News The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District   Contact: Dennis Domrzalski at (505) 306-3260   Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2008

 

MRGCD Honors Aldo Leopold

Board Creates Aldo Leopold Forest

 

            ALBUQUERQUE—The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District has agreed to name a portion of the cottonwood bosque in Albuquerque the Aldo Leopold Forest.

            The Conservancy’s board approved the resolution at its Jan. 12 regular meeting.

            The naming honors Leopold, one of America’s greatest conservationists, and a man who was instrumental in forming the Conservancy District.

            As head of the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce in the early 1900s, Leopold called for the creation of a reclamation district that would drain the swampy Middle Rio Grande Valley and reclaim the land for agriculture. His dream became a reality in 1925 when the Conservancy District was created by the New Mexico State Legislature.

            Leopold also advocated for the creation of a major park in Albuquerque that all citizens could enjoy. We now have Tingley Ponds and the Rio Grande Valley State Park, which were created out of Conservancy District lands.

            The Aldo Leopold Forest will comprise 53 acres of bosque on the east side of the Rio Grande from Montano Road on the north to about a half-mile south. It will contain the Aldo Leopold trail, some benches and three interpretative/historical signs.

            This year, the New Mexico Aldo Leopold Centennial Celebration Committee is celebrating Leopold’s life and his contributions to the state of New Mexico. Leopold came to New Mexico in 1909.

 

Map and photo included

 

 

About the MRGCD: The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District has been promoting sustainable agriculture for the past 75 years. The District delivers water to about 70,000 acres of cropland in the Middle Rio Grande Valley. That water is reused time and time again. It waters crops, sustains the cottonwood bosque along the Rio Grande, helps sustain the endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow and recharges the aquifer. The District owns 30,000 acres of bosque in the valley, a stretch of land that provides unprecedented recreational opportunities and an irreplaceable swath of greenbelt in New Mexico largest metropolitan area. The District was formed in 1925 to alleviate flooding and to reclaim farmland in the valley. Its boundaries stretch 150 miles from Cochiti to the northern boundary of the Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, running through Sandoval, Bernalillo, Valencia and Socorro Counties. It operates more than 1,200 miles of canals, laterals and drains, which are used to convey water to and from cropland. The District is funded by water service charges and property assessments on the benefited lands within its boundaries.

 

 

 

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