The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, City of Albuquerque, Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service anticipate the flow in the Rio Grande to be increased by 4,000 acre feet of water intermittently over Monday and Tuesday (May 13 and 14).
The water will come from Abiquiu Reservoir. It is available under the Conservation Water Agreement between the State of New Mexico and the United States of America. The three-year agreement was forged in June of 2001. Water from the conservation pool will augment native Rio Grande flows.
To create the spike flows, the Conservancy District agreed to use its canals and drains to convey the water downstream. The gates of the San Acacia diversion, 11 miles north of Socorro, will be operated so as to temporarily create the muddy river conditions apparently preferred by the minnow for spawning.
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class=EnvelopeRet>When minnows spawn, things happen quickly. The majority of minnow eggs are released over a 48 hour period. Minnow eggs are semi-buoyant as they incubate and can travel as far as 200 miles.
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class=EnvelopeRet>Biologists with the agencies are monitoring the Rio Grande near San Marcial, some 40 miles downstream from San Acacia. They will capture the eggs and transfer them to rearing facilities. The wild-born eggs will be used to enhance propagation efforts.
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class=EnvelopeRet>The Rio Grande silvery minnow is a native fish first listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 1994. The minnow was once one of the most abundant and widespread of the desert fishes in the Rio Grande Basin. It ranged from Espanola, New Mexico, to the Gulf of Mexico. It was found in the Pecos River from Santa Rosa, New Mexico, downstream to its confluence with the Rio Grande. The silvery minnow has completely died out in the Pecos River and in the Rio Grande downstream of Elephant Butte Reservoir and upstream of Cochiti Reservoir.
