{"id":35380,"date":"2023-03-07T23:12:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-08T06:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/work-begins-to-clear-water-canals-after-new-mexico-fire\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:24:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:24:36","slug":"work-begins-to-clear-water-canals-after-new-mexico-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/work-begins-to-clear-water-canals-after-new-mexico-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"Work begins to clear water canals after New Mexico fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"This
This March 1 image provided by the New Mexico Department of Transportation shows silt filling the Acequia de Ca\u00f1oncito from bank to bank near the community of Cleveland, New Mexico. (John Romero\/New Mexico Department of Transportation)<\/span>John Romero<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

ALBUQUERQUE \u2013 It\u2019s tradition in New Mexico\u2019s rural communities \u2013 to gather with neighbors each spring, shovels and rakes in hand, to clean the earthen irrigation canals that will direct snowmelt from the surrounding mountains to crops, gardens and orchards.<\/p>\n

Doing the job in the traditional way \u2013 by hand \u2013 is nearly impossible this year because dozens of the irrigation systems known as acequias are choked with ash, silt and other debris from flooding that followed the largest wildfire in New Mexico\u2019s history<\/a> \u2013 a conflagration sparked last year by the federal government during prescribed burn operations.<\/p>\n

The flames swept across more than 530 squares miles (1,373 square kilometers) of the Rocky Mountain foothills and burned for months, destroying homes and livelihoods.<\/p>\n

While recovery is expected to take generations, work to clear the first acequia through a special effort led by the state Department of Transportation and local contractors began Monday near Cleveland, a mountain village southeast of Taos. There are about dozen more acequias on the list.<\/p>\n

Crews are using excavators to dig out debris after firefighters spent a day clearing brush from the banks to provide access. Vacuum trucks are cleaning out culverts.<\/p>\n

The equipment operators must have a light touch. Digging too deep could damage soil at the bottom that has become so tightly packed over decades that it keeps water from leaching out.<\/p>\n

Engineers with the Federal Emergency Management Agency walked the acequia three times, using GPS to map it and to survey damage that stretches more than two-thirds of a mile (more than a kilometer).<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so excited,\u201d said Barbara Bradshaw, a commissioner on the Acequia de Ca\u00f1oncito who has spent months making phone calls and sending letters in search of a path to get the repairs done as soon as possible. \u201cWe\u2019ve already lost one crop year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Congress has approved billions of dollars in recovery funds<\/a> for the area, but it will take time for the money to trickle down. New Mexico lawmakers also are considering legislation<\/a> this year that would provide a funding stream for acequias in case of another natural disaster, given that the groups have limited resources due to their grassroots nature.<\/p>\n

More than 30 families depend on the Acequia de Ca\u00f1oncito, which is fed by a couple of canyons that originate in parts of the mountain range that were severely burned. Ash and silt rushed from the hillsides during last summer\u2019s rainy season, clogging a diversion point for the irrigation system and culverts beyond that.<\/p>\n

\u201cParts of the acequia are filled bank to bank and it looks like a path instead of an acequia. And we don\u2019t know what\u2019s under the mud and ash \u2013 how many trees are in there, how many rocks are in there,\u201d Bradshaw said. \u201cThe force of the water was just remarkable.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Romero, a division director with the state Transportation Department, described the material that needs to be removed as blackish muck. He said the work will take at least a couple of weeks and the list of acequias requesting help could grow given the scope of the damage.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody involved is very exhausted from it and they continue to do work,\u201d he said of what has been a nearly yearlong ordeal for the communities scattered through the burn scar. \u201cThese kinds of events are so taxing on everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

And it likely won\u2019t be the end of it, Bradshaw said, wondering what this summer\u2019s rains might bring down from the hills.<\/p>\n

\"This
This March 1 image provided by the New Mexico Department of Transportation shows boulders and other debris clogging the Acequia de Ca\u00f1oncito near the community of Cleveland, New Mexico. (John Romero\/New Mexico Department of Transportation)<\/span>John Romero<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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