Water Management

Living in the high desert of New Mexico one would suppose that water management would not be high on the list of priorities but in reality water management issues are always a concern.  With only 2 periods of rain every year, the winter rains and summer monsoons, the area can receive a significant amount of rainfall in a short period of time.  On rangeland with sufficient grasses the water is slowed and while the occasional flash flood may occur it is heavily utilized rangeland where most problems develop.  On the main estate at the Painted Pony Resort water management has always been a priority and as a result the 4+ inches of rain received this fall from the remnants of hurricane Odile did little damage.  With this years expansion of the estate further east some of the new water problems are being addressed.  About 2 years ago the road across the riverbed at the north end of the estate, which drains the Peloncillo mountains, began to receive runoff and the road quickly deteriorated with a 3-4' gully forming down the middle. This was the result of a major arroyo changing course after filling in its' old route.  With the movement to the south the ranch road was the  easiest route for the water resulting in the rapid down cutting of the ranch road.  If the arroyo could be persuaded to instead move north all the road problems would be solved.  Fortunately, the owner is currently in residence and enjoys running the tractor and road grader.  So he created several diversions in the arroyo, kicking the flow back north expanding and enlarging my earlier efforts.  The results are that the water flow will move back north and hopefully refill an existing cattle tank on the neighbors property (which was fed by this arroyo) and the old channel will provide a source of sand and gravel for the roads around the estate.

Looking east up the heavily eroded ranch road.

Looking west at the first diversion above the eroded area shown in the first photograph.

Looking northwest at the main diversion channel in the old arroyo.

Looking east up the arroyo.

Rangeland Rehabilitation: Stabilizing Arroyos

Arroyos in the desert southwest are major conduits of water across the landscape and during the rainy seasons can be major sources of erosion on a lightly vegetated landscape.  On the 756 acres of the Painted Pony Resort just several arroyos contribute to the majority of erosional damage on the estate.  These arroyos collect water from the west flanks of the Peloncillo mountains which is concentrated into 3 arroyos by bridges along the old El Paso and Southwestern Railroad running along the base of the mountains.  The water collected on the up slope side of the railroad bed is funneled through the bridges and across the property down these 3 arroyos eventually reaching the San Simon Riverbed.  The concentrated and rapidly flowing water erodes both down through the soils and also moves the arroyos laterally.  The high velocity water makes roads on the east side of the estate impassible and washes out culverts and crossings which require significant repair work.  While the changes in drainage patterns as a result of the railroad bridges is beyond one persons ability to easily change, the arroyos resulting from a century of landscape modification can be managed to reduce the damage caused by concentrated high velocity water.  

One of several arroyo management techniques in use requires stabilization of the arroyo banks.  Over 10' deep in places on the estate, arroyo banks frequently collapse and stabilization would reduce the amount of soil eroded during the rains.  But what sort of stabilization technique is applicable?  Being in favor of utilizing low cost materials that are available on the landscape this is the approach most frequently chosen.  Many times people toss in whatever garbage is available into arroyos to slow water flow and protect the banks, but this approach results in an arroyo strewn with leftover wood and metal products which randomly catch sediment and is unsightly (the out of sight out of mind approach).  An alternative approach is to utilize plants for stabilization.  In this case, a native species of ground spreading gourd Cucurbita sp.. 

Members of this genus are low growing ground covering annuals and perennials, in many species the fruit is edible and include cultivars of squash and pumpkin.  Adapted to arid climates and growing well in sandy soils they can be found along roadsides and the gourds may be collected in the late summer.  Producing about 300 seeds/gourd, 3 species of Cucurbita are found on the estate, Cucurbita digitata , Cucurbita foetidissima, and an unidentified species.  The green developing gourds turn yellow when dried and are easily spotted on the landscape for collection.  Arroyo stabilization requires harvesting the gourds and extracting the seeds which are then planted high along the edges of arroyos.  The gourd produces a taproot allowing it anchor itself deeply in soil ensuring it will not wash out with periodic high water and hold the soil.  The long vines it produces cover the ground, absorbing energy and slowing water, and will hang along vertical surfaces allowing its large leaves to protect the underlying soil, reducing soil loss.

Previous tests with planted Cucurbita along the entrance driveway resulted in plant coverage over areas of barren ground which has allowed additional grass to establish itself.  So this is being expanded to treat problem arroyos on the estate.  Collected seeds were planted at about 50 locations along a segments of 2 deep arroyos at the bottom to the top at a depth of 1-2".  Starting at the old bridge, quarter sections of gourds were cut and planted along the banks for a distance of several hundred feet.  Next years crop of gourds should spread downstream with the goal of creating more plants that will stabilize these problem arroyos.

Fruit from C. digitata, C. foetidissima, and an unknown species harvested from the estate.

Looking downstream along a problem arroyo, treated by planting native gourds .

Looking upstream at an old El Paso and Southwestern railroad bridge that funnels water creating problem arroyos.

Native Cucurbita along an arroyo showing how the vines and leaves provide cover for developing grasses.

Road Work around the Painted Pony Resort

It is 2.75 miles from Highway 80 to the entrance to the Painted Pony Resort which is on dirt roads.  With only 3 paved roads in the 330 square miles of the San Simon Valley (south of I-10) dirt roads are a way of life and road work is a necessity, especially on roads that are not maintained by the county.  This is important for guests visiting the Painted Pony Resort since they have spent time and energy driving out to visit and the last thing they would wish is travel over bad roads.  Dirt roads are subject to wash boarding and washouts during heavy down pours so constant attention is required.  The Painted Pony Resort maintains a road grader and tractor for use in road and property maintenance.  While most of the road is fairly easy to maintain, with cleaning side ditches and cattle guards, digging out wing ditches, and occasional roadbed raking, the corner from Night Hawk to Painted Pony Road is in a low spot and has a tendency to collect runoff.  Reshaping the road eliminated boggy spots but drainage and associated erosion is still an issue.  A potential remedy to the problem is to slow the water that drains onto and crosses the road so erosion is minimized and silt may be redeposited building up the road bed.  To that end small check dams have been built along bare areas and developing drainage's on the high side of the road where water flows off the land and rock was placed along the down slope side of the turn from Night Hawk onto Painted Pony.  The results of these efforts should start to become apparent with the ongoing monsoons.

Turn from Night Hawk to Painted Pony Road

Drainages and Runoff

There is an ongoing discussion both locally and in the media concerning the possible effects of the coming monsoon season on the Chiricahua Mountains.  With decreased ground cover resulting from the Horseshoe Two fire the likelihood of uncontrolled runoff increases. While many are pursuing flood insurance and the BAER team is assessing burned areas creating mitigation recommendations, it seemed worthwhile to examine the Chiricahua Mountain range and map individual drainage's to provide semi-quantitative estimates of possible areas where runoff may pose a problem.  Below are the results of mapping individual drainage's that flow east and south from the interior of the Chiricahua Mountains.  Nine drainage's were identified that start in the interior and flow east and south and include:

1. Turkey Creek drainage - 31.5 square miles
2. Silver Creek drainage -  10.2 square miles
3. Silver Peak drainage -  24.1 square miles
4.  Flys Peak drainage - 9.3 square miles
5.  Chiricahua Peak drainage - 22.5 square miles
6.  South Fork drainage - 36.4 square miles
7.  Sulphur Canyon drainage - 12.5 square miles
8.  Horseshoe Canyon drainage - 40.5 square miles
9.  Price Canyon drainage -  22.5 square miles

The surface area, based on the circumference of the outline and uncorrected for elevation change, follows each drainage.  The Silver Creek drainage received no fire and would be expected to behave normally in the coming monsoon season.  While the western portion of the Turkey Creek drainage and the western upper portion of the Silver Peak drainage both experienced fire covering approximately 29 square miles with elevations ranging from 9300' to 5400' at Paradise.  Increased runoff would be expected in east flowing stream beds within the 66 square miles encompassed by these 2 drainage's.

Nine drainage's (blue) with Horseshoe Two fir perimeter (red).

Flys Peak, Chiricahua Peak, and South Fork drainage's have a combined surface area of 68.2 square miles with elevations ranging from  9759' at Chiricahua Peak down to 4800' at Portal.  Of these 3 drainage's approximately half of the South Fork drainage (eastern half) was unburned.  These 3 drainage's as well as the Silver Peak drainage contribute to the flow of Cave Creek.  Based on the fire perimeter and the drainage's that contribute to Cave Creek, approximately 50 square miles were affected by fire.  Runoff from affected areas in these 4 drainage's can be expected to contribute to increased flow in Cave Creek during the monsoon season.

The 50 square miles of the combined Cave Creek drainage affected by fire (white line).

Sulphur Canyon drainage is an isolated triangular drainage of 12.5 square miles that flows out of the east side of the Chiricahua Mountains with a maximum elevation of 8500' at Portal Peak and 4700' at the forest boundary.  The relatively small size of the Sulphur Canyon drainage, relative to Cave Creek, suggests Sulphur Canyon would experience a smaller amount of uncontrolled runoff which would dissipate as the flow spreads across the San Simon valley.

Horseshoe Canyon drainage at 40.5 square miles was the largest single drainage mapped.  This drainage has a north south orientation along its first half then turns east to flow out into the valley.  It ranges in elevation from over 8800' down to 4600' at the canyon mouth.  The large size of this drainage suggests it could experience significant flow during the monsoon well in excess of normal monsoon flows.

The last drainage mapped was Price Canyon.  This drainage starts in the interior of the Chiricahua Mountains at elevations of approximately 9200' ranging down to 5500' at the canyon mouth.  It is a relatively narrow drainage with a north south orientation encompassing 22.5 square miles.  The moderate size of the drainage combined with the elevation change suggests an intermediate volume of monsoon flow in Price Canyon.

The intensity of the fire across the landscape is yet unknown and large areas of relatively low burn could mitigate monsoon runoff, but assuming a uniform burn, it is predicted that Cave Creek and Horseshoe Canyons would experience the highest levels of runoff, followed by Turkey Creek and Price Canyon.  Finally, Sulphur Canyon would experience the smallest runoffs of those drainage's mapped.

While mitigation efforts are underway with chipping of felled trees and rehabilitation of fire lines the major effort will begin after containment.  From the BAER team:
"The primary techniques used are reseeding of ground cover with quick-growing or native species;mulching with straw or chipped wood; constructing straw bale dams in small tributaries; placing fallen trees to catch sediments on steep slopes; and digging below-grade pits to catch runoff and store sediments."