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NBNPQIHT SOURCE SUCCESS STORY
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Riparian Restoration Improves Water Quality in Bluewater Creek
Watprhnrk/ lmnrn\/pH Bluewater Creek was heavily impacted by off-road vehicle use and
grazing, which prompted New Mexico to add the creek to the state's
Clean Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list of impaired waters for turbidity/sedimentation (in 1996),
nutrients (in 2006), and temperature (in 2006). Starting in 2009, the nonprofit Wild Earth Guardians
conducted a CWA section 319(h) project to build fencing exclosures to restrict access for herbivores and
off-road vehicles to the riparian area, and to re-plant native vegetation. Additionally, the Cibola National
Forest improved grazing management in the upper watershed by rounding up wild horses that were
impacting the area. Subsequent water quality surveys indicated that nutrient and turbidity levels had
improved, allowing these impairments to be removed from the state's list of impaired waters in 2008
and 2010, respectively. The success of this work indicates that these proven methods could be applied in
similar locations to improve stream habitat and water quality.
litW Mexico
Problem
Staff from the Surface Water Quality Bureau (SWQB)
at the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED)
documented water quality problems in Bluewater
Creek in Cibola County in west-central New Mexico
(Figure 1). The creek has a designated use of Coldwater
Aquatic Life that was not supported due to nutrients,
turbidity and temperature impairments. As a result,
NMED added the creek to the state's list of impaired
waters for turbidity/sedimentation (in 1996), nutrients
(in 2006), and temperature (in 2006). Probable sources
included off-road vehicle use, loss of riparian habitat,
forest road construction and use, wild horse grazing,
rangeland grazing, silviculture harvesting, and stream-
bank modifications/destabilization.
Project Highlights
Restoration efforts and best management practice
implementation have improved water quality on
Bluewater Creek. A primary factor in improving water
quality was the CWA section 319(h) project entitled
"Bluewater Creek Temperature Reduction and Riparian
Restoration Project," which was conducted by the Wild
Earth Guardians from January 2009 to December 2010.
This project dramatically increased the riparian canopy
cover and reduced temperature loading by planting
2,500 Cottonwood trees, 35,000 willow trees, and 500
native riparian shrubs. To protect these plantings from
domestic livestock grazing, elk browsing, and off-road
vehicles, the Wild Earth Guardians also constructed
Figure 1. Bluewater Creek;, which flows into the Bluewater
Reservoir, drains a watershed that includes large areas of
federally owned land along with smaller areas of land owned by
state, tribal and private entities.
Legend
$ SWQB Stations
^ USGS Gages
C3 Watershed Boundary (HUC 12)
National Hydrography Dataset
Bluewater Restoration Reach
Assessed Waters
Bluewater Creek - Reservoir to Headwaters
Assessed Lakes 2016
Land Ownership
Forest Service
FYivate
State
State Park
Tribal
Bluewater Creek
New Mexico

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Figure 2. Restoration projects have allowed the
riparian area along Bluewater Creek (above Bluewater
Reservoir) to recover, as evident from photo-point
monitoring photographs showing the creek before
(left, 2009) and after (right, 2016) implementation.
Figure 3. Measurements of canopy cover show a
dramatic increase following restoration.
Bluewater Creek Canopy Cover
i
Upper Reach
2009
2016
Lower Reach
70%
30%
20%
10%
All Stations
elk-proof fenced exclosures along 1.3 miles of the
creek. Additionally, the Cibola National Forest rounded
up feral horses on their portion of the watershed,
which has also improved the condition of the riparian
areas. As a result, the area was transformed from a
denuded channel to a lush riparian forest in just a few
years (Figure 2).
Results
The CWA section 319(h) projects in Bluewater Creek
have resulted in removal of the nutrient impairment
in 2014 and the turbidity impairment in 2010 from the
state's list of impaired waters, as well as a significant
decrease in temperature loadings. In 2010 only one of
seven samples exceeded the turbidity threshold of 25
Nephelometric Turbidity Units, and this assessment
unit was declared as unimpaired for turbidity. The
nutrient impairment was also removed in 2014 after a
level one nutrient assessment indicated that the nutri-
ent levels had fallen below impairment levels.
Project efforts are also addressing the temperature
impairment. Effectiveness monitoring data collected
by the SWQB Watershed Protection Section upstream
and downstream of the restoration reach before and
after the project showed a canopy cover increase
from 4 percent In 2009 to 57 percent in 2016 (Figure
3). Additionally, an Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA)
performed on temperature data showed that the
project resulted in a mean temperature decrease of
1.6 degrees Celsius. Although stream temperature
still occasionally exceeds the standard, this trend in
decreasing temperature is positive and should lead to
a future delisting of the temperature impairment as
well. In 2011 the SWQB Hydrology Protocol indicated
that this assessment unit might have intermittent
reaches where flow dissipates during the dry season.
After the riparian vegetation was restored, beaver
moved in and constructed ponds which increased
water storage and seem to have lengthened the dura-
tion of flow.
Partners and Funding
The restoration project on Bluewater Creek was
funded by a CWA section 319(h) grant for $186,516.
The funds were awarded through a competitive
Request for Proposals from the NMED SWQB, who
also provided project oversight, development and
effectiveness monitoring. The environmental nonprofit
group Wild Earth Guardians submitted the successful
proposal and carried out the on-the-ground work. The
New Mexico State Land Office is the managing agency
for the project area. These cooperators provided
$223,481 in nonfederal matching funds. Additionally,
the Cibola National Forest manages the land upstream
which encompasses the majority of the watershed.
&
PRO^°
2
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA 841-F-17-001HH
December 2017
For additional information contact:
Daniel Guevara
New Mexico Environment Department
505-476-3086 • daniel.guevara@state.nm.us

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