The Bosque: Albuquerque's Vanishing Forest

Running through the heart of Albuquerque along both banks of the Rio Grande is a strip of cottonwood forest four thousand three hundred acres in size. The bosque, which is simply the Spanish word for woods, is what remains of one of the largest riparian cottonwood galleries in the American Southwest. It is also a forest in slow collapse, and the reasons for that collapse are a history of water engineering decisions that altered the entire Rio Grande system.

The Rio Grande was dammed, channelized, and flood-controlled through the mid-twentieth century. The dams were built for good reasons: flood protection, irrigation supply, municipal water security. But cottonwood trees reproduce by sending seeds into wet riverbanks during seasonal floods. When the floods stopped, the cottonwood regeneration stopped with them. The trees that germinated in the nineteen thirties and nineteen forties are now aging. Few young trees have grown to replace them. Much of the region's historical riparian woodland has been lost.

An additional problem arrived with the floods that did come. Two invasive species, tamarisk and Russian olive, colonized the disturbed edges of the bosque and outcompeted native vegetation. Both are fire-prone. The bosque has burned repeatedly in recent decades, losing sections that took generations to grow.

Restoration crews plant thousands of cottonwoods each year along the river. Tamarisk removal is ongoing. The city's Open Space Division and partner agencies have been working on the problem for years, and restoration work continues through and around Albuquerque. Progress is measured in individual trees, planted by hand, staked against the wind.

The bosque path runs the length of the city. On an October morning before the balloons rise, it is one of the quieter places in New Mexico.