A bosque ( ) is a type of

gallery forest A gallery forest is one formed as a corridor along rivers or wetlands, projecting into landscapes that are otherwise only sparsely treed such as savannas, grasslands, or deserts. The gallery forest maintains a more temperate microclimate above th ...

habitat found along the

riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. In some regions, the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone, riparian corridor, and riparian strip are used to characterize a ripar ...

flood plain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

s of streams, river banks, and lakes. It derives its name from the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

word for "forest", pronounced .

Setting

In the predominantly

arid Aridity is the condition of geographical regions which make up approximately 43% of total global available land area, characterized by low annual precipitation, increased temperatures, and limited water availability.Perez-Aguilar, L. Y., Plata ...

semiarid A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of sem ...

Southwestern United States, a bosque is an

oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentcanopied, that only exists near rivers, streams, or other water courses. The most notable bosque is the -long forest

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

along the valley of the middle

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

that extends from Santa Fe, through Albuquerque and south to

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

. One of the most famous and ecologically intact sections of the bosque is included in the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, which is located south of San Antonio, NM. Another bosque can be found in Costa Rica, a beautiful wildlife refuge named Bosque Alegre. Albuquerque bosque aerial from balloon

Middle Rio Grande bosque

Various refuges, parks, and trails for visitors, such as the Paseo Del Bosque trail are in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Flora and fauna

As a

desert riparian Desert riparian is a North American desert vegetation type (or biome) occurring in the bottoms of valleys, canyons, and other watercourses that have water at or near the surface most of the year.Pam MacKay, Mojave Desert Wildflowers, 2nd Ed., p. ...

forest, the middle Rio Grande bosque has a characteristic variety of flora and fauna. Common trees in the bosque

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

include

mesquite Mesquite is a common name for some plants in the genera ''Neltuma'' and '' Strombocarpa'', which contain over 50 species of spiny, deep-rooted leguminous shrubs and small trees. They are native to dry areas in the Americas. Until 2022, these ge ...

, cottonwood, desert willow, and desert olive. Because often only a single canopy layer occurs and because the tree species found in the bosque are generally

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

, a wide variety of shrubs, grasses, and other understory vegetation is also supported. Desert hackberry,

blue palo verde ''Parkinsonia florida'', the blue palo verde ( syn. ''Cercidium floridum''), is a species of palo verde native to the Sonoran Deserts in the Southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico.

, graythorn (''Condalia lycioides''), Mexican elder (''Sambucus mexicana''), virgin's bower, and Indian root all flourish in the bosque. The habitat also supports a large variety of

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...

s. For a semiarid region, an extraordinary

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

exists at the interface of the bosque and surrounding desert ecosystems. Certain subsets of vegetative association are defined within the Kuchler scheme, including the

mesquite bosque Mesquite Bosque is a Association (ecology), vegetative association within the Southwestern United States, under the A.W. Kuchler, Kuchler scheme of plant association categories. Geography The Mesquite Bosque association occurs in the Sonoran Deser ...

. In 2017, 150 different species of flora (trees, shrubs, forbs, and grasses) were documented in Albuquerque's bosque. The bosque is an important stopover for a variety of migratory birds, such as ducks, geese, egrets, herons, and

sandhill crane The sandhill crane (''Antigone canadensis'') is a species of large Crane (bird), cranes of North America and extreme northeastern Siberia. The common name of this bird refers to its habitat, such as the Platte River, on the edge of Nebraska's S ...

s. Year-round avian residents include red-tailed hawks, Cooper's hawks, American kestrels, hummingbirds, owls, woodpeckers, and the southwestern willow flycatcher. Over 270 species of birds can be found in Albuquerque's bosque . Aquatic fauna of the bosque include the endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow. Mammalian residents include

desert cottontail The desert cottontail (''Sylvilagus audubonii''), also known as Audubon's cottontail, is a New World cottontail rabbit, and a member of the family Leporidae. Unlike the European rabbit (''Oryctolagus cuniculus''), they do not form social burrow s ...

white-footed mouse The white-footed mouse (''Peromyscus leucopus'') is a rodent native to North America from southern Canada to the southwestern United States and Mexico. It is a species of the genus ''Peromyscus'', a closely related group of New World mice often ...

North American porcupine The North American porcupine (''Erethizon dorsatum''), also known as the Canadian porcupine, is a large quill-covered rodent in the New World porcupine family. It is the second largest rodent in North America after the North American beaver (''Ca ...

North American beaver The North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') is one of two Extant taxon, extant beaver species, along with the Eurasian beaver (''Castor fiber''). It is native to North America and has been introduced in South America (Patagonia) and Europe ...

long-tailed weasel The long-tailed weasel (''Neogale frenata''), also known as the bridled weasel, masked ermine, or big stoat, is a species of weasel found in North America, North, Central America, Central, and South America. It is distinct from the Stoat, short-t ...

common raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the North American, northern or common raccoon (also spelled racoon) to distinguish it from Procyonina, other species of raccoon, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest ...

coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans''), also known as the American jackal, prairie wolf, or brush wolf, is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the Wolf, gray wolf, and slightly smaller than the c ...

mountain lion The cougar (''Puma concolor'') (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, KOO-gər''), also called puma, mountain lion, catamount and panther is a large small cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North America, North, Central America, Cent ...

, and

bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the wildcat, bay lynx, or red lynx, is one of the four extant species within the medium-sized wild cat genus '' Lynx''. Native to North America, it ranges from southern Canada through most of the c ...

. Cottonwood trees serve as shelter to a variety of animals. A September 2020 report by th
Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program (BEMP)
though, predicted that cottonwood trees in the middle Rio Grande bosque would be impacted disproportionately as climate change affects groundwater depth and as air temperatures rise. The report separately concluded that invasive plant species were not sensitive to such changes in groundwater, suggesting that the plant structure and animal habitats of the middle Rio Grande bosque will change dramatically as the climate changes.

Inhabitants

Though the earliest inhabitants began to settle around the bosque about 15,000 years ago, they caused only minor ecosystem changes. When rapid population growth and when inhabitants started creating water diversions for farming purposes, the bosque started to be manipulated, and change was noted in the ecosystem.

Restoration

Maintaining the ecosystem and habitat of the bosque is a difficult and ongoing concern for many. The creation of water diversions, such as levees, ditches, irrigation canals, etc. has resulted in irreparable damage, causing floodplains to dry and water levels to drop. Thus, creating a ripple effect, many different types of native plant species, wildlife, and amphibians have died off or relocated. The drying and loss of wetlands create a land that is susceptible to fires, destroying more habitation areas. Efforts are ongoing to undo damage to the bosque ecosystem caused by human development, fires, and

invasive species An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native spec ...

in the 20th century. Where possible,

levee A levee ( or ), dike (American English), dyke (British English; see American and British English spelling differences#Miscellaneous spelling differences, spelling differences), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is an elevated ridge, natural ...

s and other flood-control devices along the Rio Grande are being removed, to allow the river to undergo its natural cycle, but in June 2023, the Army Corps of Engineers-Albuquerque District and the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District signed a design agreement aiming for the reconstruction of multiple levees along the Rio Grande between Albuquerque and Belen as part of the Middle Rio Grande, Bernalillo to Belen project, which aims to minimize flood damage along the river. To help with the regrowth and maintenance of the bosque, new trees are planted by the Open Space Division. Since 1996, th
Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program (BEMP)
of the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; ) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1889 by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature, it is the state's second oldest university, a flagship university in th ...

has worked with local schools on

habitat restoration Ecological restoration, or ecosystem restoration, is the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, destroyed or transformed. It is distinct from conservation in that it attempts to retroactively repair ...

and ecological monitoring within the bosque, as well as raising awareness of the ecological importance of this habitat through educational outreach initiatives. BEMP receives funding from a number of sources, including the federal government. As of 2016, the program maintained 30 permanent sites throughout the middle Rio Grande bosque.

References

External links

Save our Bosque Report (.pdf) Fire commander: Bosque’s urban area presents challenge
{{coord missing, New Mexico Forests of the United States Habitats Natural history of New Mexico Riparian zone