In June 2009, the city and county of Santa Fe annouced that they had come to an agreement to provide water for the river once the Buckman Diversion comes on line in 2011. Initially, it appears the river will get approximately 1,000 acre-feet per year. This water will be committed to the river as long as the county does not need it. While not a permanent solution, it is a start.

There aren’t many people that remember, but at one time there was a decent trout fishery running through the capital. The reservoirs above town, which are closed and have been since the 1930’s, still hold trout.

Just recently, the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish has worked out an agreement with the city to use the reservoirs as brood stock lakes for Rio Grande cutthroat trout. Brood fish will be tagged and stocked into the lakes where they can grow. In the spring, department personnel will shock the fish back out of the lakes to collect eggs for restoration projects in streams across the state.

What if we could figure out a way to get those flows to continue year round? What if we could actually have a trout fishery in Santa Fe? Trout Unlimited has been working with the Santa Fe Watershed Association to make that become a reality.

There are quite a few hurdles to cross before we can make it happen, but we are finally coming together as a community to seriously discuss the possibility. In September, Melinda Kassen, the head of TU’s Western Water Project was down from Bolder to give a discussion on projects that TU has done with other communities around the west, and what some of the options are for making it happen here.

Obviously, the first thing we need is water, and not just for part of the year, but all year long. Water law in New Mexico can make this difficult, but there is certainly more political will in this state now to provide environmental flows in our rivers than there has been in the past. TU has been assisting the Watershed Association with a feasibility study over to figure out how much water we need and where we can get that water.

Of course to get fish into the river, there will need to be a period of time with sustained flows to build up the food base. This also gives us an opportunity to do some in stream improvements to make it more habitable for fish. We would like, if possible, to see the state return our state fish, the native Rio Grande cutthroat to this stream.

It won’t be easy, but now is as good a time as any to try. If you think this is a good idea, you should make an effort to let our elected representative now that you want to see water in the river. Also, Santa Fe now has a check off program on your water bill, where you can donate into a fund to purchase water rights for the purpose of leaving them in the river.

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