Cedro Creek

This project involves restoration work along Cedro Creek in the Cibola National Forest, in the Sandia Mountains, with school children and their teachers from the Albuquerque area and other cooperators. The goal was to restore approximately two miles of stream and create approximately sixteen acres of wetlands and wet meadows.

The restoration was designed to be an educational project. Work included training participants, school children and their teachers. One of the attractions of this hands-on demonstration of innovative restoration techniques was that, over the life of the project, the creek should heal rapidly, adding to the sense of accomplishment that comes from working with nature.

The restoration will include: identification of an appropriate beginning site along the nine-mile stretch of Cedro Creek and its tributaries; survey of the Creek and design of the restoration work by Bill Zeedyk; mapping of the project site with the proposed structures; baseline monitoring; ongoing work by trainees and students, under the supervision of a trained foreman; ongoing monitoring of the restoration supervised by The Quivira Coalition but accomplished by volunteers.

The training will disseminate innovative methods of wetland and riparian restoration technology that will allow stakeholders to work to repair their watersheds without needing large amounts of money to do so. These include:

• restoring channel stability
• increasing sinuosity
• stopping downcutting
• re-establishing appropriate meander patterns
• pool/riffle ratios and floodplain dimensions
• raising the alluvial water table and
• monitoring changes in channel morphology, groundwater, water quantity and quality, and vegetation

We also want to disseminate information about these techniques to a broader audience who may have an interest in self-sustaining wetland and riparian restoration.

Cooperators include, the New Mexico Environment Department – Surface Water Quality Bureau, Bill Zeedyk, Steve Carson, Steve Vrooman, Craig Sponholtz and Van Clothier, who have been trained by Bill, the Cibola National Forest, Tree New Mexico, Albuquerque Wildlife Federation, Ciudad Soil and Water Conservation District, the New Mexico Riparian Council, New Mexico Natural History Museum, and children and teachers from various Albuquerque area schools.

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