The Borderlands Research Institute, Rio Grande Joint Venture, and Dixon Water Foundation have teamed up to form the Alamito Creek Conservation Initiative (ACCI). The goal is to implement riparian habitat restoration in the Alamito Creek watershed.

ACCI partners with landowners to implement restoration and enhancement projects within the Alamito Creek watershed in Presidio County. The Dixon Water Foundation and The Horizon Foundation provide funding for this initiative. In addition, existing cost-share programs are used to carry out voluntary incentive-based conservation projects.

Historical accounts of watersheds across the arid Chihuahuan Desert landscape indicate many had more perennial streams and were lined with gallery forests of cottonwood and willow. Today, summer thunderstorms result in runoff that is no longer absorbed by the riparian forests and adjacent uplands, resulting in less recharge to aquifers, greater erosion and downcutting of stream bottoms, and less desirable vegetation communities. These stream channels are often disconnected from the floodplains. Well-developed and vegetated floodplains can absorb and store annual flood flows, resulting in wetter watersheds, and healthier riparian and wetland communities for wildlife and livestock.

Riparian enhancement efforts will utilize low-tech process-based restoration techniques. Such practices include brush weirs, loose rock structures, and other grade control structures. These practices use simple structural additions to mimic riparian functions and initiate specific processes. Treatment of invasive brush on the uplands and placement of filter dams in the incised streams will slow runoff and promote recovery.

Through appropriate monitoring, we can attain a better understanding of how innovative restoration strategies can help mitigate the effects of drought and degradation. This initiative seeks to improve overall riparian health through riparian and grassland enhancement projects.

Additional Resources
Utah State University:
https://lowtechpbr.restoration.usu.edu

Quivera Coalition:
https://quiviracoalition.org/techguides/

Working Lands for Wildlife:
https://www.wlfw.org/landscapes/sagebrush/riparian-and-wet-meadow-degradation/

Dixon Water Foundation:
https://dixonwater.org/

Rio Grande Joint Venture:
https://rgjv.org

Habitat restoration at the Pitchfork Ranch in New Mexico:
https://pitchforkranchnm.com/habitat-restoration/

Rock structures (Brad Lancaster):
https://www.harvestingrainwater.com/2022/08/where-rocks-have-made-the-water-flow-a-water-harvesting-arizona-ranch/

Videos:
Chiricahua Mountains: Can rock dams reverse climate change?