Publication

2017 RiverEyes Monitoring Report

URL: https://webapps.usgs.gov/mrgescp/documents/McKenna_2017_2017-RiverEyes-Monitoring-Report.pdf

Date: 2017/12/26

Author(s): McKenna C.

Publication: Prepared for U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Prepared by GeoSystems Analysis, Inc., 13 p.

Abstract:

AJAC Enterprises (AJAC) was contracted by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) to conduct daily river monitoring and reporting during 2017 as part of a cooperative interagency effort to document channel drying in the Middle Rio Grande (MRG). The monitoring effort verifies compliance with the 2016 Biological Opinion on USBR, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Non‐ Federal Water Management and Maintenance Activities on the Middle Rio Grande, specifically Reasonable and Prudent Measure 4, and Terms and Conditions 3.2, 9.1 and 9.2. Daily observations were relayed to an interagency water management team and, particularly when channel intermittency is detected, reported to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to support endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow (Hyboganthus amarus) rescue and relocation activities. GeoSystems Analysis, Inc. (GSA) was subcontracted by AJAC to provide technical support on the project.

The U.S. Geological Service (USGS) maintains a large network of stream flow monitoring stations throughout the MRG that post real‐time, provisional flow volumes to the internet. Field reconnaissance of specific segments of the MRG is contractually required when reported flows are below 300 cubic feet per second (cfs) at the USGS gauge near San Acacia, New Mexico (NM), and below 80 cfs at the Bosque Farms, NM, gauge. During 2017, flows were substantially greater than these thresholds until late‐June. The monitoring team examined current flow conditions at the San Acacia and Bosque Farms gauges on the USGS website daily from late June through mid‐October, and field reconnaissance was completed on a near daily basis beginning in early‐July.