Jetty Jacks

I went to the Rio Grande Nature Center State Park in Albuquerque awhile back.

There are jetty jacks there. I like the name. Jetty jacks.

Jetty jacks, Rio Grande Valley State Park, New Mexico

Jetty jacks were big in the 50s and 60s, installed along rivers to:

1. Prevent floods from deepening a river channel when it scoured the river bed of sedimentation, which over time, resulted in a longer gap between new-normal river levels and the rootline of riverine vegetation, resulting in more difficulty in said vegetation's access to water
2. Prevent "scouring" of levees or banks, in which flood waters scooped out the bottoms of the banks as they rushed by, resulting in unstable levees or banks
3. Allow the capture and retention of sediment and flood debris, resulting in the build-up and maintenance of strong banks, resulting in safe environments for trees - bosques - to grow along the river, and preventing the flooding beyond the stronger banks

 Thousands of jetty jacks were installed along the Rio Grande. And, for the most part, they performed as designed. 

Jetty jacks, Rio Grande Valley State Park, New Mexico

But then the dams (e.g. Jemez Canyon, Abiquiu, Galisteo, and Cochiti) were built, which changed the dynamics of river flooding that made the jetty jacks effective. For example, jetty jacks collected fine sediment from river flooding to build and maintain banks, but the dams sharply curtailed the flow of fine sediment.

Jetty jacks, Rio Grande Valley State Park, New Mexico

Over time, the jetty jacks became a hindrance rather than a benefit.

Jetty jacks, Rio Grande Valley State Park, New Mexico

A detailed discussion of the jetty jack history - as of 2002 - here:  Taking Out the Jetty Jacks: Issues of Jetty Jack Removal in Bosque and River Restoration Planning, by Kathy Grassel, 2002.

In the above article, Ms. Grassel refers to the plans to remove the jacks from the river portion managed by the Santa Ana Pueblo.

Here is that story: Bringing Back the Bosque - Santa Ana Pueblo story.  Published in 2001.

Sidebar: Hmm. This article, published in High Country News, was funded by the McCune Foundation. Ahhh, I thought that sounded familiar.

Jetty jacks, Rio Grande Valley State Park, New Mexico

What interests me is now that a decade has passed, how'd the removal work out? Expectations met?

Per this article, published in 2008, it appears there have, indeed, been positive results. An excerpt:

Along one bank, the Pueblo has removed all "jetty jacks," large metal structures that were installed in the 1950s and 1960s to straighten the river. Removing the jetty jacks allowed the Pueblo to recontour sections of the riverbank, which creates a lower floodplain that helps to reduce channel incision. The recontoured sections have experienced natural revegetation. In addition, the Pueblo has created backwater areas and swales that are planted with native vegetation. The backwater areas increase potential habitat for the Rio Grande silvery minnow, which requires slow-moving currents for spawning. Preliminary surveys (2005-2006) for the minnow on the Pueblo have shown an increase from earlier captures (1995-2000).

Like the Rio Grande silvery minnow, the southwestern willow flycatcher has benefited from habitat changes on the Pueblo. Exploratory surveys in 2001 detected only migratory willow flycatchers. During the summer of 2005, the Santa Ana Pueblo started surveying all suitable riparian habitats within its boundaries for willow flycatchers. After three years of baseline standardized surveys, detections of migratory willow flycatchers have significantly increased from original 2001 estimates. More importantly, southwestern willow flycatchers started residing on the Pueblo in 2006. These new resident flycatchers are defending territories within naturally regenerating riparian vegetation at the confluence of the Rio Jemez and the Rio Grande. This confluence supported very little vegetation in 2001 but is now densely vegetated. The Pueblo used this riparian regeneration as an example to grade the riverbank in an adjacent area to increase sediment deposition. This will create the same type of natural regeneration and expand the available riparian area in hopes that more southwestern willow flycatchers will take residence.

As with so many superficially-simple "problems," the decision to remove or leave in place jetty jacks isn't so simple. The "right" decision depends on: 

• Who you are - what is your interest in the river and the adjoining land
• Where the jacks are in relation to the river and to upstream dams
• What problems - if any - particular jacks are causing
• The return on the investment in the short, medium, and long-term of leaving the jetty jacks in place or removing them

San Antonio, New Mexico: The Rio Grande in Spring

Rio Grande in spring, Highway 380 outside San Antonio, New Mexico

One of the best things about my version of slow travel - staying in one place for an entire year - is that I can see how seasons change the environment.

So it is I've been able to see this part of the Rio Grande in the fall, winter, and now the spring.

San Antonio, New Mexico: The Rio Grande in Winter

The Rio Grande, December.
Highway 380, just outside San Antonio, New Mexico.

Rio Grande, Highway 380, outside San Antonio, New Mexico

Rio Grande, Highway 380, outside San Antonio, New Mexico

Rio Grande, Highway 380, outside San Antonio, New Mexico

Rootless Lit: The Devil's Highway: A True Story

"Rootless lit" - Literature that speaks to travel, migration, displacement, exploration, discovery, transience, divesting of stuff, or portability. 

Rootless lit book review: The Devil's Highway: A True Story, by Luis Alberto Urrea

Credit: Amazon

This is the story of the desert passage undocumented immigrants make between Mexico and the U.S. Many die en route because of lack of water and the heat. More specifically, it is the story of the Yuma 14, when fourteen men from one group died in 2001.

There were parts of this book, especially at the end, where it was painful to read. Mr. Urrea described the final hours of the dead in vivid, personal detail. One description particularly stands out for its horrific sadness. A survivor reported: "One of the boys went crazy and started jumping up and down. He started screaming, 'Mama! Mama! I don't want to die!' He ran up to a big cactus and started smashing his face against it. I don't know what his name was." The boy was 16 years old.

About another who died, Mr. Urrea wrote: "Nobody knows the name of the man who took off all his clothes. It was madness, surely. He removed his slacks, folded them, and put them on the ground. Then he took off his underwear, laid it neatly on the pants. He removed his shirt and undershirt and squared them away with the pants. As if he didn't want to leave a mess. ...He lay on his back and stared into the sun until he died."

I like how Mr. Urrea spoke for the dead as they rode in their body bags in the air-conditioned hearses.

Mr. Urrea's description of the Border Patrol's activities seemed nuanced and even-handed to me. He offers thoughtful notes in the last chapter regarding the financial costs and benefits of undocumented immigrants, of other violences perpetrated in and around the desert border.

It's difficult to describe Mr. Urrea's writing style other than to say it is personal, often in second person narrative. His portrayal of almost all of the players in the undocumented migrant universe is empathetic. Exceptions are the drug gangsters and the coyotes they run, plus certain aspects of the Mexican government machine.

Whatever one's position on migration, this book forces the reader to acknowledge the immigrants' humanity. At least for a day or two.

Truth or Consequences: Soak, Snack, Nap. Repeat.

Rio Grande

[2010 Out West Road Trip.  Travels with Carol.]

In March 2010, my mother, Carol, and I took a road trip from Missouri to New Mexico, in search of sun and warmth. Here is Day 12 of our road trip. 

Sunday, 14 march 10 

 

MZURI'S REPORT

The word for today is ...... ahhhhhhhh. The instructions for the day, as delivered by our hotelier are: "Soak, snack, nap. Repeat." 

 

We are in Truth or Consequences (hereafter referred to as T and C) at the Riverbend Hot Springs Lodge.  Look at the photos on the Riverbend home page. We soaked in warm mineral springs water alongside the Rio Grande River. We intend to do this for the next couple of days.

 

We got here from Silver City via Highway 152, which took us through a section of the Gila National Forest. Many switchback roads. Two wilder-pee stops behind bushes, one of which included an encounter with a dead white dog, disintegrating slowly into the earth, with bared teeth prominent. Quite a bit of snow alongside the road. Some beautiful scenery, especially Emory Pass.

Highway 152 near Emory Pass

 

Carol popped for a private soak this afternoon (once we checked into our T and C digs), then I soaked again in the public pools this evening while the sun went down. From the warmth of the pool, I watched a heron dine on the river. We have a two-bedroom accommodation, which takes up approx. half of a converted mobile home. 

 

 

CAROL'S REPORT

Turtleback Mountain across the Rio Grande

The accommodations take me back thru many almost forgotten years to a place called Admiral King Drive in Pascagoula, Mississippi when I was a mere sprite of fifteen years.  I kept asking Mzuri why there was no smell of sulphur coming from the rejuvenating baths as there was in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and Mount Clemons, Michigan, not to mention Okawville, Illinois, when it finally occurred to me they were called mineral water and the only way the waters differentiated from what we might drink is the very hot temperature.  The Rio Grande is wide and swift - lovely actually and not at all like the rocky thin trickle I had expected.  The baths are as Mzuri wrote - public and disconcerting to consider sliding in to join a group splashing around.  While I consider myself democratic as the Saint, said "not just yet".  Until I become acclimated I will spend a few dollars and use the private ones.

READER RESPONSES:


FROM STORMY:
I am still very envious of your adventures. Enjoying the comments from family members, printing up most for Pop to enjoy. As far as the Walmart connection is concerned, probably keeps one from getting homesick. It's like Motel 6, they always keep the light on. Will you be home in time for Phil and Mindy's wedding on April 30th? or have you both decided not to come back at all. If so, I have first dibs on Carol's house. I promise I will take good care of it and she can visit anytime she wants.


FROM MZURI:

We're glad you're enjoying the trip reports.

 

For the first time on our trip, we're experiencing non-sunny, cold weather. Ooooh, it is cold, cloudy, and blustery out! Snow clouds hovering over the nearby mountains. Currently, Carol and I are wickedly ensconced in our beds, staying snugly warm, with our respective TVs turned on. We're looking out the windows, glad we're inside. Brrrr. 

 

Nevertheless, later I'll take a dip in the hot springs. It will be like heaven ... until I get out.

FROM CAROL:
Well, finally hearing from Stormy...wish you were here to enjoy the baths.  Even tho I am having a fine time I still have had time to gobble up a few books.  Yesterday Mzuri and I went grocery shopping which we do independently of each other.  She, like Shilo Girl, you, and Sissy, keep an eye on me when it comes to my sugar mania.  I sneaked a Pepperidge Farm German Chocolate Cake and a Mrs.Somebody Peach Pie into my cart and was punished when getting back "home" to find it was frozen and had to be baked.  The cake is delicious however and I am doing enough walking to keep the glucose level down (I think).