Managed Flooding for Riparian Ecosystem Restoration

Abstract

A centuries-old Indian pueblo named Isleta stands on a small rise of land west of the Rio Grande in central New Mexico. Its name, which means in Spanish, reflects the fact that the pueblo was on an island in the middle of the Rio Grande when it was first seen by Spanish explorers (Pearce 1965). The name Isleta comes from the time before flood control on the Rio Grande, when spring flood waters roared down from the San Juan Mountains of Southern Colorado, flooding the middle Rio Grande Valley of central New Mexico (Figure 1). During some years, high spring runoff would extensively flood the middle Rio Grande Valley, sending most valley residents fleeing to surrounding high ground until the flood waters receded. However, these floods rarely touched Isleta Pueblo, only transforming it into the island its name suggests. While the residents of other settlements huddled in tent villages on the surrounding mesas, the life of Isleta's residents went on as usual. Today, dams and levees built on the Rio