This morning’s very important cautionary tale is taken from the opinion columns of New Mexico, where a well-meaning landowner is feeling like her good dead is getting punished, and a team of champions feel like befriending the water means making enemies on the land. The truth is that their positions are so close you can barely find daylight between them, but their hackles are so raised no one can see what shapes they take underneath. Read for yourself and then pass this on to every landowner and environmentalist you know.
My Turn: Caring about the environment by Ceilidh Creech
A little more than two years ago I started noticing sticks in the river that bisects my property.
Over time the stick piles grew, rocks and mud were added, a dam was formed and an environmental wonder began. Fascinated, I watched new dams at different angles being built on dry land and wondered if there was something mentally wrong with my new little residents. Why would they be building on dry land, I wondered, only to discover they knew exactly what they were doing when shortly thereafter I observed the water they had diverted to the once dry land.
New visitors began appearing. Osprey, bald eagles, great blue heron, merganzers, mallards, teal, wood ducks and Canadian geese. Nests were built. Babies were born. The cycle of life was a joyous event that I have been privileged to observe. Birds that were not observed here before are now regulars. western tanagers, Lewis woodpeckers, red winged black birds, Bullock’s orioles, black headed and evening grosbeak, pinon, stellar and scrub jays, warblers in every color imaginable.
For more than two years I watched the wetland environment grow, and a river that once was a puny little stream swell. And as my dry land was taken over by wetlands I defended the beaver’s right to be on my property. I spoke before the interstate stream commission, I answered to complaints (made by a seasonal resident and well known trouble maker) to state Fish and Game, The Department of Transportation and Sen. Tom Udall’s assistant.
It was finally determined that the beavers weren’t causing problems. I made a routine of managing their activities to keep them out of trouble. I installed three flow devices to control the water levels. I began to take a sledge hammer to regularly breach their dam in five places to alleviate some of the run off. Everything seemed to be under control and the little furry family created what they were put on this earth to create. A habitat.
I was happy to learn that the beavers are recharging the river and that an underground pond is forming below the dam, under the river, that will release water into the river during times of drought.
I finally became secure in the knowledge that the beavers could stay and would be safe from harm and would not be killed. And then a final blow was delivered from a source I would have least suspected. Amigos Bravos.
By allowing the beavers to create a wetland on my property the water source boundaries on my property changed. Amigos Bravos, owners of nothing, champions of determining what is best for other people’s property, pushed their agenda on the county, rules were made. County rules dictating that I cannot build anything, not even a sidewalk, within 150 feet of any water source. Even though the feds, state and acequia associations already have established setbacks, the county voted to meddle in the business of water and impose harsher regulations.
So Ceilidh allows beavers to make a magical wetland out of her dry sedge and is told that now she can’t build closer to the water than 150 feet. Which means that shed or gazebo is out of the question. Why did she ever let those beavers stay? She used to own nine acres, and now she barely has two? Should other landowners take caution from her story and prevent beavers from drowning their land?
My Turn: ‘Our rivers need a voice‘ Rachel Conn
In her “My Turn” column (The Taos News, June 19), Ms. Creech makes an eloquent argument for the protection of beavers and for the fertile environmental habitats that wetlands create – habitats that enhance wildlife, raise the water table, and revitalize rivers. I certainly could not have made a better case for the importance of protecting wetlands and riparian habitat – which is the mission of Amigos Bravos and the intent of the new river protection buffers put in place by the County Commission.
Commissioners Gabriel Romero, Dan Barrone and Tom Blankenhorn are to be commended for bringing river protection into the 21st century.
Our rivers need a voice. The new land use regulations provide space for this voice by ensuring that rivers and the creatures that depend upon rivers have the room to thrive. Prior to the new regulations, there were no restrictions on building along the banks of rivers in Taos County. As a result we have seen development in the form of residential houses, parking lots, and commercial buildings built right up to, and sometimes even hanging over the precious few rivers and streams we have in Taos County. This has resulted in problems for the river and wildlife, as well as problems for homeowners.
Amigos Bravos believes beavers are crucial for protecting and restoring river health. On numerous occasions Amigos Bravos has fielded calls from the public concerned about beavers being trapped and killed. We have found, when taking action to stop the destruction of beavers and their dams, that beaver removal is more often that not prompted by landowners complaining that beavers are causing flooding in nearby homes or septic systems. The new comprehensive land use regulations will help to minimize these conflicts — and thus protect beavers — by ensuring that houses are built at least 85 feet from the stream.
Many of the rivers in Taos County are not meeting water quality standards for dissolved oxygen, temperature, E.coli, and conductivity. Setbacks (buffers on either side of rivers) are effective at reducing all of these pollutants. Research has shown that setbacks are effective at removing sediment in runoff; reducing stream bank erosion; removing phosphorus, nitrogen, and other nutrients that can lead to low levels of dissolved oxygen in aquatic ecosystems. In addition, by protecting the riparian corridor along rivers and streams, the capacity of the river system to store floodwaters is increased, thereby decreasing the risk of flood damage to property. Healthy riparian corridors also help to maintain habitat for fish and other aquatic organisms; maintain base flow in stream channels; and improve the aesthetic appearance of stream corridors (which can increase property values).
Rachel has a point. And most landowners dislike E. Coli.
The truth is Ceilidh and Rachel need 
to sit down together over a few beers and realize that they both want the water and land protected. Rachel should be working with her team to incentivize landowners for allowing wetlands through environmental tax credits, and Ceilidh needs to recognize that even through her land seems valuable now, it’s nothing compared to what the water’s going to be worth in a few years.
Have another beer. First one’s on Worth A Dam. It’s Taos for chrissake, so we’ll chip in for some chips and salsa too. Keep drinking and talking. Just do it.
Oh the owner and Amigo should be friends! Oh the owner and Amigo should be friends! One gal likes her dry lands wet The other wants what’s built back set but that’s no reason why they can’t be friends! Beaver-lovin’ folks should stick together! Beaver-lovin’ folks should all be friends. Owners thanked with a wetland credit Buildings kept off the waters ends!After you’ve had a few, stagger back to her land and watch the beavers swim around in the water and play. It’s summer so their are probably little ones to enjoy. That always helps us get along better.
