Pecos River Non-native Phreatophyte

Carlsbad SWCD has and is currently working in collaboration with various federal and state agencies.

The US Department of Interior Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) has worked with two vegetation test plots since 2004 to reestablish native vegetation in this lakebed. Previous revegetation efforts in these soils have proven difficult. The BOR and Carlsbad Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) have joined together under an assistance agreement and a Memorandum of Understanding to work jointly to establish beneficial vegetation in the McMillan lakebed.

The BOR’s Pecos River Basin Water Salvage Project is the largest effort to date for removing saltcedar in the Pecos River Basin. Approximately 33,230 acres in New Mexico and 14,000 acres between Lake Sumner, New Mexico and Pecos, Texas, received saltcedar removal treatment. The process was stopped in 1972 due to legal complications. While no additional lands have been cleared under this program, since then maintenance on those cleared areas continues today. (Brantley and Avalon Reservoirs RMP Project Final EA, Oct 2003).

Efforts to treat saltcedar and restore native communities within the Pecos River basin were renewed in 2002. As lead agency of the Pecos River Non-Native Phreatophyte Management Program (PRNNPMP) since its inception, the Carlsbad SWCD has coordinated the treatment of 18,730 acres of non-native phreatophytes and actively worked to establish native vegetation to 1,605 acres to date.