Ecosystem services of the Rio Arriba Bioregion

Background/Question/Methods

Ecosystem services provided by community irrigation systems known as acequias include extending the area of green space between acequias and streams, a paisaje del agua or water landscape.  The traditional gravity flow irrigation methods enhance vegetative cover and diversity within the paisaje, support wildlife habitat, recharge shallow aquifers, sequester carbon, improve air and water quality, retain storm-water flow, control flooding, and provide nutrient cycling and soil formation, ecotourism and environmental education, extension of the irrigation season, and aesthetic enrichment of the landscape.  New Mexico EPSCoR researchers and students studying two watersheds in northern New Mexico are currently developing a rating system for evaluating the relative extent of ecosystem services through a combination of GIS and field methods to determine riparian health. 

Results/Conclusions

Preliminary results indicate that the ecosystem services provided by traditional irrigation systems can be substantial. Two acequia systems in the Rio Hondo watershed were evaluated on a scale of 1 to 4 (poor to excellent) for 15 ecosystem services and received aggregated ratings ranging from 2.69 to 3.75.