Advisories
The Corrales Bosque Advisory Commission is asking CHAMP members and other equestrians to recognize the importance of using only authorized ramps to access the levee and the bosque nature preserve. A federal inspection of the Corrales levee is scheduled as early as late February and the inspectors will be walking the entire length of the levee. That is why there has been a flurry of activity by employees of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) who have been covering over footpaths and authorized crossings. The MRGCD has threatened to place a chain-link fence along the bottom of the west side of the levee between ramps if "illegal" paths keep popping up. The MRGCD has stated they are okay with horses crossing the clear ditch but want equestrians and pedestrians to use the authorized ramps so the levee is not degraded. There is an authorized ramp about 30 yards south of the crossing at Via Oreada and they ask that equestrians utilize that ramp for accessing the nature preserve.
After the levy inspection, the village and concerned organizations such as CHAMP and the Equestrian Commission can work with MRGCD to build more authorized ramps at convenient locations. The MRGCD has indicated had they are okay with additional ramps and trail building as long as they conform to the kind that exists at the Rio Grande Nature Center.
Sandra Brown, who is a member of the Bosque Advisory Commission, is also a newly-elected CHAMP board member. We're aware, of course, that the MRGCD crews not only covered the unauthorized ramps on the levee, but also the Via Oreada crossing itself. CHAMP also has pointed out in the past that the signs pointing to the authorized ramps were confusing and that the ramps are not always visible from the crossings. The work on the levee and crossings coincided with work by contractors for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the southern part of the bosque, but apparently it was the conservancy district that did the work on the levee and crossings.
The Bosque Advisory Commission has selected a dozen volunteer citizen monitors to witness work underway in the Corrales Bosque by contractors for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The controversial project was scaled down from its original scope at the request of the village of Corrales. It centers on removal of non-native vegetation, fire damage restoration, and irrigation return flows in an area of the southern bosque from the Alameda bridge to just north of Via Oreada.
The Corrales Comment is following the situation closely. The most recent Comment article was published January 22.
CHAMP has taken no position on this project, except to encourage the preservation of the bosque as an undeveloped resource available for equine trail riding. The bosque project monitors are separate from the bosque patrols, also operated by the Bosque Advisory Commission, which involve lookouts for fires and other hazards throughout the bosque.
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