continued from page 23
ranger,” Marcos Paredes.
Paredes tells them how low
water flow beginning in the
90s led to an invasion of salt
cedar and giant cane that was
slowly “choking” the river, but
also how Park personnel and a
slew of volunteers are working
incessantly to repel the
invaders and are starting to
succeed. Of course, they also
learn about the cultural devas-
tation caused when the infor-
mal crossings at Boquillas and
other Mexican villages were
closed.
The most depressing part
of the journey is along the
“forgotten river” from Presidio
to El Paso. It’s called forgotten
because there’s basically no
water anymore – El Paso
drinks up whatever isn’t used
to irrigate fields in New
Mexico. In fact, Baxter main-
tains the Rio Grande is no
longer a single river but an
upper and lower Rio Grande
– one fed by snow melt in
Colorado and ending in El
Paso, the other beginning in
Presidio at the river’s conflu-
ence with the Rio Conchos.
Not one drop of that clear
Colorado water ever reaches
the Big Bend, much less the
Gulf.
In El Paso, Baxter describes
at great length the City of El
Paso’s construction of a new
water park along the banks of
the Rio Grande’s once free-
flowing tributary, the Rio
Bosque. Although Baxter
clearly considers this a bright
spot, I found the fact that
water for the park comes from
the sewage treatment plant to
be depressing – call me old
fashioned. Still, some addi-
tional wetlands are better than
none.
New Mexico and Colorado
share some problems with
Texas, notably salt cedar erad-
ication, but at least their Rio
Grande isn’t a casualty of the
wars on terror and immigra-
tion. However, they both face
even greater problems with
pollution - from commercial
and residential development
along the river banks (yet
another instance where our
current economic decline may
have a silver lining).
I was happy, though not
surprised, to learn that Baxter
considers one of my favorite
river people, Steve Harris, to
be perhaps the most knowl-
edgeable about the Rio
Grande as a whole, and he
certainly comes across that
way in the book. That’s prob-
ably because Harris, who
started the river guide outfit
Far Flung Adventures in
Terlingua and later moved to
New Mexico, seems to be one
of the few “experts” who is
intimately acquainted with
both the “upper” and the
“lower” river.
In fact, Harris pretty much
convinces Baxter that, despite
current water flow, it’s a mis-
take to start thinking of the
Rio Grande as more than one
river because any lasting solu-
tion to its myriad problems
will require a national consen-
sus and commitment to repair
and preservation. In 1994,
Harris founded the non-profit
group
Rio
Grande
Restoration, which is dedicat-
ed to improving both the eco-
logical condition and flow of
the river.
Don’t purchase Big River,
Rio Grande for a comprehensive
history or geography of the
river. For that, as Baxter
admits, the starting and end-
ing point is still Paul Horgan’s
Great River (first published in
1954, but still in print). And
although Parent’s photo-
graphs are quite beautiful, the
still unsurpassed photographic
essay on the river is Jim Bones’
(of Alpine) Rio Grande:
Mountains to the Sea, published
by Texas Monthly Press in
1985, now, sadly, out of print.
Finally, for a truly idiosyncrat-
ic (and decidedly curmud-
geonly) close-up of life on the
“lower” river, try The Tecate
Journals, Keith Bowden’s
chronicle of his seventy-day
journey by mountain bike and
canoe from El Paso to the
Gulf.
However, for anyone who
loves the river (and I imagine
that includes most people who
have chosen to live in the
Trans-Pecos), Big River, Rio
Grande is an essential addition
to the library. I’m not aware of
any other source that provides
such a comprehensive look at
the current state of the river
and the people involved in try-
ing to save it.
It’s not a particularly opti-
mistic picture, but it’s one we
need to see and act on, if
there’s to be any hope for the
Rio Grande’s continued exis-
tence as a wild river.
‘Tis the Reason
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