Group seeks wild and scenic designation for Gila River
The last wild river in New Mexico — recently named the most endangered river in the country in an American Rivers report — needs federal protection, the leader of the New Mexico Wilderness Association said Sunday.
The Albuquerque-based nonprofit, founded to help protect the environment, has asked U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Tom Udall, both Democrats from New Mexico, to introduce legislation designating the Gila a wild and scenic river.
Congress passed the Wild and Scenic River Act in 1968 to “protect free-flowing nature of water and its quality,” Mark Allison, executive director of the New Mexico Wilderness Association, told an assembly of about 40 people at a Journey Santa Fe talk at Collected Works Bookstore in Santa Fe.
But even if Congress approved the designation — “not an easy lift by any means,” Allison said — that action alone would not stop a proposed Gila River diversion that could “de-water” the river, he said.
Rather, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who has publicly said she is against the diversion project, could inform the U.S. Secretary of the Interior the state wants out of the deal.
But given that some $120 million in federal funding is at stake in that project, it’s unclear what sort of financial impact such a move would have.
Under the 2004 Arizona Water Settlements Act, New Mexico can draw 14,000 acrefeet of water a year from the Gila River and one of its tributaries, the San Francisco River, as long as the water rights of downstream users would not be affected. The Interstate Stream Commission decided in 2014 to create a diversion to store that water, which then can’t be sold or leased anywhere outside the state.
To date, planning for the project, including the creation of an environmental study, has cost about $15 million with no solid measure in place to enact the diversion. New Mexico has until the end of 2019 to turn that plan over to the secretary of the interior. Allison said it seems unlikely the state will be able to deliver the goods by then, adding another question mark to the problem.
He said if Congress does designate the Gila as a wild and scenic river, it would not impact public access to or use of the river, a tributary of the Colorado River that flows through New Mexico and Arizona. And the designation would apply only to public lands the river passes through.
But the congressional designation, if approved, would stop any planned development projects, future diversion plans and the creation of dams on the Gila.
He said his group is continuing to build support for the legislation. Udall has said he will retire at the end of his term late next year, and Allison said there is a “sense of urgency” about getting the legislation introduced — particularly with a presidential campaign season likely to heat up soon.
He said many New Mexicans likely would want to stop the diversion project from going forward.
“Water is kind of a religion, and people don’t want to lose their water,” he said.
Ned Adriance, communications director for Udall, said in an email Sunday the senator “looks forward to working on legislation that reflects the input of everybody involved to ensure we can continue to enjoy all that the Gila River has to offer.”
Efforts to reach Heinrich for comment Sunday were unsuccessful.
Allison said conservationists are encouraged by the fact that the governor recently line-item vetoed roughly $1.7 million in state funding for the diversion project.
Her spokesman, Tripp Stelnicki, did not return a call Sunday seeking comment.
The American Rivers study said the Gila is the most endangered because of the proposed diversion project and the impact of climate change on the roughly 650-mile long waterway.