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Rio Grande level higher than normal into early
June
The Luis Leon reservoir on the Rio Conchos in Mexico will be releasing water
over the next few weeks. Visitors may notice that the river is higher than
usual. Flow rates may increase from 50 cubic meters per second to 100 cubic
meters per second. The reservoir needed to release water due to their reservoir
exceeding the full pool level from recent rains.
In areas where the river spreads out over a flood plain, the rise will probably
not be noticeable since so much water soaks out into the deep sand. In the
canyons the river may be noticeably higher as the river flows mostly over
bedrock.
Possible impacts include the hot springs at Rio Grande village being inundated,
deeper water along the length of the river which will improve conditions for
rafting, and possibly larger rapids in some canyon river sections.
The rise will likely be at most a few feet of depth. This is a small flow rate
increase and no structures are threatened. By mid to late June the river level
will subside.
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Say No to the US Mexico Border Wall
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Brazilian free-tailed bats. Copyright Gautam Shah
Carlsbad bats "free-tail it" back from Mexico
by Rick LoBello
Second only to the marvel of the caverns themselves, Carlsbad Caverns National
Park's
sunset bat flight ranks as one of the most fascinating wildlife spectacles in
North America. Although the bats are miniscule in size compared to larger
mammals like Alaska's caribou and the Pacific Coast's humpback whales, few
wildlife dramas can compare to Carlsbad's "main event."
Every evening from
early May through October, swarms of nearly 800,000 Brazilian free-tailed bats
exit the cave's natural entrance to feed on night flying insects like moths and
mosquitoes. Park visitors packing the amphitheater are amazed at the
sight. This is definitely the place to be on a New Mexico summer night.
In grand fashion the National Park Service seizes nature's exceptional moment as
park rangers present bat fight amphitheater programs. Every evening
rangers answer dozens of questions while correcting popular myths about bats.
For example many people believe that bats are blind. Actually all bats can
see, some better than others depending on their feeding habits. A bat hunting on
insects at night does not need to see as well as a fruit eating bat in the
tropics.
As the audience patiently awaits the rising curtain on the Cavern's big show,
vociferous cave swallows fly overhead in search of their last meals for the day.
These dive-bombing acrobats must know that soon they will be forced out of the
way by an imminent barrage of bats taking over their air space above the
entrance to the caverns.
Few people realize that the park's cave swallow colony, about two thousand
strong, also has the distinction of being the largest such colony known to the
United States. Nesting along the walls of the natural entrance these
beautiful birds, more typical of Mexico, are often at first glance mistaken for
bats. But in stark contrast to the squeaking sounds of the swallows, the
near silent exiting of bats is a completely different picture.
As the flight develops, a large black cloud appears in the summertime sky, the
same cloud that first attracted early Carlsbad explorer Jim White to the cave in
the early 1900s.
Come September Carlsbad's bat colony begins to migrate south to spend the winter
months in Mexico. The migration extends into October and sometimes early
November as the maternity colony departs the area in smaller groups.
Although much is still unknown about their travel route, we do know that the
migration extends at least 800 miles. Information on Carlsbad free-tailed
bats was first obtained during the 1950s when more than 100,000 bats were tagged
with wing bands. Three Carlsbad individuals were eventually recovered.
One traveled to Central Mexico covering over 800 miles in 68 days.
Despite extensive studies in search of banded bats, little is known about the
break-up of the colony during the winter months. Do some of the larger
groups migrating from Carlsbad stay together or do most of them break up into
smaller groups or separate as individuals?
Learn more about Carlsbad's bat colony on the
Carlsbad Caverns National Park website. You can also support
conservation and research on bats by Adopting a Bat from the Carlsbad
Caverns
Guadalupe Mountains Association.
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El Paso News
Archive
Border Ecosystems to Get
Protected Status
Mexico¹s National Commission of Protected Areas (Conanp) is moving forward with
plans to conserve two ecologically-sensitive areas in the northern Chihuahua
borderlands. Earlier this month the federal agency opened a 15-day public
comment period on studies that form part of its effort to establish a natural
protected area and a biosphere reserve in Chihuahua.
In the first instance, comments could be directed at a proposal to create a
nearly 164,000-acre natural protected area in the Samalayuca sand dunes, an
extensive chain of white-topped hills located just southeast of Ciudad Juarez.
Granting Samalayuca a protected status was announced at the beginning of
President Felipe Calderon¹s term, but the process was subsequently delayed.
According to Conanp, Samalayuca hosts 284 plant species and 154 animal species,
including threatened reptiles.
Conanp will also reportedly accept public feedback to create a huge biosphere
reserve of about 1.37 million acres in the municipality of Janos, which is
located south of the New Mexico border. The Janos reserve would cover a
biologically-rich zone that¹s characterized by a mixture of pasture land,
pine-oak forest and riparian habitat. The area is known to host a wild bison
herd that moves between northern Chihuahua and Hidalgo County, New Mexico.
In a 2007 report prepared for the Wildlife Conservation Society, Rodrigo
Medillin, professor of ecology for the National Autonomous University of Mexico,
noted that protecting the Janos bison herd was a ³top priority² of the
International Union for the Conservation of Nature, a worldwide network of more
than 1,000 governmental and non-governmental organizations.
Besides protecting plant and animal species, the establishment of
federally-protected zones could allow local residents access to federal programs
aimed at protecting the environment while fostering local participation and
community economic development. In the past, Chihuahua state officials have
mentioned Samalayuca as a possible eco-tourism destination.
No section of Conanp¹s website is specifically devoted to receiving public
comment on the Samalayuca and Janos proposals, but the e-mail address
desarollo@conanp.gob.mx is listed
as the contact for the Mexican federal agency.
On a related front, Conanp, together with the Mexican Association for the
Conservation of Natural Protected Areas, is co-sponsoring a four-day public
conference about protected areas in Mexico next month. The meeting is scheduled
to run from June 1-4 in the central Mexican city of San Luis Potosi.
Sources: El Diario de Juarez, May 11, 2009. Article by Juan
de Dios Olivas.
www.wcs.org,
www.iucn.org.
Source: Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news Center for
Latin American and Border Studies New Mexico State University Las Cruces, New
Mexico
For a free electronic subscription email
fnsnews@nmsu.edu
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