Restoration

We have been working on ecological restoration of a parcel along the Rio Grande north of Radium Springs since we purchased the property in 2011. The property includes a 1-2 acres strip between Highway 185 and the river, and a larger parcel to the west of the highway that includes a large cattail swamp. We spend many weekend days here.

Restoration has included mechanical removal of dense salt cedar stands on both sides of the highway. On the river side, we successfully planted a number of cottonwood and Goodings willow trees, that have grown to 30-40 feet over the course of ten years! We introduced a number of shrubs (NM Olive, sumac, others), some of which survived, but the parcel has developed complete groundcover, largely on its own, with screwbean mesquire, baccharis, salt grass, alkali acatom, arroweedm, yerba mansa, among others. On the swamp side, tree planting was largely unsuccessful, but we had some natural recruitment of Goodings willow in 2022, after we created several ponds by excavation.

It has been remarkable to see how the property has changed over a decade!

Maintenance consists largely of hand removal of salt cedar sprouts and shrubs, and I believe I must be close to holding a world record for number of salt cedar sprouts pulled! We also cage trees for protection against beavers, which we have on the property!