By BEN NEARY
NMWF Conservation Director
ALBUQUERQUE — The New Mexico Wildlife Federation is deeply gratified that state regulators voted Thursday essentially to abandon plans to draw water out of the Gila River for irrigation.
The New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission voted 7-to-2 on Thursday to cut spending for an environmental impact statement that had been underway to analyze options for taking water from the Gila River.
Without the environmental review, the federally funded project to draw water from the Gila River may not proceed.
Some in state government have been pushing for years to draw thousands of acre feet of water a year from the Gila River for agricultural irrigation.
“This has been a long battle to preserve one of the last free-flowing rivers in the American West,” said Jesse Deubel, executive director of the New Mexico Wildlife Federation. “The Gila River and the Gila Wilderness are irreplaceable national treasures.”
Deubel noted that the NMWF was founded by Aldo Leopold, the visionary conservationist who worked to set aside the Gila as the nation’s first wilderness area. “There’s no question that protecting the Gila River is the right thing to do,” Deubel said.
Congress, in the 2004 Arizona Water Settlements Act, gave New Mexico a choice between taking the water from the river for irrigation or using federal money to develop regional water supply projects across the southwestern region of the state.
The ISC on Thursday postponed a decision on any future role of a government agency called the New Mexico-Central Arizona Project Entity in spending the $70 million in federal funds that had been set aside to address regional water needs. The “CAP Entity,” as the organization was called, had been created to oversee planning for the diversion project.
Norm Gaume, a former director of the Interstate Stream Commission, has been a leading critic of the Gila diversion project. An engineer, he has submitted detailed comments pointing out problems and oversights on various diversion project proposals.
Gaume issued a statement on Thursday saying he’s thankful to Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Lt. Governor Howie Morales and other elected officials for their work in bringing about Thursday’s vote.
“The vote is an encouraging pivot towards facing and dealing with New Mexico’s water challenges rationally, based on science, respecting diverse values and the environment,” Gaume said.
Heinrich and U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., introduced legislation this spring to protect 450 miles of the Gila River system under the 1968 Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.
The NM CAP Entity as well as agricultural producers in the area had filed comments opposing the Wild and Scenic designation.
Udall and Heinrich have named their legislation after M.H. “Dutch” Salmon of Silver City.
Salmon, a doggedly determined conservationist, fought numerous proposals to dam up or otherwise take water from the Gila River before his death last year. Salmon was a frequent contributor to NMWF publications.
“We know Dutch would be thrilled with today’s vote,” Deubel said. “But we also know that he would tell us not to get complacent. He saw many threats to the river over his lifetime and each one needs to be beaten back.”