The Southwest Node Report
January 16, 2005
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- Node Description
- List of data sources utilized by the Southwest Node
- Preliminary data as of December 2004
- Methods
- Acknowledgements
Node Description
Overview
The Southwest Node is one of seven nodes participating in the National River Restoration Science Synthesis (NRRSS). Members of the Southwest Node have spent the last two years (2002-2004) compiling information on river and riparian restoration projects from Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah and entering this information into a single NRRSS summary database. Extensive project duplication/deletion and data source verification analyses have been conducted. 600 restoration projects populate the Southwest Node database. Of these, approximately 29% include monitoring activities. The dominant types of projects within the Southwest Node database are those concerned with riparian management and water quality. 73% of projects in the Southwest include cost information. From these, we estimate that almost $1 billion has been spent on restoration in the Southwest since the early 1980s. Phone surveys with a random sub-sampling of 48 project managers are currently underway to better elucidate trends in river and riparian restoration not available from existing databases.
Node scientific committee
- Jennifer Follstad Shah, PhD Student, University of New Mexico, Department of Biology, follstad@unm.edu
- Cliff Dahm, Professor, University of New Mexico, Department of Biology, cdahm@sevilleta.unm.edu
- Steve Gloss, US Geologic Survey, School of Natural Resources, University of Arizona, sgloss@usgs.gov
Geographic scope
The primary geographic focus of the Southwest Node is the Colorado and Rio Grande rivers and their tributaries. However, every effort has been made to obtain all databases available for the four corners states: Arizona , Colorado , New Mexico , and Utah (Fig. 1). These states are some of the largest in the nation with respect to surface area while being covered by relatively less water as compared to other states (Table 1). The geographic area in question spans 9 terrestrial ecoregions: the Arizona mountains (coniferous-deciduous forest), Colorado Rockies, Colorado Plateau shrubland, Chihuahuan Desert , Great Basin shrubland/steppe, Sonoran Desert , Wasatch-Uinta mountains (dry coniferous-deciduous forest), Western short grasslands, and Wyoming Basin shrubland/steppe (Fig. 2).
Table 1. Geographic facts for states within the Southwest Node.
|
|
Arizona |
Colorado |
New Mexico |
Utah |
|
Total area (mi2) |
114,006 |
104,100 |
121,598 |
84,904 |
|
US ranking for size |
6 |
8 |
5 |
13 |
|
Water area (mi2) |
364 |
371 |
234 |
2,736 |
|
US ranking for water area |
48 |
46 |
49 |
14 |
|
Mean elevation (ft) |
4,100 |
6,800 |
5,700 |
6,300 |
|
Population (2000 census) |
5,130,632 |
4,301,261 |
1,819,046 |
2,233,169 |
Data from http://www.netstate.com
Figure 2. Ecoregions of the Southwest.
Map from http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/terrestrial.html .
See http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial_na.html for an index to terrestrial ecoregion designations.
List of data sources utilized by the Southwest Node
Data on river and riparian restoration projects were gathered from readily available sources of information (e.g., websites, agency reports or summary spreadsheets, electronic databases, peer reviewed scientific literature, books, and personal communications). Projects had to be completed, or to have at least initiated construction before 2004 in order to be included in the NRRSS database. Obtained data sources included:
Arizona
- Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, Water Quality Improvement Grants
- Arizona Department of Water, Arizona Water Protection Fund
- Arizona State University , Center for Environmental Studies
- City of Phoenix
- Pima County Flood Control District
- Pima County Water Resources Division
- Sonoran Institute
- Tonto National Forest
- Tuscon Audubon Society
- US Bureau of Land Management, Abandoned Mine Land Program
- US Geological Survey, Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Station
Colorado
- City and County of Denver
- Colorado Department of Public Health and Evironment, Nonpoint Source Pollution Program
- Colorado Division of Water Resources/Colorado Water Conservation Board
- Colorado Division of Wildlife
- US Bureau of Land Management, Abandoned Mine Land Program
- US Fish and Wildlife Service, Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program
- US Geological Survey, Reconfigured Channel Assessment Program
New Mexico
- Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge
- Cuidad Soil and Water Conservation District
- Earth Works Institute
- Forest Guardians
- Hydra Aquatic, Inc.
- Middle Rio Grande Endangered Species Act Collaborative Workgroup
- New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources
- Socorro Soil and Water Conservation District
- The Nature Conservancy - New Mexico Chapter
- University of New Mexico , Water Resources Program
- US Army Corps of Engineers, Albuquerque District Office
- US Bureau of Land Management, Abandoned Mine Land Program
- US Bureau of Reclamation, Albuquerque River Analysis Team
- US Fish and Wildlife Service, Middle Rio Grande Bosque Initiative
- US Fish and Wildlife Service, San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program
- World Wildlife Fund/Alliance for Rio Grande Heritage
- US Bureau of Reclamation, Lower Colorado Regional Office
Utah
- US Bureau of Land Management, Abandoned Mine Land Program
- Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
- Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission
Nationally
- Clean Water Action Plan Watershed Success Stories
- Federal Highway Administration National Transportation Enhancement Clearinghouse
- Federal Interagency Stream Corridor Restoration Working Group
- Fish America Foundation
- National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
- National Park Service, Project Management Information System
- The Nature Conservancy Flow Restoration Database
- US Army Corps of Engineers, Institute for Water Resources
- US Department of Agriculture, Natural Resource Conservation Service, Collection of Buffer Strip Success Stories
- US Environmental Protection Agency, 319 Program - Grants Reporting Tracking System (GRTS)
- US Environmental Protection Agency, Five Star Restoration Challenge Grants
- US Environmental Protection Agency, River Corridor and Wetland Restoration Database
- US Fish and Wildlife Service Division of Bird Habitat
- US Fish and Wildlife Service, Partners for Fish and Wildlife - Habitat Information Tracking System (HabITS)
Preliminary data as of December 2004
Distribution of restoration projects: numbers, project intents, and costs
The number of restoration projects reported in the Southwest has increased since the early 1980s (Fig. 3), similar to the nation as a whole. The total number of projects for which data has been collected in the Southwest approaches 600. More project information has been obtained for the states of Arizona and New Mexico than for Colorado and New Mexico (Fig. 4). Riparian management and water quality management projects are the most common types of restoration projects in the Southwest and outnumber other types of restoration projects by a factor of at least 2:1 (Fig. 5).
73% of projects included in the Southwest database also include cost information. Of these, flow modification and in-stream species management projects are the most costly (Fig. 6). Costs in these categories, however, are likely driven by one prominent species conservation program in the Southwest. Riparian management projects, although great in number, are low in cost.
Only 29% of projects in the Southwest report that any monitoring has been conducted as part of the restoration effort. Reporting of project monitoring within each southwestern state ranges from 17%-46% (Fig. 4). In contrast, the national statistic for project monitoring is 14%.
Figure 3. The number of reported restoration projects in the Southwest Node by year (1984-2002).
Figure 4. The number of restoration project data points collected for each state in the Southwest Node.
Figure 5. The percent of projects within the Southwest Node that focus on each type of project intent. Single projects may include multiple project intents.
Figure 6. Total project costs within the Southwest Node for each project intent.
Methods
Duplication analysis
The Southwest Node database was surveyed for project duplication by comparing data between project records for the following fields of information: project name, stream name, location (county, state), year implemented, year completed, funding source, and cost. Records were first compared by project name, stream name, and years implemented or completed. If records were the same (or similar in the case of project name), other fields of information were compared. If records were considered to be duplicates, the record that was entered later was deleted. Any data included in the record to be deleted that did not exist in the original record was first added to the original record. The remaining project record was then linked to both its original data source and the data source of the record that was deleted.
Validation process
Summary documents were created for each state after the duplication analysis was completed. These summaries included a list of data sources for each state and illustrated the total number of reported restoration projects, the distribution of projects by county, and the dominant types of projects within the state. These documents were sent to state experts who were asked to ascertain whether the Southwest Node database captured project information that represented at least 50% of the population of known restoration projects in the state, whether the mapped spatial distribution of projects represented known "hot spots" for restoration, and whether the distribution of project intents seemed representative of the body of restoration project performed within the last 10 years. Agencies affiliated with state experts who reviewed Southwest Node summary documents included the Arizona Department of Water Resources - Water Protection Fund, New Mexico Environment Department - Surface Water Quality Bureau, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment - Nonpoint Source Pollution Division, Utah Department of Wildlife Resources, US Fish and Wildlife Service (Middle Rio Grande Bosque Initiative and the Colorado River Endnagered Fish Recovery Program), and the US Geological Survey - School of Natural Resources, University of Arizona. The validation process was deemed complete after most state experts agreed with state summaries and when outstanding data sources, as pointed out by state experts, were obtained and entered into the Southwest Node database.
Phone surveys
Although we have obtained 600 records of restoration projects within the Southwest Node, the detail of information within these records is generally poor. We have started to interview 48 project managers of restoration projects concerned primarily with in-stream habitat management, channel reconfiguration, riparian management, and water quality management. The survey is standardized and being used by other nodes part of the NRRSS project. The Southwest Node expects to have completed all interviews and preliminary phone survey analyses by May 2005.
Acknowledgements
The Southwest Node thanks all agencies that have provided us with sources of information. We especially thank two University of New Mexico undergraduate students, Karyth Becenti and Doug Price, for their help entering numerous data points into the Southwest Node database.