Albuquerque Basin

The climate is semi-arid.[17] A large part of the basin is so dry as to be considered a desert.[1] Average annual temperatures are around 13 °C (55 °F), ranging from an average of about 1 °C (34 °F) in January to about 24 °C (75 °F) in July. Average annual rainfall ranges from 190 millimetres (7.5 in) at Belen to 760 millimetres (30 in) at Sandia Crest.[18] Precipitation comes from local thunderstorms in summer and from storm fronts in winter. The amount of rain that falls in a given year or place in the basin is unpredictable. Droughts lasting several years are not unusual. Throughout the basin, potential evapotranspiration is much higher than rainfall, meaning the ground is dry most of the time unless it is irrigated. Vegetation includes desert scrub and grassland in the lower levels, riparian woodland (bosque) along the Rio Grande, and woods on the mountain slopes.[17]

Rio Grande near Isleta

Rio Grande and Bosque near Albuquerque

The Rio Grande, which flows from southwestern Colorado for 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) before entering the Gulf of Mexico, was classified in 1993 as one of North America's most endangered or imperiled rivers. The Rio Grande flows south into the Albuquerque Basin between the Sandia and Jemez mountains.

The Pueblo people of the Rio Grande Valley had developed irrigation systems by the 10th century AD, and by the 13th century most of the major pueblos had been established.[6] The Pueblo system of irrigation ditches is one of the oldest of the irrigation systems in North America.[19] The Spanish arrived in Santa Fe de Nuevo México in the 16th-17th centuries, and steadily expanded their presence, Albuquerque was founded as a trading and military outpost in 1706.[6] The Hispanos of New Mexico used them as the backbone of the Pueblo and Hispano acequia (shared irrigation ditch) into which water was diverted from the river, with secondary ditches leading off the main channel named for specific families. Maintenance of the main acequia would be a community responsibility.[20]

Before entering the basin the river is impounded by the Cochiti Dam, built in 1975. After leaving the basin via Socorro, the river is impounded by the Elephant Butte Reservoir, built in 1916. Within the stretch between these dams, the river passes three mainstream structures that divert water into 1,280 kilometres (800 mi) of levees, canals and drains in the section between Algodones and the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. When the river is low, the diversion dams at Isleta and San Acacia can divert all water from the Rio Grande along a 177 kilometres (110 mi) stretch of the river.[21] Tributaries include the Jemez River and Rio Puerco from the west, and the Santa Fe River and Galisteo Creek from the east.[11]

In 1848 Mexico ceded the territory to the United States. Railways arrived in 1880, bringing Anglo settlers.[6] The federal government encouraged more irrigation, which probably peaked in the early 1890s.[22] The newcomers developed the vineyards, orchards and vegetable farms, and by 1900 were exporting produce as far as California.[19] Over-exploitation caused a steady decline in irrigation due to "droughts, sedimentation, aggradation of the main channel, salinization, seepage and waterlogging".[22] The acequia running through the city of Albuquerque, parallel to the river, became an unsanitary drainage ditch, serving as a common sewer.[23]

In 1925 the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) was formed. It built a levee to reduce the impact of Rio Grande floods, drained the swampy land and improved the acequias.[19] During and since World War II, the city of Albuquerque has grown steadily.[6] The MSGCD still maintains a large network of canals and irrigation systems that stretches from 30 miles (48 km) north of Albuquerque through the city down to the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.[24] As of 2012 the MRGCD was responsible for an area of 278,000 acres (113,000 ha), of which 128,787 acres (52,118 ha) could be irrigated and 70,000 acres (28,000 ha) were in fact being irrigated by 11,000 farmers. The MRGCD was maintaining four diversion dams and reservoirs, 834 miles (1,342 km) of canals and ditches and 404 miles (650 km) of riverside drains. With growing urbanization, the role of the MRGCD has gradually shifted from supporting agriculture to preserving the riverside ecology and helping to recharge the Albuquerque aquifer.[25]

Rio Grande cutthroat trout, an endemic species that may be under threat

The Rio Grande in the Albuquerque basin had a diverse population of mainly endemic fish up to the late nineteenth century. By the early 1960s many of the native species were no longer present in the northern part of the basin. Speckled chub and Rio Grande bluntnose shiner, two cyprinids, were last found in 1964. By the mid-1990s 45 species of fish were reported in the basin, of which only 17 were native.[21] More than 40% of the native species of this section of the river have been eliminated. The main threats to the fish are diversion and pumping of water. River volumes peak between March and June due to the spring runoff, but demand for irrigation peaks between July and October. During the irrigation period, the river downstream from the Isleta diversion dam may largely dry up unless irrigation water is returned to the river or a summer storm provides a brief influx of water.[26] Native fish may be trapped in pools in the river bed, where introduced game fish may take them, or they may die from loss of water in which they can live.[7] The river may not start running steadily until the end of October, when irrigation stops.[26]

Flora or vegetation surrounding the built portions of the city are typical of their desert southwestern and interior west setting, within the varied elevations and terrain. The limits are by significant urbanization, including much infill development occurring in the last quarter of the twentieth century.

Sandy soils include scrub and mesa vegetation such as sand sagebrush (Artemisia filifolia), fourwing saltbush (Atriplex canescens). Some similar grass and seasonal wildflower species occur that also occur in areas east of the Rio Grande, but in much lower densities. Sparsely as well, sandy soil grasses occur such as Indian ricegrass (Oryzopsis hymenoides), sand dropseed (Sporobolus cryptandrus), and mesa dropseed (Sporobolus flexuosus). Arroyos contain desert willow (Chilopsis linearis) while breaks and the prominent volcanic escarpment include threeleaf sumac with less frequent stands of oneseed juniper (Juniperus monosperma), netleaf hackberry (Celtis reticulata), mariola (Parthenium incanum), and beebrush or oreganillo (Aloysia wrightii). Isolated littleleaf sumac (Rhus microphylla) occurs on the hillsides above Taylor Ranch and at the Petroglyph National Monument Visitor's Center.[27]

Other areas of Albuquerque have more fine clay and caliche soils, plus more rainfall and slightly cooler temperatures, so natural vegetation is dominated by grassland species such as fluffgrass (Erioneuron pulchellum), purple threeawn (Hilaria mutica or Pleuraphis mutica), bush muhly (Muhlenbergia porteri), and black grama (Bouteloua eriopoda). Some woody plants occur in overall grassy areas, mainly fourwing saltbush (Atriplex canescens) and snakeweed (Gutierrezia microcephala). Isolated stands of creosote bush (Larrea tridentata) were reported by long-time residents on gravelly, desert pavement soils existing above arroyos and warm breaks, prior to urbanization in the Northeast Quadrant of Albuquerque. Today only remnants of creosote bush scrub remain in similar soils in foothill areas of Kirtland Air Force Base according to "Biologic Surveys for the Sandia National Laboratories Coyote Canyon Test Complex – Kirtland Air Force Base Albuquerque, New Mexico (Marron and Associates, Inc., May 1994)",[28] then southward along sections of the western Manzano Foothills in Valencia County. In the lower foothills of the Sandia Mountains, loose or granitic soils help provide habitat for other species, such as feather dalea (Dalea formosa), mariola (Parthenium incanum), and beebrush or oreganillo (Aloysia wrightii).[29]

Soaptree (Yucca elata) and broom dalea (Psorothamnus scoparius) are currently found or were once existing on sand hills and breaks on both sides of the Rio Grande Valley, roughly below the present-day locations of the Petroglyph Escarpment west of Coors Road and along Interstate 25 south of Sunport Boulevard.

The Rio Grande Valley proper bisects Albuquerque, and it has been urbanized the longest of all areas of the city. Some botanists and longtime residents recall riparian vegetation, including screwbean mesquite or tornillo (Prosopis pubescens), Gooding's willow (Salix goodingii), and saint sacaton (Sporobulus wrightii). The present bosque or gallery forest of Rio Grande cottonwood (Populus deltoides var. wislizeni) and coyote willow (Salix exigua) is theorized to have been more savannah-like, prior to replanting in the 1930s. Grass and low cactus cover of many areas is typical of a broader region of the intermontane west riparian zones, such as saltgrass (Distychilis spp.) and alkali sacaton (Sporobulus airoides). Discontinuous, small stands of New Mexico olive (Forestiera pubescens var. neomexicana), New Mexico walnut (Juglans major), and New Mexico ash (Fraxinus velutina) can be seen near bosque areas and near former river bends in central New Mexico, just north and south of the Albuquerque city limits in the Corrales bosque, and along former channels of the Rio Grande in Valencia and Socorro counties. The forest now has a large proportion of non-native species including Siberian elm, Russian olive, saltcedar, mulberries, Ailanthus, and ravenna grass. Some restoration to native species is occurring, similar to the limited species of Populus and Salix used in the 1930s.

One prominent species of native Mountainous trees is the piñon pine. At the east end of the city, the Sandia foothills receive about 50 percent more precipitation than most of the city, and with granitic, coarse soils, rock outcrops, and boulders dominant, they have a greater and different diversity of flora in the form of savanna and chaparral, dominated by lower and middle zones of New Mexico Mountains vegetation, with a slight orientation at lower elevations. Dominant plants include shrub or piñon pine, desert live oak (Quercus turbinella), gray oak (Quercus grisea), hairy mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus breviflorus), oneseed juniper (Juniperus monosperma), piñon (Pinus edulis), threeleaf sumac (Rhus trilobata), Engelmann prickly pear (Opuntia engelmannii), juniper prickly pear (Opuntia hystricina var. juniperiana), and beargrass (Nolina greenei, formerly considered Nolina texana). Similar grasses occur that are native to the eastern half of the city, but often of a higher density owing to increased precipitation. The foothills of Albuquerque are much less urbanized, the vegetation altered or removed than anywhere else in the city, though the lower areas have been mostly developed in a more dense suburban pattern in mostly developed communities including North Albuquerque Acres, Tanoan, High Desert, Glenwood Hills, Embudo Hills, Supper Rock, and Four Hills.

An iconic bird often seen in Albuquerque is the greater roadrunner. Other birds include the common raven, American crow, great-tailed grackle, Gambel's and scaled quail, several species of hummingbirds, house finch, pigeon, mourning dove, white wing and European collared doves (both recent appearances), curve-billed thrasher, pinyon jay, and Cooper's, Swainson's, and red-tail hawks. The valley hosts sandhill cranes each winter.

Within city limits, the southwestern fence lizard and New Mexico whiptail (Aspidoscelis neomexicanus) are common. Snakes include the New Mexico garter snake and the bullsnake in the Rio Grande Bosque, and at the edges of the city, the venomous Western diamondback rattlesnake. Woodhouse toads and non-native bullfrogs are common around the Rio Grande. Retention ponds within the city often serve as breeding pools for New Mexico spadefoot toads and tadpole shrimp ("Triops").

Commonly seen mammals include the coyote, rock squirrel, Gunnison's prairie dog, desert cottontail, and black-tailed jackrabbit. Striped skunks, raccoons, and several mouse species can be found in the city, and mule deer and woodrats occur in the foothills. The broader area is home to bobcat, black bear, and mountain lion, and is at the north end of the range of the ringtail and javelina.

Larger arthropods include the plains cicada, vinegaroon, desert centipede, white-lined sphynx (hummingbird moth), two-tailed swallowtail, fig beetle, New Mexico mantis, and harvester ant.