, the Rio Bonito Preserve, Inc., the Public Land Use Advisory Board of Lincoln County, the Upper Hondo SWCD, the Ford Secure Trust, and the Ruidoso River Association. In addition, the steering committee has chosen the RRA to lead the coalition. The following agencies will serve as an advisory board and will offer expertise and counsel: the USDA-Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Surface Water Quality Bureau of the NM Environment Department, the NM Office of State Engineer, the NM State Land Office. Through this office the coalition has already applied for a grant to fund the first year’s initiatives. The formation of this coalition was made possible by a $6,500 grant from River Network, a national watershed support group, which funded the first meeting in August 99.

I have been forgetting for several months to publicly thank the good folks that helps me get these letters out, so an overdue hale and hearty thanks to: Fran Redinger, Clara Wenner, Louise and Aldon Ritchie, Linda Shoop, Sheree Wisner, Hazel Haynsworth, and Jody Bundrett and the folks down at Wells, Fargo. Incidentally, we are always need more volunteers to relieve their load, so if you are able to help us on this for an hour or two a month, call me.

Finally, I must put out a clarion call for dues! Although we have been able to use our Clean Water Act grant to cover a good part of our activities with respect to outreach and water quality projects, the grant covers only a small portion of our administrative expenses and none of our initiatives to maintain instream flow. If there is a reminder enclosed to your copy of this letter, it means that your dues are due. (Forgive me in advance for any mistakes, but let me know if we are in error). Most of you will agree that we have accomplished an awful lot over the past several years to draw attention to this lovely river and to protect its future. Please know, however, that we need your continuing financial support.

Dick Wisner, Executive Director

This is a kindly reminder that it is time to pay your annual dues. We are very proud of all that we have accomplished so far with your financial support which, along with your moral encouragement, is the wind beneath our sails. Thank you for your earliest response.

Corporate Sponsor $ 200.00

Best Friend 100.00

Guardian 50.00

Family Membership 20.00

Individual 10.00

Student/Sr. citizen 5.00

July, 21, 2000

Dear Riverkeeper:

Please mark your calendars to join us for our 4^th annual meeting at the Chamber of Commerce building on Friday, August 4, from 5:30-7:30 PM. As usual, we will have a cash bar manned by our friends at Win, Place, and Show and we will provide plenty of munchies catered by Lee Cattle Co. (formerly K-Bob’s). Come on out and join us as we savor the accomplishments of our first 3 years and share with you a new set of goals. As usual, we promise to have you on your way for other evening activities by 7:30 PM.
The big news this month, of course, is that our beloved Rio Ruidoso is noisy once again! After trickling by at less than 2 cubic feet per second since Fall, an early arrival of the dependable monsoons has raised the flow in the river back to normal levels (10-20). Some of the gully-washers have actually taken the flow up to over 90 cubic feet per second!
As anticipated, this is giving the waterworks the long-awaited chance to refill the Grindstone Lake reservoir via the surface water diversion device on the river in the Upper Canyon. With sufficient flow in the river, we encourage the waterworks to take all they can now during this monsoon season and to "bank" it in Grindstone. In addition, due the pump-back system that is now finally operative, it is comforting to know that the water leaking out the other side of the dam is now being recaptured and returned right back to the reservoir. After reaching a low volume of 470 acre feet in early June, which represented an 8 month supply for the Grindstone treatment plant, Grindstone Lake has now risen almost 12 vertical feet and is back up to 720 acre feet of volume, which represents a 13 months supply of water at the 1999 production rate. Also, the waterworks now plans to fill it up to 1512 acre feet, if possible, which would be a 2 year supply, versus the previously "full" 1100 acre, 19 month supply.
Thus, it appears that the Upper Canyon/Grindstone surface water diversion system is now working as it should. The reservoir will be filled up during high flows on the river and the health of the river will be protected by an agreement with the village not to divert during periods of low flow. Grindstone Lake will be treated as a true reservoir and its level will be allowed to fluctuate.
More good news that comes with the monsoons is that NM Game and Fish has resumed stocking the river and I understand the fish are very good size as they grew while waiting to come here.
As all of you fishermen know, for many years we have been very lucky to have state-designated "special waters" to fish on the Rio Ruidoso behind Miller Waltrip Furniture. This has been due to the gracious hospitality of landowner Joetyne Wright. As so often unfortunately happens with special privileges, over time they become abused. In this case, inconsiderate folks have trodden down fences, particularly water gap fences, and livestock have wandered off. This abuse has understandably caused Joetyne reconsider her "gift" of open access. In hopes that we all can hold onto this priceless privilege, the RRA has offered to help fix old fences, put in new turnstiles, and put up new signage spelling out the rules. We have also asked the NM Dept of Game and Fish to help us enforce the special rules that apply to "special waters." If you fish these waters, a note to Joetyne, acknowledging and thanking her for this unique privilege, wouldn’t hurt (POB 369, Ruidoso Downs, NM). Separately, we are also considering expanding this designation a little way upstream (more about this later).
Finally, a frustrating update on the Ski Apache sediment discharge problem. As you know, last summer the RRA hired a nationally-known ski resort hydrologist to assess the ski resort summer with respect to drainage problems. His conclusions were not surprising, essentially agreeing with us that there were 3 problem areas on the resort that tend to negatively affect the quality of the water in the Rio Ruidoso downstream: 1) unstable terrain on the some of the ski slopes, 2) the parking lot area, and 3) holding ponds that are situated in the riverbed itself. With respect to the first problem, Ski Apache personnel and the Forest Service have already done a great deal of work on erosion control on the slopes themselves. The next thing that needs to be done to develop additional mitigations is an overall drainage plan for the resort, which for some inexplicable reason, has never been done. Because these upstream problems have delayed our restoration work on our downsteam reach of the river for well over a year now, the RRA agreed to pay for the plan with grant money ($15,000) and hired a nationally known hydrologist to do the job in April. After initially giving us their ok, the Mescalero Apache Tribe then suddenly demurred, citing distrust of the RRA’s involvement, so we lost our schedule date with the hydrologist for April and the study has now been rescheduled for October, with the MAT agreeing to let the Forest Service oversee the work. Any design improvements for the parking lot, of course, await the completion of this study. At the same time, the RRA has helped the MAT to secure a $150,000 EPA grant to redesign the holding ponds on tribal land, which is good news, but to the best of our knowledge that work has not yet been scheduled. All of this procrastination has now caused us to have to ask for a one year extension of the time on our own EPA grant. Color me frustrated!
For those of you wandering around trying to find us, our offices are now located in Suite 202 at 2810 Sudderth, just above Scholtzsky’s Deli.

June 16, 2000

Dear Riverkeeper:

The 7^th annual river cleanup on June 3^rd was a "splashing" success. Let the figures speak for themselves: 430 people showed up and pulled 50 cubic yards of trash out of the river system and its banks. In what has become truly a community event, no less than 107 local merchants donated prizes or food. Local radio station KEWS was on site broadcasting live throughout the morning. Although each year we find less bizarre stuff in the river, one youngster this year did find a pair of 14-karat gold earrings! Needless to say, a good time was had by all. Please help me give special thanks to Jim and Linda Shoop, who coordinated the event, and to Rusty Garvin, Jody Bundrett, Debbie Ingalls, Paula Gunn, Eve Williams, Deborah Byars, Vikki Johnson, Vickie Winner, Joel Carothers, the Ruidoso Woman’s Club, the Ruidoso News, the Retired Seniors Volunteer Program, Texas New Mexico Power, Walton Stations, Ruidoso Parks and Recreation, and countless others who helped make it such a success, not to mention our 107 sponsors.

Our next public gathering will be our annual meeting to be held on Friday, August 4 at the Chamber of Commerce Building from 5:30- 7:30 PM. Please mark your calendar now to come out and help us celebrate the fact that we have turned the corner in our efforts to save this wonderful river. As per custom, the association will provide hors d’oeuvres and there will be a cash bar. Please use the attached form below to let us know you plan to join us.

As you know, one of the first goals we had when we got organized in 1997 was to push the agenda for a pumpback system at Grindstone Dam which would return the dam’s prodigious leakage back to the reservoir rather than having to be replaced by more diversion from the Rio Ruidoso. I am happy to tell you that, after countless delays of all sorts, the pumpback system is finally working and whatever water leaks through the dam is now being returned right back to the reservoir. Hallelujah!
Speaking of the Grindstone, the drought-related low lake level has revealed a great deal of misunderstanding about the role that the Grindstone complex plays in Ruidoso’s overall municipal water system. Let me try to put it into perspective. Ruidoso has rights to divert water for municipal use from two sources, the Eagle Creek Basin and the Rio Ruidoso Basin. After adjusting for transfers, 70% of the rights are located in the Eagle Creek Basin and only 30% are located in the Rio Ruidoso Basin. Furthermore, as in the Eagle Creek Basin, the surface water in the Rio Ruidoso is only the tip of the iceberg of the water in the Rio Ruidoso Basin---the lion’s share of it flows underground. Thus, even though the Grindstone Lake reservoir is down to a 10-month supply of its share of the water production, there is plenty of water in the same aquifer in the downstream wells, so that Ruidoso is losing none of its water rights in the Rio Ruidoso Basin, since it can legally divert water from either of these sources. What it is losing by virtue of low flow in the Rio Ruidoso is the ability to take water and "store" it for a later day, like a bank account, in Grindstone Lake. There is no doubt that we will all feel more comfortable when the monsoons allow us to refill Grindstone Lake from high flows in the Rio Ruidoso, but it is not the critical everyday source that some folks still seem to think.

As far as the monsoons are concerned, although there is some hope based on the weather last week, that they may have come early, I think it is far too early to tell. Flows in the Rio Ruidoso are still running less than 1 cubic foot a second and that will hardly fill a bathtub, much less cool the forest down.

Incidentally, in the wake of the Cree Fire the long-awaited monsoons will come with a mixed blessing---they are likely to cause mud slides and heavy sediment loading in Eagle Creek and downstream where the fire has removed the vegetation that would otherwise hold the soil together. A massive forest rehabilitation effort is already underway to rehabilitate the 6,500 acres scorched by the fire.

For those of you who have asked to be notified when your annual dues come up, we are currently working on an automated notification system to do just that. In the meantime, if you’re in doubt, call us or send them in.

Dick Wisner

I (we) plan to attend the annual meeting on August 4 at the Chamber of Commerce Building from 5:30-7:30 PM.

Name (print, please)________________________________# of people_____

April 12, 2000

For those of you not here to see the river barely trickling by, the worst drought in 25-30 years continues. There has not been, nor will there be, a spring run-off to recharge the aquifer or to refill Grindstone. Whereas last spring the Rio Ruidoso flowed continuously at 10 or more cubic feet per second for six weeks or more, the highest flow we have had at any time this spring is just 2 cubic feet per second. Grindstone Lake is down to half of its normal level and it will take the more predictable summer monsoons now to fill it back up. In the meantime, the downstream wells in the Rio Ruidoso Basin have picked up the slack. The only good news on the drought is that the National Weather Service now predicts a wet summer.

The on-going debate about whether Ruidoso has enough water in normal times depends on whether one is talking about "rights" to water or actual barrels of water at the wellhead. By our calculations, water "rights" are not the problem. Ruidoso has "rights" to take several times more water than it needs based on current usage. The problem is that most of these "rights" are concentrated in the Eagle Creek Basin where they have proven to be elusive, while most of the readily available water appears to be in the subsurface of the Rio Ruidoso Basin where the city is relatively short of rights. That is why it so important that the Office of the State Engineer approve the city’s applications to transfer water "rights" in that direction. To the degree that these efforts are successful, both questions can be answered in the affirmative.

I am delighted to report that we have reach a new definitive agreement with Ruidoso village officials regarding minimum flow levels in the Rio Ruidoso below which surface water in the river will not be diverted to Grindstone Lake. The agreement protects an average of about 5 cubic feet per second, although it varies for different times of the year due to probable runoff and is sensitive to the spawning seasons of our trout population. Contrary to a still-not-completely dead misconception, this agreement does not mean that the city has to watch water flow by in the river that it would otherwise have a right to divert for municipal use, but rather that when flow levels are so low that diversion would be detrimental to the health of the river, such diversion will be withdrawn from subsurface sources instead. To assure that this agreement will transcend future administrations, it will be incorporated in water rights applications with the Office of the State Engineer. Knowing that the health of the Rio Ruidoso will be protected rather than ransacked during periods of low flow, the association will now withdraw its protests with the OSE regarding Village applications to transfer more water rights to the Rio Ruidoso Basin.

Our co-operative effort with the Forest Service and the Mescalero Tribe to mitigate the sediment discharge problems at Ski Apache got a huge boost last week when the tribe’s Resource Management and Protection Division was awarded a $150,000 Clean Water Act grant to address this problem. The primary task in their project will be to move several sediment holding ponds out of the streambed so that their contents are not flushed downstream during storm events. A second problems will be addressed later this spring when a drainage plan for the entire resort area will be developed so that high peak flows generated during storm events can be directed down the mountain with the minimal amount of erosive action. Lastly, studies continue on redesigning the parking lot so that it can catch and disperse sediment and other pollutants before they are discharged into the North Fork of the Rio Ruidoso. Thus the truth of the old Chinese proverb still holds: "If you’re going to fix a river, you’ve got to fix the mountain first."

For those of you who have not yet sent us your feelings about a temporary catch and release fishing program for the Rio Ruidoso and its tributaries should it low water and a lack of fish make it advisable, please do so at your earliest convenience so that we know your views. To date we have received over 100 ballots, almost all of which favor a catch and release regulation if necessary.

The main mission of this organization, as you know, is "to preserve and protect a healthy and free-flowing Rio Ruidoso," not only because it is priceless treasure by itself, but also because it is the golden goose of Ruidoso’s economy. The more folks who come to see that having a healthy river is a win-win proposition, the easier this task becomes. To tap into the magnet of this wonderful amenity, our long run wish list has always included a natural riverwalk in the downtown area to which our residents and many visitors alike could repair to enjoy the river. Presently, most of the legions of foot traffic walking down Sudderth do not even know that a swashbuckling river full of history is just a block and a half away! Bottom-line, we think a tasteful riverwalk that is properly done would be a tremendous asset for our town and for our downtown merchants. Thus, with the unconditional caveat that it demands an up-front, no-tolerance trash management program, we feel that Betty Beachum’s proposal to put in a mobile vendor park at Eagle Avenue and Rio Street in downtown Ruidoso is in keeping with our own riverwalk concept and should be given a try. If trash becomes a problem, the Ruidoso River Association will be the first to protest.

Speaking of trash along the river, don’t forget to circle Saturday morning, June 3 on your calendar to come on out and help us with our annual river cleanup. Not only does it promise to be the biggest party of the summer in Ruidoso, but you will also have a good time and feel good about yourself to boot. You will also probably take home a nice prize. Don’t forget that this is the primary vehicle through which we log the "in-kind" volunteer credits that are required by our Clean Water Act grant, so come on out at 8 AM and give us a few hours of your time. In return, we will give you breakfast, lunch, refreshments, a handsome T-shirt and a great chance to win a worthwhile prize

Our offices have moved from Suite #3 at 202 Mechem to Suite #202 at 2810 Sudderth. Since I am on the second floor now, Meadow Valley will have a considerably more difficult time flooding me out this year.

Lastly, the Association wants to thank Tom Battin and the folks at Ruidoso State Bank for once again underwriting the cost of our line of credit at the bank over the past year. This account acts as a bridge between the time we pay our bills and get our reimbursements from the New Mexico Environment Department.

Dick Wisner

February 29, 2000

Dear Riverkeeper:

Pray for rain or anything that looks like it. We haven’t had any precipitation to speak of since my last letter. At last check, the snow pack (?) was only 15% of normal!

If all goes well, by the time you get this letter the pump-back system at Grindstone Dam should be at work, pumping the precious, already-diverted water that leaks through the dam back into Grindstone Lake. Incidentally, please be advised that, contrary to one local pundit’s perspective, the lake is nowhere near "for all practical purposes, almost empty." Although to some it may appear that way because the reservoir is cone-shaped, at the current time we feel compelled to cool the rhetoric: there is still about 9 months worth of domestic water supply in the Grindstone Lake.

Mark your calendars now! We have chosen Saturday, June 3 as this year’s River Clean-up Day, so please plan now to come on out and join the fun. Whereas last year’s overwhelming turnout (366) caused us to run out of both food and T-shirts, I guarantee that will not happen again, regardless of the turnout. As usual, there will be prizes galore and fun for all. K-BUY/KWES will broadcast live remote from School House Park this year and KBIN-TV news will cover the event for their evening news shows. More in the next several months, but this year’s river clean-up promises to be bigger and better than ever! We also could use some volunteers for planning committees. Call me.

Due to a pair of unusual circumstances, New Mexico Game and Fish has advised us not to expect much stocking of rainbow trout this year (or next) in the Rio Ruidoso and its tributaries. The first problem is that the extremely low instream flow over the past winter has created very poor habitat conditions for the stocker fish and the second is that two of the three hatcheries that serve this area have been infected with "whirling disease" and consequently will be shut down for 1 to 2 years to be disinfected and restarted. In an effort to preserve the limited number of fish in the stream while keeping it open for fishing, your association is contemplating a request to NM Game & Fish that they temporarily declare the Rio Ruidoso and other local streams a "catch and release" fishery until the crisis passes. This request would not include the still water fisheries.

(Grindstone, Mescalero, Eagle, and Bonito Lakes), where "catch and kill" fishing would still be allowed. Although this initiative may disappoint some, it would do a whole lot to preserve our high quality cold water fishery through a crisis. Please read over the attached info sheet from Director Jim Shoop and let us know how you feel about this by sending back the attached "ballot" by snail mail or e-mailing us a noisywtr@lookingglass.net. Thanks for your input on this matter.

The newly formed Upper Hondo Watershed Coalition will next meet on Thursday, March 9 at 7 PM at the Texas-New Mexico Power building in Ruidoso. Anyone who is interested is welcome to attend. Your association is a steering committee member of this coalition.

In the face of what may be a very dry Spring, water in and around Ruidoso has already taken over the headlines and promises to stay there for a while. As I said last month, the only good thing about current situation is that it stirs debate and validates problems to be fixed. At the same time I notice that there is no shortage of misunderstandings/misinformation about Ruidoso’s very complex water system. In this direction, Director Ben Mason has written a series of articles that will soon be appearing in the Ruidoso News which will attempt to throw light on the subject from our perspective. For those of you who don’t see the Ruidoso News, please let us know and we’ll send you reprints.

Dick Wisner

CATCH AND RELEASE PROPOSAL

The recent winter has created two problems for the Rio Ruidoso and surrounding watershed which we can do little about. The first is the lack of moisture and the second is that two of the three fish hatcheries that serve our area have been affected by "Whirling Disease". This means there will be very few stocker fish available for our rivers this year and next.

Whirling disease is a waterborne parasite that is ingested by the fish while the fish is an infant (fry). The parasite works by attacking the fish's central nervous system and bone structure development and is fatal in most cases. Because of this, the infected fish will not develop properly and will display characteristics of the disease by swimming in circles due to the fact that its cranium does not develop properly and this creates pressure on the brain.

All the fish in the affected hatcheries must be destroyed and the hatchery must be disinfected. The hatchery must then be inspected and re-started. This means placing new water in them, and placing new trout fry in them. This will take at least one to two years to allow the new stocker fish to reach a size where they can be released to the streams.

One possible solution to this problem would be a temporary Catch and Release program wherein we use and re-use the limited resources we have access to, just like the limited water resources we have in the River.

Many local and non-resident fisherman will fish the Rio Ruidoso and other local streams this year and next. There will be very few, if any, stocker fish available for the watershed. If each person fishing were allowed to take the published limit of 5 fish per day, it would not take long for all the fish to be gone from the streams.

If we are to maintain any type of quality fishery in Ruidoso on the river and streams during this interregnum, a temporary catch and release requirement may be the only answer to protect our valuable renewable resource…

Catch and Release means you can still fish all you want. You just can't keep any. If you want to take fish for the table, all still water fisheries such as "grindstone, Mescalero, Eagle, and Bonito Lakes" would remain available for catch and kill.

Please remember this would be a temporary initiative for a short period of time to help preserve our cold-water fishery. Let us know how you feel about this.

James Shoop Director

Jon Riha Member

January 28, 1999

Dear Fellow Riverkeeper:

I apologize for the length of this letter, but I had some catching up to do.

The big news is bad news and that is the threat of drought conditions like 1996. Since the Rio Ruidoso is a torrential stream (i.e., it is dependent upon the weather), it has slowed down to a trickle, barely 1.5 cubic feet a second (5 or 6 cfs would be healthy). This extremely low instream flow presents a very real and present danger to both the health of the river and its fishery.

At the same time, under siege from winter temperatures, Grindstone Dam continues to leak. We had hoped that the pump-back project (to catch and return the leakage) would be operative by now, but it is not quite ready due to an endless series of administrative delays (read lack of priority). As I write this, the construction is in place and the system is awaiting an EPA permit which should come in early March. Meanwhile, leakage, although considerably less than previous winters, is still running in excess of 130 gallons per minute. This continual leakage, coupled with the administration’s favorable policy of allowing the level of the reservoir to fluctuate with supply and demand, has drawn the Grindstone Lake reservoir down to levels that the water department now would like to maintain in case a drought does materialize. Since the only source of water for the complex is the surface water of the Rio Ruidoso, this decision means replacing the leakage with diversion from the Rio Ruidoso.
Thus, because the pump-back system is not yet on line, village officials have reluctantly unilaterally reneged on an agreement with us not to divert water out of the Rio Ruidoso during periods of low flow and have instructed the water department to begin diverting enough water out of the Rio Ruidoso to replace the dam’s leakage. This amounts to roughly 20% of the river’s meager flow. While this may have been the only decision the administration found workable in the face of a potential drought, it nevertheless exacerbates an already critical threat to the river’s ecosystem. Mayor Donaldson has assured me that this diversion would stop the minute the pump-back system is on line.

The silver lining in this otherwise dark cloud is that it may be the wake-up call that is needed to remind us that our water supply here in Ruidoso is not always "adequate" as repeatedly represented, and that there is a big difference between water "rights" and the actual availability of water at any point in time. It also reveals the weakness of the Grindstone complex, which is that it has no other source of water other than a river which is dependent upon the weather, and which, unfortunately, is already struggling.
This developing crisis is also a blessing in disguise because it has accelerated village’s efforts to develop the much more reliable subsurface water in the Rio Ruidoso Basin. In this direction, the Hollywood Well, capable of 1 million gal/day, which has been dormant for two years, will soon be reactivated and tied into the overall system, and the equally prolific Cherokee Well will be reworked and tied into the system as well. New exploratory wells in the Rio Ruidoso Basin are also being drilled. Inasmuch as all of these wells will draw subsurface water from the same aquifer as the surface water of the Rio Ruidoso (and are subject to the same water rights), this is a huge step in the right direction.

Getting back to Grindstone, all of the changes that have been implemented there over the past several years have been positive and are moving the complex to the point where it can become an asset rather than a liability. For example, everybody agrees now that Grindstone Lake is a municipal water supply, not a recreational area. This has allowed a change in the lake level policy, which not only allows the lake level to rise and fall with supply and demand, but also which allows the high-end level to be raised to the spillway, which means 40% more water stored. Last, but by no means least, the pumpback system will mean that river water only has to be diverted once. The only remaining link is a policy currently being formulated to fill the lake only during periods of high flow in the Rio Ruidoso and to let it be drawn down during periods of low flow. Hallelujah!

We are convinced that any and all additional demands upon the surface water of the Rio Ruidoso must be constrained by a low-flow limit, below which surface water diversion to the dam will not be allowed in deference to the health of the river. Accordingly, the Ruidoso River Association, in the public interest, recently entered protests with the State Engineer to two recent village applications which place more demands on the surface water of the Rio Ruidoso without the inclusion of a low-flow constraint. These applications deal with the very complex issue of effluent credits, the net result of which is that, without a low-flow constraint, they would give future administrations a license to dry the river up. As we explained to village officials, we do not disagree with the full realization of these effluent credits, but we would prefer them to be taken from the downstream wells in the same aquifer whenever possible, and that when the surface water of the Rio Ruidoso must be used for this purpose, that such use be limited by a minimum instream flow requirement. Village officials are not opposed to a low flow constraint, and our protests will be withdrawn upon its inclusion.

Speaking of effluent credits, there may be another piece of fantastic news over the horizon. Under current permits, effluent credits can only be taken instantaneously with discharges from the sewer plant. If these permits could modified to allow credits to be taken any time and "banked," it would greatly increase the water department’s ability to manage its water rights because the credits could be taken during high flows and used later. This ability to "bank" water rights, which up until now has seemed impossible, may soon be allowed.
Incidentally, we have asked Village officials to change the current practice of having their consultants publish the legal notices of these water rights applications in the Albuquerque Journal in favor of a local newspaper where they are far more likely to been seen by interested parties.

With all that is going on in the larger Upper Hondo watershed regarding water rights and watershed restoration, I am happy to say that The Upper Hondo Watershed Coalition, which I made reference to in my last letter, was officially formed in an organizational meeting on December 15. This coalition will cover all of the watersheds in Lincoln County and include all of its stakeholders with the mission "To protect, restore, and sustain the water resources of the Rio Hondo Watershed for the benefit of all through a collaborative effort to improve water quality, protect and enhance water and land resources, and promote overall watershed health." More on this next month.

One last word on the potential drought. If materializes, we are in much better shape to deal with it than we were in 1996. Not only was Alto Lake empty in 1996, but also a good many improvements have been made.

As the threat of drought approaches, I want to remind everyone that protecting the water supply and keeping the river healthy are not mutually exclusive goals, but rather a question of proactive management. All of this association’s work to date has shown that it is just as concerned about the water system here in Ruidoso as it is about the river, which should not be surprising because the two are hopelessly interrelated. We intend to continue to work constructively with the village, even as the loyal opposition when necessary, to achieve both goals.

Lastly, I wanted to tell you that, after last Tuesday’s Village Council meeting, in which the administration’s 20 year master plan for water was presented, it was my humble impression that, after years if neglect, the river has now regained its rightful seat at the table! That is not to say that we agree with all aspects of the administration’s new water plan, for example, but rather to say that we are delighted that the river is now being taken into account before decisions that will affect it are made. For this I want to thank the current administration and council. It was very satisfying, indeed, to hear Bob Sterchi say (for the whole council I assumed), "The river is very important to us."

Dick Wisner, Executive Director

October 30, 1999

Dear Fellow Riverkeeper:

With apologies for the length of time since my last missive (vacation), there are a number of things going on that I’m anxious to pass along to you:

First of all, I have some truly great news! Just last week I met with the U.S. Forest Service, the EPA, the New Mexico Environment Department, and the Mescalero Apache Nation and I am delighted to tell you that all of these entities are now actively working together to mitigate the sediment discharge from Ski Apache! As you know from previous letters, the Apache Nation and the Forest Service have already taken significant steps to mitigate the drainage problems on some of the ski runs, but a whole new initiative and resolve was set into motion recently following the visit of an expert ski resort hydrologist from Colorado. As a result of his recommendations, I am happy to say that the following activities are already underway: 1) hydrologists from the Forest Service and the Mescalero Apache Nation are currently working on a long-overdue drainage plan for the whole ski resort, 2) USFS engineers are developing a redesign plan for the parking lot in such a way that it will catch and retain sediment before it is allowed to enter the Rio Ruidoso, and 3) the Environment Department of the Mescalero Apache Nation is studying implementations on the reservation itself that would catch and retain sediment between the resort and the village, such as the reintroduction of beavers on the reservation and out-of-streambed wetlands downstream of the resort. We even have a schedule. The parking lot re-design plan should be ready for environmental impact studies next Spring and renovations could begin as early as late Summer. The drainage study should also be done by Spring and Ski Apache personnel could immediately begin redirecting runoff in a more efficient manner. Our next meeting is in Ruidoso on November 9. As far as the health of the Rio Ruidoso is concerned, I cannot over-emphasize the importance of this upstream initiative.

In a fitting, but nevertheless oft-overlooked acknowledgement of the importance of the Rio Ruidoso to our community, we are thankful to the Ruidoso Valley Chamber of Commerce for making the theme of this year’s Aspenfest "Billy the Kid Country, A River Runs Through It." In addition, Aspenfest promoters honored our co-founder Hazel Haynsworth by making her Grand Marshal of the parade (she had a ball). Many thanks also to riverkeepers Jim Shoop and Mark Hamilton, who oversaw construction of our float and to Linda Shoop, Linda Hamilton, Tammy Riser, and their kids, and to Dinah Hamilton, Jody Brundrett, Vicki Johnson, Karen Raeder, and Billie Maldonado, who worked on it. We are also thankful to Wal-Mart, Radio Shack, ENMU, and The Connection for their donations.

Thanks to Hondo Valley landowner Jerry Ford, who donated the sign, our new billboard is now on display on Route 380 west-bound near Sunset.

As you know, the Village of Ruidoso has been studying a long-term water plan that will soon be given a public hearing. Ben Mason has gone over this plan and has put his thoughts into an excellent position paper available upon request. Basically, we favor every measure in the plan that is aimed at fixing the current system before expanding it: the cheapest "new" water available is water we have already pumped, treated, and stored, but are now losing through leakage. We also feel that any efforts to buy or transfer more surface water rights on the Rio Ruidoso are unrealistic, not only because they are illusory, but also because they are not consistent with our efforts to save the river. Because of commitments already in place, we also afraid that plan is under-funded, even before its growth items are brought into play. Call us for a copy of this paper.

As you know from the internet postings, the instream flow of the Rio Ruidoso has now slowed down to its seasonal trickle between monsoon season and Winter storms, running at a meager 2.5-3 cubic feet per second. Since this is entirely God-given, we can’t complain. As for Winter, the Almanac says it will be wetter than normal until year-end, then dryer in the Spring. Meanwhile, the chipmunks are working overtime…

Finally, there is a new movement afoot to bring all of stakeholders of all the watersheds of the Upper Hondo River (the Rio Ruidoso, the Rio Bonita, and Eagle Creek) together into a larger watershed coalition. This effort is being spearheaded by our own Mike Hyman in his capacity as a Director of the NM Watershed Coalition and is in response to a New Mexico Environment Department/National Resource Conservation Service determination that the Upper Hondo is one of the state’s most impaired watersheds which qualifies it for special funding in 2001 if a coalition can be put together to develop a comprehensive Watershed Restoration Action Strategy for the whole area and submit it to NMED by next Fall (2000). The RRA will be an integral part of this larger coalition. Two organizational meetings have already been held and another is scheduled for Friday, November 12 at 11 AM at Cree Meadows C.C. All interested parties are urged to attend. Just let Mike know you’re coming (258-4093, blkmdg@zianet.com). This is a terrific opportunity to access significant funding for all of the impaired watersheds in the Upper Hondo Valley.

Dick Wisner

August 1999 Newsletter:

Dear Fellow Riverkeeper: August 24, 1999

Lots of interesting things have happened since our last letter, so I will get right into them:

First of all, our 3rd annual meeting, which we convened at the Chamber of Commerce on August 6 was well attended (102 people) and informative. The main objective of the meeting this year was to reiterate our mission (to preserve and protect a free-flowing and healthy Rio Ruidoso) in response to some recent press insinuations that 1) we are on the fish side of the fish versus people debate, and 2) that by criticizing the omnipresent road builders, we were against the progress that it represents. Both representations are patently false, of course, and I think we made that clear. As all of you know, our raison d’etre is far more economic than it is environmental---"It’s the economy, stupid." Secondly, despite what may be going on across the state in the Rio Grande Valley, what we are trying to save here in Ruidoso is a golden goose, not a silvery minnow.

As far as the road construction is concerned, we are not anti-growth, of course, just pro-planning. In our opinion there is just no excuse for the haphazard and disrespectful manner in which this road construction is being done. We are also getting frustrated with both the state environment department and the state highway department for seemingly abandoning us to fight alone the state-hired road contractor in a long list of what appear to be egregious and avoidable environmental violations.

We also took pride in each of our successes of the past year, the most notable of which was the maintenance of the diversion to the Grindstone reservoir through a very difficult and dry year without compromising the health of the river. This was made possible by the completion of the gauging station in the Upper Canyon in January and by the co-operation of village officials. We also rejoiced in our membership list climbing up over 800.

We continue to be successful in focusing attention on the river. In this direction, I am delighted to report that the theme of this year’s Aspenfest will be: "Billy the Kid Country, A River Runs Through It." Incidentally, we are going to build a float for the parade and we will need help during the last week of September. Please call Linda Shoop at 258-5011.

Although considerable mitigations have already been taken by both the Forest Service and Ski Apache personnel to contain the erosion up at ski resort, it still remains the number one contributor to the sediment problems in the Ruidoso stretch of the Rio Ruidoso. We were very encouraged, therefore, when the long-awaited ski resort hydrologist detailed by the Forest Service to assess the problems on the Ski Apache resort told us on July 26-27 that in his opinion most of the problems at Ski Apache are typical of ski resorts and can be addressed and mitigated. It is our understanding that the Forest Service is now studying how some of his suggestions can be implemented and financed. Along with work already done, as well as on-going efforts, this is a huge step in the right direction and the association heartily thanks District Ranger Jerry Hawkes and his staff and Ski Apache personnel for this very constructive response.

Several months ago I reported to you that the association had won a $6,500 grant from River Network, to help us to bring more of the watershed’s stakeholders into our restoration project. Our plan was to hire a nationally known river expert to assess the health of the river and to present those findings to a summit conference of local leaders. This summit took place at Cree Meadows on August 19 and included leaders from the following factions: the Village of Ruidoso, Lincoln National Forest, New Mexico Environment Department, New Mexico Department of Game & Fish, Mescalero Apache Tribe, Office of State Engineer, U.S. Geologic Survey, NM State Highway and Transportation Department, Lincoln County, U.S. EPA regional office out of Dallas, USDA-NRCS, Upper Hondo Soil and Water Conservation District, and the Ruidoso Valley Chamber of Commerce. Needless to say, we were happy with the turnout. Incidentally, the river expert brought in from Colorado essentially agreed with our own conclusions that the Rio Ruidoso is currently under siege, but that it can be saved and restored to its former glory.

Lastly, we need your help. First, I think you will all agree that we have come a long way in a short time on a limited budget. While much of our effort is financed by our CWA grant, much of it is not, so we still do depend on your annual dues. If you haven’t sent us your dues in the last year, we thank you in advance for doing so. If you are in doubt about your status, please give us a call. We are working on a reminder system. Secondly, with over 800 members now, sending this letter out every month is getting to be a monumental task for a small group of few tired people. If some of you could help us once a month for a couple of hours to get it out, we’d sure appreciate it. Call me to volunteer (257-9494).

Dick Wisner

July 1999 Newsletter:

Dear Fellow Riverkeeper: July 15, 1999

The first order of business this month is to remind you to circle Friday, August 6 on your calendar to attend the 3^rd annual meeting of the Ruidoso River Association. Like last year, this meeting will be held at the Ruidoso Valley Chamber of Commerce at the confluence of the Rio Ruidoso and Carrizo Creek at Two Rivers Park in Ruidoso from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. We will supply hors d’oeuvres and there will be a cash bar for your enjoyment and fellowship. With your help, we have accomplished a great deal over the past year and we have a full plate for next year that we are anxious to tell you about. We would love to see as many of you there as possible.

I am happy to tell you that our gauging station is now up and running on the internet and producing a continuously updated report on the steam flow in the Rio Ruidoso. You can access this information through a link on our home page (ruidosoriver.com) or via the following e-mail address:
http://wwwdnmalb.cr.usgs.gov/rt-cgi/gen_stn_pg?station=08386505
What you will see when this loads up is a box with a numerical reading of the flow in the Rio Ruidoso at our gauging station in cubic feet per second for the last transmission which will be no more than a few hours old. Below that you will see a hydrograph of the flow by day for the past week or so with the river flow in cubic feet per second on the vertical axis and the past seven days on the horizontal axis. This is the same data that village officials will use to determine when diversions into Grindstone can be made without threat to the river. Hallelujah! Thanks again to all of you who contributed to finance this project as well as to the U.S. Geologic Survey and to the Village of Ruidoso for partnering with us to get it installed and up and running.

In what should be nothing but good news, the timely arrival of the monsoon season is so far being marred by a total lack of foresight on the part of the road builders who have inundated Ruidoso from one end to the other. Despite repeated warnings, they have managed to build a sandcastle on the beach just before high tide. When it gloriously rained an inch and a half last Friday night, for example, tons of mud from the job site was apparently purposely diverted directly into the river in what could be a gross violation of state law. If proven, these violations are subject to fines of up to $10,000 per day. After last Friday’s mud bath, I doubt there is a live fish from here to Roswell, and the monsoons have only just begun. This is really a "catch 22" situation because nobody wants them out of town more than we do. On the other hand these appear to be egregious environmental violations. Right now, if guilty, they should be called into line with fines until they comply. We’ll keep you posted.

At the same time, the erosion from Ski Apache continues to be transported down the Rio Ruidoso whenever it rains, although there does appear to be some improvement over the past couple of summers. A recent observational trip suggests that this improvement is probably due to mitigations that have been done by the Forest Service and Ski Apache at the bottom of the Apache Bowl and into the Deep Freeze ski run. The parking lot still appears to be a big problem, though, as do the infamous sediment ponds on tribal land. The bottom line is that last Saturday, after the storm event mentioned above, the amount of turbidity (sediment) in the river when it left the reservation and entered Ruidoso was 23 times the state standard! A picnic lunch which I enjoyed inside the reservation at the confluence of the North Fork and the Middle Fork enabled me to confirm once again that virtually all of this sediment is still coming down the North Fork. The Middle Fork was virtually clear. We understand that an expert ski resort hydrologist from Colorado is coming in later this month to assess the situation, so we hope he has some solutions.

Those of you who drive up to Ruidoso on 380/70 from Roswell will be happy to know that we have secured a right from landowner Jerry Ford to use that great billboard between Riverside and Sunset (It now says HELP SAVE THE RIVER) to advertise our cause. We have already arranged for the painting and it should be up by mid-August. You’ll love it!

We are also delighted to report that riverkeeper Mike Hyman has recently been selected to serve on the Board of Directors of the New Mexico Watershed Coaltion, which is a trade group for all of the watershed groups in New Mexico. Congratulations, Mike.

Dick Wisner

July 1999 Newsletter:

Dear Fellow Riverkeeper: July 15, 1999

The first order of business this month is to remind you to circle Friday, August 6 on your calendar to attend the 3^rd annual meeting of the Ruidoso River Association. Like last year, this meeting will be held at the Ruidoso Valley Chamber of Commerce at the confluence of the Rio Ruidoso and Carrizo Creek at Two Rivers Park in Ruidoso from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. We will supply hors d’oeuvres and there will be a cash bar for your enjoyment and fellowship. With your help, we have accomplished a great deal over the past year and we have a full plate for next year that we are anxious to tell you about. We would love to see as many of you there as possible.

I am happy to tell you that our gauging station is now up and running on the internet and producing a continuously updated report on the steam flow in the Rio Ruidoso. You can access this information through a link on our home page (ruidosoriver.com) or via the following e-mail address:
http://wwwdnmalb.cr.usgs.gov/rt-cgi/gen_stn_pg?station=08386505
What you will see when this loads up is a box with a numerical reading of the flow in the Rio Ruidoso at our gauging station in cubic feet per second for the last transmission which will be no more than a few hours old. Below that you will see a hydrograph of the flow by day for the past week or so with the river flow in cubic feet per second on the vertical axis and the past seven days on the horizontal axis. This is the same data that village officials will use to determine when diversions into Grindstone can be made without threat to the river. Hallelujah! Thanks again to all of you who contributed to finance this project as well as to the U.S. Geologic Survey and to the Village of Ruidoso for partnering with us to get it installed and up and running.

In what should be nothing but good news, the timely arrival of the monsoon season is so far being marred by a total lack of foresight on the part of the road builders who have inundated Ruidoso from one end to the other. Despite repeated warnings, they have managed to build a sandcastle on the beach just before high tide. When it gloriously rained an inch and a half last Friday night, for example, tons of mud from the job site was apparently purposely diverted directly into the river in what could be a gross violation of state law. If proven, these violations are subject to fines of up to $10,000 per day. After last Friday’s mud bath, I doubt there is a live fish from here to Roswell, and the monsoons have only just begun. This is really a "catch 22" situation because nobody wants them out of town more than we do. On the other hand these appear to be egregious environmental violations. Right now, if guilty, they should be called into line with fines until they comply. We’ll keep you posted.

At the same time, the erosion from Ski Apache continues to be transported down the Rio Ruidoso whenever it rains, although there does appear to be some improvement over the past couple of summers. A recent observational trip suggests that this improvement is probably due to mitigations that have been done by the Forest Service and Ski Apache at the bottom of the Apache Bowl and into the Deep Freeze ski run. The parking lot still appears to be a big problem, though, as do the infamous sediment ponds on tribal land. The bottom line is that last Saturday, after the storm event mentioned above, the amount of turbidity (sediment) in the river when it left the reservation and entered Ruidoso was 23 times the state standard! A picnic lunch which I enjoyed inside the reservation at the confluence of the North Fork and the Middle Fork enabled me to confirm once again that virtually all of this sediment is still coming down the North Fork. The Middle Fork was virtually clear. We understand that an expert ski resort hydrologist from Colorado is coming in later this month to assess the situation, so we hope he has some solutions.

Those of you who drive up to Ruidoso on 380/70 from Roswell will be happy to know that we have secured a right from landowner Jerry Ford to use that great billboard between Riverside and Sunset (It now says HELP SAVE THE RIVER) to advertise our cause. We have already arranged for the painting and it should be up by mid-August. You’ll love it!

We are also delighted to report that riverkeeper Mike Hyman has recently been selected to serve on the Board of Directors of the New Mexico Watershed Coaltion, which is a trade group for all of the watershed groups in New Mexico. Congratulations, Mike.

Dick Wisner

June 1999 Newsletter:

Dear Riverkeeper: June 12, 1999

We are proud to announce that our association has just been awarded a $6,500 grant from the River Network, a national river and watershed conservation organization dedicated to empowering people to protect and restore their rivers and watersheds by building effective organizations. We were honored to be only one of 22 entities chosen from a total of 480 proposals. The grant is specifically earmarked to support our on-going efforts to bring all of the stakeholders in the Rio Ruidoso watershed together into a coalition to solve its problems. My thanks to Larry Cordova, board member from the USDA Forest Service, and Michael Massey, board member from New Mexico Game and Fish, who helped me put this proposal together. More on how we will spend this later.

For those of you who are on our rain check list to receive a T-shirt for helping in the May 8 cleanup, please be advised they are here at my office awaiting your pickup. The same holds for those who are holding rain checks for food.

For the record, our membership list is now over 750!
Mark your calendar for Friday evening, August 6th to attend our 3rd Annual Meeting, which will once again be held on the deck of the Chamber of Commerce Building from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. As usual, the association will provide hors d’oeuvres and there will be a cash bar. Afterward, we invite you to visit any of the fine restaurants who sponsored our May 8th Cleanup.

Due solely to the drought---because the village is honoring its agreement not to divert any Rio Ruidoso surface water into Grindstone Lake during periods of low flow---the instream flow of the river has sadly fallen in half since my last letter, to just over 2 cubic feet per second as measured by the newly-installed gauge in the Upper Canyon. Needless to say, this is dangerously low (we’d like at least 10 cfs) and will not improve until the monsoons come in early July. In the meantime, the town is a tinderbox, so please be careful.

I want to publicly thank board member Debbie Haines and her employer, Zia Natural Gas, for their help at the May 8 Cleanup. This, because Zia Natural Gas inadvertently got left off of the sponsor list on the commemorative T-shirt.

Thanks for your responses to our request for input on the question of keeping the river open for fishing. Our early take on these responses is that we think we will be able to keep plenty enough of the river open to warrant stocking, while at the same time honoring those properties that would like to be protected. We think we can do this with a clear set of rules and tasteful signage. More later.

Dick Wisner

May 1999 Newsletter:

Dear Riverkeeper: May 13, 1999

I am delighted to report that by any standard Saturday’s 6^th Annual River Cleanup was a smashing success! Anyone who wonders how the people of Ruidoso feel about their river got their answer Saturday when more than 365 people showed up to pull more than 40 cubic yards of debris from the Rio Ruidoso and its tributaries! We had expected 250 people versus the 177 we had last year, and even though we ran out of both food and T-shirts, a good time was had by all. It was very encouraging that many whole families came out to help. At lease one family was represented by 3 generations. The increasing degree of community involvement was also evidenced by the fact that we had over 50 valuable prizes to give away that were donated by local merchants. For all of us who have worked so hard to draw the community’s attention back to the river, it was, needless to say, a very satisfying day.

With respect to the "open river" questionnaire included in last month’s letter, the responses are still coming in. We thank all of those who have so far responded. We still want to make one more pass, though, to collect as many more opinions as possible before we report the results to you. Therefore, if you have not yet responded, please do so on the "ballot" again attached to the bottom of this letter because it is the only way that we are able to know how you feel and to know what position, if any, the association should take in this ongoing debate.

Our web page is up and running now at the ruidosoriver.com address. Please let us know what you think, positive or otherwise. Thanks again for this excellent job to Randy Russell.

Meanwhile, what little runoff we had this spring is long gone and the instream flow in the Rio Ruidoso is already dangerously low for the health of the river and its fish habitat at only 7-8 cubic feet per second (New Mexico Game & Fish tells us 10 cfs would be minimal) at the newly-installed gauging station in the Upper Canyon and it is only going to get worse before it gets better when the monsoons come. Consistent with prior agreements, village officials have assured us that no upstream diversion to Grindstone Dam will take place when the flow is this low, which means the river will be on its own between now and monsoons. In the meantime, Grindstone Lake is bank full, so we appear to be entering this critical time frame with everything in as good a shape as it can be given the drought circumstances.

Concerning next week’s water bond election, although we have some concerns about some of the projects that may ultimately be funded out of the bonding authority (please read Ben Mason’s comments attached), we remind readers that many of these projects will be done either way and that the real question is how they will be paid for. If you vote NO to either question on the ballot, you are telling village officials that you would rather these improvements be paid for with higher water rates or property taxes. If you vote YES to both questions you will tell them that you prefer that these costs be shared by all water users, vistiors as well as residents. Because these improvements promise to reduce domestic water demands on the already besieged Rio Ruidoso, we recommend that you vote YES to both questions. We can always oppose those expenditures we don’t agree with later.

Dick Wisner

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT KEEPING THE RIVER OPEN?

I/we do not object to fishermen being in the river or on paths immediately adjacent to it on private property that is not posted, so long as they respect that property and gain access to the river from a public area.

I/we object to fishermen being in the river or on its banks on private property, regardless of whether or not they are respectful of the property and even if they gain access the river from a public area.

_________________________ _____________________________

Name (Optional) Ruidoso Property (if on river)*

* This is not an approval to allow responsible access. That may come later on a different form. Now it is just to get a feel for your opinion.

April 1999 Newsletter:

Dear Riverkeeper: April 9, 1999

I am delighted to report to you that, after months of hard work by riverkeeper Randy Russell, our web page is now at the provider waiting to be posted at the ruidosoriver.com address. This should take no more than a week and then I think you will find this web page interesting and informative and another way of keeping up with what we are doing. It will remain a work in progress for some time, so don’t hesitate to share your suggestions with us, both good and bad.

You may recall that in my last letter I mentioned that the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish was, in response to complaints, beginning to get concerned about the access to river. Inasmuch as the funds to pay for the fish they put in the Rio Ruidoso are public monies that come from the sale of fishing licenses to sportsmen, continued stocking of the river is dependent upon general access by fishermen. Please take a minute to read the attached discussion by Ben Y. Mason and then let us know how you feel about this matter by e-mail or by returning the form below, especially if you own property on the river or any of its major tributaries. No matter what your opinion is, please know that we respect it and will not attempt to change it, but we do need to know what it is.

As you know, we have scheduled our annual river cleanup for Saturday morning, May 8, from 8 AM to noon. Inasmuch as this is the most visual way we draw attention to the river, we urge one and all, regardless of age or circumstance, to come on out and enjoy the fun. Inasmuch as we will provide volunteers with both breakfast and lunch and a handsome T-shirt just for showing up---not to mention a boatload of valuable prizes that will be raffled off---you owe to yourself to come, even if it were not such a darn good cause.

Despite a wide range of proposed solutions, there is no disagreement that Ruidoso’s number one problem at the current time is water---not only making sure that we will have enough of it, but also making sure that what precious water we do have makes it safely through the delivery system to its customers. What needs to be done as soon as possible is 1) a large part of Ruidoso’s theoretical water "rights" need to be proven out and developed and 2) a patchwork delivery system, which "leaks" up to 35% of water that has already been treated, needs to be upgraded.

All of which is why the village counsel has scheduled a special bond election for May 18 to vote again on bonds for water system improvements.

You may recall that a similar bond issue actually passed by a wide margin last year, but that its payoff provision (extension of the current 1% gross receipts tax past 2003) was defeated by just 24 votes, due, I think, more to misunderstanding than opposition. For that reason, we will devote most of next month’s letter to a discussion of the issue in depth.

We also need to do everything that we can to try to keep every raindrop as close to where it falls as possible. That is to say, we must improve water retention in the watershed in every way that we can. Like it or not, one of the ways this can be done is with better timber management. For example, I was amazed the other day to hear that a good-sized juniper can take up to 30 gallons of water a day from the ground and transpire it. I’m not talking about cutting the forest down here. I’m talking about thinning to make it healthier and retain more water. The Forest Service has already started in the Lincoln National Forest, which will help the whole watershed.

Finally, I want to acknowledge and thank the crew that is responsible for getting this letter out to you each month in a timely manner---Janice Henderson, Marian Hyman, Sheree Wisner, and Hazel Haynsworth.

Dick Wisner

_________________________ _____________________________

Name (Optional) Ruidoso Property (if on river)*

* This is not an approval to allow responsible access. That may come later on a different form. Now it is just to get a feel for your opinion.

March 1999 Newsletter:

Dear Fellow Riverkeeper: March 3, 1999

I am happy to report that our dream of a gauging station in the Upper Canyon is now a reality! Thanks to Don Gunn at Cross Currents Construction, the concrete weir was completed several weeks ago and now all that remains is the development of what hydrologists call a "rating curve" which will allow the U.S. Geologic Survey to translate a water level in the river into a volume measurement, such as cubic feet of water passing the weir per second. Because this requires a collection of data at various flow levels it can only be developed over time. Once developed, the monitoring equipment at the station will continuously translate the level of the river into volume and this figure will be reported on the internet. I will tell you how to access this data as soon as it is up and running, which I hope will be summer. Thanks again to all of whose contributions made this possible, including the Village of Ruidoso.

In the meantime, I can tell you that, thanks to La Nina, the current flow is extremely low. USGS calculated the flow this past week and it was only around 3 cubic feet per second. Ideally, for the health of the river and for the fish in it, we would like to see flow of at least several times that, but that is solely up to the Man upstairs. All in all, it looks like we are in for a replay of the drought and fire conditions of 1996.

With respect to its effect on the Rio Ruidoso, all we can do in the meantime is manage what flow we do have efficiently. In this direction, faced with the reality that low-flow diversion under current conditions was much more harmful to the river than it was meaningful to maintaining lake levels in Grindstone (where it is was barely replacing current leakage of 400 gallons per minute), village officials have agreed to cut off the diversion from the Rio Ruidoso into Grindstone Lake until the crisis is past. As a result, because the $165,417 pump-back system under construction at Grindstone Dam to capture leakage is not scheduled to come on-stream (pun intended) until June, be prepared to see lake levels in Grindstone fall considerably until then, depending not only upon the leakage, but also upon the level of activity scheduled for the Grindstone water treatment plant. In order to maintain reasonable lake levels in the face of continued leakage, other system resources will have to be managed to pick up the slack. Incidentally, the article in this morning’s Ruidoso News that quoted Briley as diverting more water to Grindstone Lake was in error.

Once the pump-back system is in place at Grindstone Dam so that leakage does not continually cannibalize the reservoir, please be advised that a reasonably full lake at the current treatment plant throughput rate of 750,000 gallons a day will hold no less than 18 months of water for the village even if there is no replenishment from the river. This is exactly what the dam was properly designed to do before it was so improperly constructed. As far as the fishing at Grindstone Lake is concerned, we have been assured by experts that a sinking shoreline will have no effect whatsoever on health of the fishery.

Speaking of fisheries, we have been advised by the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish that in order to for them to continue to stocking the Rio Ruidoso with trout we will have to enter into a "memorandum of understanding" with them to continue to allow "general" access to the stream throughout the village because it is essentially a private stream and the funds to stock it are public, coming from the sale of fishing licenses. The Department has been stocking the river for over 40 years and with few exceptions the river has been generally open to the public and we feel that it is in everybody’s best interest to keep it so. We will be sending out a questionnaire on this subject in the near future seeking your input on this very important matter.

Please be advised that we have scheduled our 6^th Annual River Clean-Up for Saturday morning, May 8, from 8 AM to noon, so please circle that date on your calendar. Inasmuch as the volunteer hours from this event generate the bulk of our "match" for our $200,000 EPA grant, we urge one and all to come out and join the fun. More detail next month.

I report the last bit of news this month with truly mixed emotions. Hazel Haynsworth, who as most of you know, gave birth to and nurtured this organization until well past the time it was able to leave the nest, has asked to be relieved of some of her duties so that she and Bob can finally take some time to travel and to enjoy life. Her efforts in this cause and many others, as you know, have been no less than prodigious and we will miss her dearly. I know all of you will want to join me in thanking her for her vision and for an immeasurable contribution. Thank you, Hazel

Dick Wisner

January 1999 Newsletter:

Dear Fellow Riverkeeper: January 27, 1999

With a great debt of gratitude to J.R. Baumann and his crew over at the Ruidoso Street Department, I am happy to say that we completed the first phase of our river crossing sign installation (complete with sponsorship tags) just in time for the Holidays. Personally, I think they look great and they should help to remind folks every time they cross over it that there is a river here that it is mighty important to our town. Over the next six months we will be extending this signage to include each of the Rio Ruidoso’s main tributaries as well. Thanks to all who helped with this project.

After being held up for over a month by surprisingly high flows in the Rio Ruidoso caused by unseasonably warm temperatures on Sierra Blanca, and then by the distraction of the Holiday season, work commenced again last week on the gauging station in the Upper Canyon. Once again, we got a great helping hand from our partner in the project, the Village of Ruidoso, whose Water Department under Richard Sanchez, put into place a huge culvert to divert the river around us while we do our modifications. Weather permitting, Riverkeeper Don Gunn at Cross Currents Construction will now complete these modifications over the next several weeks and then the long-awaited gauging station will be up and running! This gauge will provide continuous real-time data on the river flow at all times. The data will first go by satellite to the U.S. Geologic Survey where it will be translated and then placed on the internet for all the world to see! Most importantly, the gauge will provide an objective measurement for managing municipal diversion into Grindstone so that, when necessary, it will not be detrimental to the health of the river.

The favorable weather that is allowing us to construct the gauging station in the dead of winter is, of course, a double-edged sword. The La Nina weather pattern that we have feared for some time now seems to have materialized and at this point there is very little snow-pack on the mountain that can translate into run-off this Spring and Summer. As you know, we have had only intermittent precipitation here since early December, although I’m happy to say that the mountain did get 15 inches on one occasion last week. If this continues, please take some comfort that, along with village officials, we have done all that humanly possible to avoid a repeat of 1996. In the event of a draught, not only should the leakage from Grindstone Dam be the pumped back, but also the Grindstone Lake reservoir should be drawn down before the river is targeted. Also, contrary to 1996, the Alto Lake reservoir is full.

Riverkeeper Randy Russell continues to work on our web page. The only reason it is’t done yet is because he keeps making it better. Maybe next month.

Whereas our attention over the past year has been primarily directed toward maximizing the quantity of water in the river, our efforts in 1999 will shift over to improving the quality of the water in the river using data we have been collecting over the past year. This means primarily that we will be identifying and working to mitigate the major sources of both sediment loading and nutrient loading into the river.

Also on the agenda this year is the commencement of our effort to restore the Two Rivers Park area. In this direction, later this spring we will convene a conference of stakeholders and experts to help us develop plans to turn this area into a model watershed which can then be used as an interpretive center. Our hope is not only that, as such, it will become an educational destination and attraction, but also that it will engender resolve to improve the health of the Rio Ruidoso along its entire reach. This project will be spearheaded by Riverkeepers and Advisory Board Members Larry Cordova and Michael Massey, who are both habitat specialists, Larry with the U.S. Forest Service and Michael with New Mexico Game and Fish, respectively.

Lastly, please be advised that we have every reason to believe that our relationship with the other major stakeholder on the Rio Ruidoso, the Mescalero Apache Tribe, is going to continue to improve. I say this not only because we have a good working relationship with Thora Walsh-Padilla, the tribe’s Director of Environmental Protection, as well as with Kevin Buckley, the Tribe’s Hydrologist, but also because the more we talk, the more it appears we share common goals for the watershed.

Happy New Year to All!

Dick Wisner

November & December 1998 Newsletter:

Dear Fellow Riverkeeper: December 10, 1998

The best news of the month is that we have finally received the first monies from our Clean Water Act grant! As a result, we were able to pay down the bulk of our line of credit at the Ruidoso State Bank. The association once again thanks Tom Battin and the good folks at the bank for their help and patience. Without it we would have ground to a halt last Spring.

I am proud to say that donations you have sent us for the gauging station in the Upper Canyon now total $11,960, which will not only cover the cost of the installation, but also the first six months of operation and maintenance. Our deepest thanks to all who helped in this matter. You make me proud.

As far as the gauging station itself is concerned, after a quick start in October, unusually high flow in the river is holding up completion. Riverkeeper Don Gunn at Cross Currents Construction has completed the necessary dredging and the U.S. Geologic Survey has completed the installation of all of the sophisticated telemetry gear and it is already producing rudimentary flow numbers. All that remains to be done is to pour a foot of concrete on top of an existing dam-like structure. This requires us to divert the river while we work, and the flow has been too high to allow us to set up the temporary diversion. Since we only need 3 or 4 days to finish this, we are still hopeful of getting a break in the weather to get it done before year-end.

As many of you know, this same weather pattern has kept Ski Apache from opening on schedule and it appears more and more likely that the La Nina phenomenon in the Pacific is going to give us a warmer and dryer winter and, consequently, a smaller Spring run-off. The good news is that by that time all of the flow maintenance measures we have worked with village officials to put into place should be operative, and even if 1996 repeats, the river should stay healthy!!!

Incidentally, for those of you who haven’t been here in a while, road work has made Mechem an unbelievable mess all the way from Sudderth to Ski Run Road and it looks to last all Winter.

Thanks to Riverkeeper Randy Russell, we are very close to having our own web page on the internet! More news on this next month. Thanks also to Randy for setting up a first class database of our membership which will be invaluable as we move forward. Thank you to those who have already sent us your e-mail address. For those of you who have one and haven’t given it to us, please do so as soon as possible because we hope to save some postage by starting to deliver this letter to you via that mode as soon as possible.

I am also happy to announce that we have received a small shipment of our T-shirts. They look pretty good and will make great gifts! We have all sizes from medium to XXL priced at $17.50. Come on by and have a look at 202 Mechem.

Lastly, all of us here at the association want to tender our sincere wishes to you and yours for a happy and safe Holiday season. We also want to thank you for your continuing and priceless support. Together we have accomplished a great deal for the Rio Ruidoso in 1998. Although most of it has been under the surface (pun intended), by this time next year it should be much more visible.

Dick Wisner

October 1998 Newsletter:

Dear Fellow Riverkeeper: October 31, 1998

The first thing I want to do this month is to thank each and every one of you who sent us contributions for the gauging station in the Upper Canyon! I am delighted to tell you that we have so far received a total of $9,650 for this project, which is just about what we needed. (We will still need $3,000 for our annual share of the operation and maintenance). Thanks to your timely and generous response and to the quick approval of Riverkeeper Trish Cooper, whose property we need to cross and minimally intrude, we have begun the installation under the supervision of the USGS and hope, weather permitting, to have it up and running by Thanksgiving. My special thanks to founding Riverkeepers Joanie Holt, Frank Richardson, and Ben Mason for their invaluable help in raising this money.

Our second debt of gratitude this month goes to Ski Apache personnel for removing more than 1000 yards of accumulated sediment in September from the holding ponds below the ski resort! The value of this clean-out was immediately noticeable this week when steady rain for several days did not turn the Rio Ruidoso muddy for the first time in recent memory. Needless to say, we were delighted to hear of this effort on the part of Ski Apache, and herein publicly thank them, as well as the Mescalero Environment Department, and the Smokey Bear Forest Service for any part they may have played in this action.

As you know, we commenced monitoring the water in the Rio Ruidoso under our Clean Water Act grant last May when nine members were trained and certified as monitors by the Surface Water Quality Bureau of the New Mexico Environment Department. I am proud to say that four more members joined this team last weekend by participating in the 8-hour workshop: Bart Bayars, Deborah Marcum, Alicia Pirelli, and Mark Hamilton.

Thanks to the good folks down at the Ruidoso Street Department, almost all of the river-crossing signs are now in place. The lower half of the signs, "Please Help Keep It Clean," which will also honor significant contributions, both financial and otherwise, should be up by the holidays.

You’ll be happy to know that we are designing some T-shirts and sweatshirts to sell. One will feature Frank Mangan’s great fly-fishing snapshot that we use on the front of our brochure superimposed with the phrase, "Ruidoso, A River Runs Through It." A second will say, "Riverkeepers," underneath a colorful drawing of a bear and her cubs fishing in a river (Thanks for this idea to Sue Alborn). Pictures and prices will be available in plenty of time for Christmas.

Lastly, it is good that we have made the progress we have because long-term weather forecasts now suggest a La Nina pattern in the Pacific that will increase the probabilities of below average rainfall for New Mexico through next summer

Dick Wisner

END OF NEWSLETTERS SECTION:

The Ruidoso River Association

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