Volunteers plant willows to reclaim refuge habitat
Ahardy group of about a dozen volunteers from Save Our Bosque Task Force (SOBTF) spent a recent Friday planting Goodding’s willows — also known as black willows — at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, in an effort to restore habitat that was destroyed in a wildland fire in June.
New Mexico State Forestry’s Doug Boykin, president of Save Our Bosque Task Force in Socorro, said the replanting stems from the Tiffany Fire, which was devastating to the willows and wiped out a number of salt cedars.
“Not only did it burn a lot of salt cedar but also killed a lot of cottonwood and willows. We lost so much down there,” Boykin said. “What we’re doing is planting the willow plantation here on the north end of the refuge. All these willows will grow and we’ll be able to take cuttings off them and eventually they’ll be the seed, the pole stock, for the restoration.”
The Tiffany Fire started on June 26 by lightning on private lands. The fire burned 9,200 acres on New Mexico State Forestry and Bureau of Reclamation jurisdictional lands.
Refuge manager Kevin Cobble said the fire actually skirted the refuge.
“The Tiffany Fire burned up to our south boundary, but because we had put some fire breaks at the south boundary it held back the fire,” Cobble said. “There was a little burn in spots but nothing serious.”
The operation involves the planting of some 5,000 black willows.
“About two weeks ago, a bunch of us gathered down here along with crews from the (state prison) inmate work camp at Los Lunas,” Boykin said. “We harvested all these willows from another field they’re getting ready to plow up.”
Willows are crucial for the Southwestern flycatcher, Cobble said. “But they don’t provide any benefit for the geese, so when we do soil manipulations they usually get plowed under. We’re revamping our farm program, so we made an offer to (SOBTF) that we would water the trees and they would take care of them.”
Boykin said Bosque del Apache donated about 15 acres toward the Task Force’s program.
“This field was offered to us to use as a nursery,” Boykin said. “Hopefully, as we get started and we cut more, there’ll be multiple generations here. We can come in here and cut these and use these for pole stock down at the Tiffany burn. So in this way we’ll start the restoration work down there.”
The planting was an example of what the refuge usually does with area farmers and organizations, Cobble said. “It’s hard to find big populations of black willows. “With this effort, we’ll basically have a perpetual supply of willows on Bosque del Apache.”
Boykin explained that after the poles are planted the field will be flooded.
“By next year, maybe towards the end of next summer, you could come in here and see the growth,” he said. “These are perfect size willows for pole planting. The nice thing about black willows is that you can cut them, and they sprout back.”
Cobble said the tree is cut right at ground level and branches and leaves are stripped off.
“It will basically form a new tree. It’s an incredible process,” Cobble said. “It’s a way to form a bosque fairly quickly.”
The 12 volunteers — from Sevilleta NWR, New Mexico Tech Climbing Club, Socorro County and Save Our Bosque Task Force — were able to finish replanting the entire field in one day.
“We’re already partnering with the Armendaris Ranch and a bunch of other partners in the valley applying for a big water trust board grant,” Boykin said. Such a grant would have to be in the neighborhood of $500,000 to start the restoration work, he said.
“I’ve personally been on fires in the San Marcial area over the past 25 years — most of my career — and I get tired seeing (the salt cedar) burn and just grow right back,” Boykin said. “So we’re really trying to push hard to figure out some way to get the restoration established and not let the salt cedar grow back and somebody else having to deal with it in 10 years.”
“The other issue is, it’s primary for us that we establish an endangered species habitat. And if we can establish the endangered species habitat there, it’ll also take some of the pressure off other work we’re doing in the valley.”
He said especially because the Southwestern flycatcher and neotropical birds migrate up here every summer.
“By working to restore the Tiffany Fire scar, that’ll allow us to keep doing the work we’re doing in Socorro in the riverine parks,” he said.