Author: Jeanette Torres

ENMU Student Awarded Grant to Research Wildfire Impacts on Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Ecosystems

By Jeanette Torres, NM WRRI Program Specialist

Jodie Montgomery, a BS student majoring in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences at Eastern New Mexico University, was awarded a Fall 2022 Student Water Research Grant by the New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute (NM WRRI). Under the supervision of her faculty advisor Dr. Zachary Mitchell, her project, titled “Effects of catastrophic wildfire on stream macroinvertebrate communities in northern New Mexico,” will focus on the environmental impacts of wildfires on stream ecosystems and aquatic communities.

In Montgomery’s proposal, she highlights research citing rising temperatures, changes in precipitation, and earlier snowmelt as fundamental causes of forest fire frequency and severity. Environmental disasters such as this can have long-lasting effects on stream ecosystems, including water quality degradation, reduced oxygen availability, and damaged vegetation cover that protects stream water from direct sunlight. These effects in turn negatively impact aquatic communities by reducing the number of macroinvertebrates available as a feeding source for several types of fish.

Investigating the change in these dynamics is the objective of Montgomery’s research. She plans to study the impacts of the Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon wildfires of 2022 on the macroinvertebrate aquatic structure in the Pecos Wilderness in Northern New Mexico. She will use her grant funding from NM WRRI to collect samples affected by burn from local sites every four weeks and compare them with previously collected baseline river population data. Montgomery states that this award has provided her with many new opportunities to gain first-hand experience in understanding the true nature of wildfire devastation on the environment. She predicts her research outcomes will strengthen the argument that wildfires leave a damaging impact on aquatic ecosystems, including macroinvertebrates which are integral to steam sustainability. Montgomery plans to produce a peer-review manuscript from her research findings and present her research at both state and regional meetings.

When asked about the future impacts of her research in water management, Montgomery stated that “Wildfires are growing more significant and intense each year, presenting a unique and challenging opportunity to study affected streams. I hope this research can assist in continued studies and increase our understanding of our freshwater systems after catastrophic wildfires. Countless species require these montane streams for survival, and it’s important for these species that we keep learning as the world around us continues to change.”

Montgomery was born and raised in Roseburg, Oregon, and moved to New Mexico when her husband enlisted in the United States air force. In her spare time, she enjoys working with ceramics and spending time outdoors either camping, hiking, or swimming. Playing music with her husband is also one of her favorite pastimes. After graduation, she plans to apply to graduate school and pursue a career in restoration or land management.

John Idowu, Professor & Extension Agronomist, New Mexico State University

By Jeanette Torres, NM WRRI Program Specialist

John Idowu is a professor and extension agronomist at New Mexico State University (NMSU) working in both the Extension Plant Sciences Department and the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences. He conducts research on crop production and soil health in New Mexico to address issues related to irrigated arid cropping systems. This research supports farmers, agriculture professionals, and stakeholders throughout the region. He also currently serves as a mentor to a PhD student, co-advisor to a master’s student, and provides support to undergraduate researchers during the school semester and summer.

Idowu has collaborated with the New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute (NM WRRI) in several different areas including grant funding opportunities, and providing input on Water Science and Management degree program student committees. He would like to strengthen his connection with NM WRRI by collaborating on research projects that address groundwater quality issues and their impact on soil and crop productivity. He would also like to develop more effective irrigation techniques for crop cultivation across the state.

Idowu earned a first-class honors BS in Soil Science from the University of Ife, Nigeria. He pursued his MS in Agronomy at the University of Gottingen, Germany, and later completed his PhD in Land Management at Cranfield University, England. According to Idowu, “My research interest was kindled during my undergraduate days. My advisor assigned me to a project that involved conducting a laboratory experiment . . . [in which] I collected and analyzed the data and wrote a research paper based on the results. I presented my experimental results in a departmental seminar during my senior year, and the data I collected became part of a peer-reviewed publication in which I am a co-author. The whole experience was a thrill, and I decided to pursue a research career by studying up to the doctorate level.”

Idowu’s current research focuses on a field project located at the Leyendecker Plant Science Research Center near Las Cruces, New Mexico. Ongoing experiments with various soil health practices and their effects on crop production have led to this area being designated as a long-term soil health research and demonstration site. This research is vital to New Mexico because it analyzes the connection between soil health and its water retention rate, which can prove useful due to the limited availability of water for irrigation. This field site is also being used to conduct soil health management training for farmers, extension educators, and other agriculture professionals.

According to Idowu, some of the major issues facing agricultural production in New Mexico are “recurrent droughts, decreasing irrigation water, and the quality of groundwater. . . All these factors are affecting the growth and yield of crops, which is why research that enhances crop productivity through improved soil moisture holding capacity is critical in our arid cropping systems.” Climatic variability is also causing uncertainty during cropping seasons, and Idowu stresses that further research in particularly arid zones is needed to address these concerns.

Idowu’s future water research will focus on enhancing the water retention of soils through improved soil health practices and developing better climate-resistant soil in New Mexico. He states that “water availability for crop production will become more problematic in the arid southwest, and therefore, research efforts must focus on how to manage available water more efficiently. Optimizing soil moisture-holding capacity is an important piece of the puzzle that will help address the dire water situation.” Expanding upon current outreach efforts to producers and stakeholders will be critical in finding a solution to increased water demand in the state.

Road Restoration and Workshop Successfully Kicks off NM WRRI Watershed Restoration Project

By Connie Maxwell, NM WRRI Postdoctoral Researcher

Restoration work recently began on the Rincon Subbasins 319 watershed restoration project, a project funded by a sub-grant agreement with the New Mexico Environment Department’s Clean Water Act Section 319 Watershed Project Implementation Program. The project goal is to better understand watershed dynamics and develop tools for land managers to achieve watershed restoration to address regional flooding and water supply challenges. The first step in this project was the restoration of the roads leading up to and roads within the project area. Steve Carson of Rangeland Hands structured the road restoration to be a workshop for the Doña Ana County (DAC) Roads Division crew so that the restoration knowledge could benefit the entire county. The three-day workshop began with a classroom overview of road restoration approaches and finished with trained actual restoration activities in the watershed restoration project. The road maintenance worker in charge of the area subsequently completed maintenance on the road leading to the project area.

Erosion on rural dirt roads from flood flows is a severe problem in DAC, where half of the approximately 1,400 miles of roads that the DAC Roads Division crews maintain are rural dirt roads. Carson’s approach is summarized in his training document: “It is not a road problem, it is a surface water management problem! If we correctly manage the water off the roads, we will solve most of the erosional situations on the road’s surface. This will reduce the need to continually maintain the road as well as harvesting the water onto the adjoining roadside to promote vegetation and disperse sediment.” The road crew operators are in essence water managers and need to read the landscape and physically measure the slopes to apply the proper restoration and maintenance approaches. Erosion occurs when water flows on the road for too long, becoming in essence an arroyo. Good road design requires that water is frequently drained off the road and maintenance preserves, restores, or adds drainage as needed. The approaches are all essentially variations on a rolling dip (Figure 1a and 1b). The functions of the drains have two parts, a dip dug into the road drained to a lead-out ditch, which drains the flow off the road, and a bump added to prevent water from coursing down the road.

Carson explained in the workshop, “The landscape is a literal language. We don’t speak it, but we see it. And we have to learn that language because we need to know how to read the road, especially the upslope side, and tell how much water is taken off of it based on topography. . . . Is it sandy? Is it well-vegetated, etc? This is an extremely important part of this work.”

The project is already having a positive impact on the community. Two weeks after the workshop, Steve  Wilmeth, a rancher in the region and a former Doña Ana Soil and Water Conservation District board member, emailed and confirmed the workshop was having an effect. “I need to say ‘Thank You!’ in regards to training you orchestrated for county road maintenance. I went up and looked at the recent day’s work on our roads and simply couldn’t believe what was happening. Our area operator . . . was placing effective diversions and cutouts in the form I have long advocated. . . . Wow! . . . [W]hile we have a long way to go in many respects, this is a good start. . . . The approach is exactly what must be pursued.”

NM WRRI in collaboration with the South Central NM Stormwater Management Coalition (Stormwater Coalition) initiated the Rincon Subbasins 319 project restoration approach with the goal to harness storms that come in fewer and more intense events, spreading and slowing flows to achieve revegetation. Practices that slow and spread flows in the upper watershed are currently being installed in the project and will be substantially complete by the end of June. Monitoring will assess the effects on the goal and inform planning for the region.