New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici, R, wants to give more
money — nearly $13 million annually — to a
five-year-old program dedicated to endangered species on the Middle
Rio Grande. He also plans to put the Middle Rio Grande Endangered
Species Act Collaborative Program under federal authority and trim
its membership. But not all the members think those changes are
good for the river.
The program aims to protect the
silvery minnow and the southwestern willow flycatcher. Its strength
has been the consensus decision-making of the group’s diverse
membership, says Kara Gillon of the Alliance for the Rio Grande
Heritage, a coalition of environmental organizations. Now Domenici
wants to cut the program from 21 to 14 participants, leaving it
stacked with state and federal agencies. Domenici staffer Erik Webb
says the change will help the agencies work together more
effectively.
But Gillon and other non-governmental
members are concerned that local knowledge will lose out under the
new plan. And fisheries biologist David Propst, of the New Mexico
Department of Game and Fish, is worried about the money.
Most of the bill’s funding would go toward implementing a
controversial U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plan — rewritten
in 2003 by agency bureaucrats — that allows the river to dry
each year after June 15 (HCN, 8/2/04: An icon of the Rio Grande has
all but vanished in the wild). Only about $5 million is earmarked
for leasing water, and that may not be enough to keep the river
flowing, warns Probst. “I think you need to look realistically at
the situation, at limited resources,” he says. “The answer to the
problem is ‘keep the water in the damn river.’ “
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Domenici clobbers cooperation on the RioGrande.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
