“It looks like toothpicks just laying across the river,” Roybal said. Burnt logs interrupted the flow, blocking it almost entirely in some areas.
It burned up vegetation and hardened soil in the Gila forest, allowing the heavy summer rains to flow more easily off the charred ground.Īlong the Mimbres River, a slow and steady trickling of water that was a roaring flood just a few months ago made its way downstream. The Black Fire was the second-largest blaze in New Mexico history. But, he added, “we’ve never seen the damage like we have this year, and it all has to do with debris coming off of that Black Fire.” Roybal’s family has owned this land for generations, and flooding along the river isn’t new, he said. “This type of work can’t be done overnight, so it needed to get started at least a month ago,” he said. That could be as early as February for some in the area - depending on how dry the weather is - or as late as April. These systems need to be cleaned up and fixed before irrigation time comes in early 2023, Roybal said. There are at least 24 acequias still damaged by the Black Fire. Roybal said only about a third of the ditches that depend on the Mimbres River in Grant County for irrigation can actually get water right now to residents “We have a livelihood on this river,” he said.
Since the Black Fire, he’s been working nearly every day to find help for the historic irrigation channels that will be inoperable come spring if repairs aren’t done. He’s been in the position for eight years, watching over the Grijalva Ditch that has nine laterals coming out of it in Mimbres, N.M. He’s retired, save for the work he does every day as a mayordomo. Many farmers and ranchers in southern New Mexico living near the Gila National Forest rely on acequias that are now completely filled up with silt and debris from the fire, preventing them from controlling the flow of water entering their irrigation systems.ĭanny Roybal is one of the people that uses the channels. But flooding off the Black Fire burn scar was so intense in August that the water carved a new path, its new stream now littered with burnt, broken trees and destroyed irrigation debris. This story was first published by Source New Mexico.Įmpty, muddy banks in southern New Mexico show where the Mimbres River should be flowing.
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