01/12/2022
A project that takes a community ❤️ thank you to the River Reach Foundation, City of Farmington, Friends of the Nature Center, San Juan Soil & Water Conservation District, and the community for supporting this project
River Reach Reforestation Project
At its November, 2021 meeting, the Board of Directors of the River Reach Foundation voted to purchase twenty-five native trees with a 2-3 inch caliper (diameter) to be planted in the field west of the Riverside Nature Center to assist with the reforestation of the area. The City of Farmington has submitted a grant application to fund additional trees and an irrigation system, and the Friends of the Nature Center are also looking at ways to assist. The opportunity for citizens to sponsor additional trees will be developed closer to project implementation.
The Farmington Fire Department acquired a grant through the San Juan Soil Conservation District via the New Mexico Water Trust Board for invasive species removal, specifically Russian olive and saltcedar. A single Russian olive consumes 80-120 gallons of groundwater per day. The removal has three purposes: wildfire protection, ecosystem restoration, and water quality improvement.
Areas east of the Riverside Nature Center, across the river at Cottonwood landing, and around the All Veteran’s Memorial were mitigated, but it wasn’t as noticeable. However, the area west of the Nature Center was a thickly wooded area almost exclusively Russian olive, and their removal was a visual shock.
The multi-year project will include repeated application of EPA approved herbicides to the Russian olive stumps and continual physical removal of regrowth. In year 3 there will be replanting of native grasses and groundcover. The project calls for 500 cottonwood pole plantings, but the River Reach Foundation saw a need for larger trees to be added sooner. We are hoping that the Farmington Parks Department will be able to implement this planting as an Arbor Day project in late April 2022.
