From Gail Garber, director of Hawks Aloft:

I am writing to you to request your help in protecting and preserving the Rio Grande bosque within the Albuquerque City Limits. Although Hawks Aloft has not often taken an activist role in local politics, I believe that we must speak out on this issue, using the data we have collected over the past 10 years of avian monitoring in the bosque. Trevor and I are working on compiling the avian numbers for the Rio Rancho bosque, which has undergone a very similar management process with devastating effects on the avifauna of that portion of the bosque. We hope to be able to present a graphic that will show the decline in bird numbers once a riparian forest is developed into urban parkland.

In sending this request, we join with Sierra Club, Audubon, and others, all working toward a common goal.

The City is planning two public meetings, on September 4 andh also on September 18, to present their plans for the bosque. I strongly encourage those of you that can make it on September 4 to attend. However, if you cannot make the September 4 meeting, please try to attend on September 18.

The subject of the meeting will be the City’s schematic designs for the projects between Central Ave. and the I-40 bridge that the City intends to build next year. Richard Barish, of Sierra Club, attended an Open Space Advisory Board meeting this week and got a preview of what the City will present. His two paragraphs below describe only the City’s initial plans for a trail through the bosque.

“The design is for a highly developed trail through the bosque on the east side of the river in this section. The City is considering four possible surfaces for the trail, from crusher fines through graded native soil. The City is not considering an option that would leave the trail as it is in any portions of this section of the bosque. The City talks about varying the width of the trail, but appeared to me to clearly intend that the trail will, for the most part, be an 8 to 10 foot wide trail to accommodate multiple uses. The City is talking about two pedestrian bridges and one, or perhaps two, boardwalks in the bosque in this section. This design is apparently the template for the trail through the bosque in other locations, as well.

“As the direction of the planning becomes apparent, it becomes even more urgent that people show up on September 4 to tell the City that the bosque should left as open space, not turned into a city park. If you love the bosque, it’s time to show up and be counted. We need an overwhelming turnout to turn the tide. Please attend and comment on September 4!”

Meeting details:
Community Town Hall meeting
Wednesday, September 4th and Wednesday, September 18th
6:00p.m.-8:00 pm
Albuquerque Museum
2000 Mountain NW in Old Town