"La Sangre de La Tierra"
River ScienceLesley Casias
We are life that wants to live in the midst of other life that wants to live.
- Albert Einstein.The main purpose of this unit is to demonstrate the importance of water in our community. Water is one of the most important renewable resources we have on earth, yet we contaminate and misuse it. The earth is 70 percent water, but only three percent of the earth’s water is a usable source for life. Much of this is frozen. This unit will be a thematic unit on the Rio Grande River integrating math, science and Spanish language arts. The unit will be part of the 6th grade dual language program with all subject areas and themes taught in Spanish. This unit will explain how water is in nature and what happens when humans intervene.
Students will be introduced to life science concepts in the classroom through their science textbooks. They will then apply this knowledge to the Rio Grande region. Students will study various aspects of the Rio Grande. They will focus on the Rio Grande as a biome. A biome is an area of land based on its climate, plants, animals and other characteristics. They will study historical changes made to the Rio Grande by human influences and natural occurrences. They will study the geography of the area. The necessity and demand of the water will be an issue analyzed. Students will be expected to consider and produce efficient ways to use the river’s water in our ever growing community. The culture of the people along the Rio Grande will also be studied.
Through hands on experiences with the Rio Grande students will learn the importance of water in nature to plants and animals. They will learn where water is in New Mexico and how it got there, and they will learn the effects of water in society and culture. At minimum, I expect students to gain an awareness and appreciation for the Rio Grande and the bosque.
Academic Setting:
This unit was developed for a dual language 6th grade classroom at Washington Middle School. Students who participate in the dual language program have been in a dual language program throughout their elementary career. Science, math, and Spanish language arts will be taught in Spanish. Students will receive language arts, literature and social studies classes in English by another teacher. Some students will participate in the dual language program as recent arrivals from Mexico or other countries whose primary language is Spanish. Other students will be students who have participated in the dual language program as learners of English as a second language or as learners of Spanish as a second language. The overall goal of my classes taught in Spanish is to provide content in Spanish and enriched Spanish literacy.
Context and Background Information:
Water: Quantity, Quality, Uses
Water is made of molecules like all substances. A drop of water contains trillions of water molecules. Drops of water maintain there sphere shape and elasticity because of a force called surface tension. This property can be demonstrated on the Rio Grande when animals travel on the surface of the water.
Water from the Rio Grande river is what brought many cultures to settle here. But, this water is getting more precious daily. Some years the amount of water used is greater than the availability. Farms in Texas, southern New Mexico and Mexico use water released from the Elephant Butte and Caballo dams near Truth or Consequences. They use approximately 790,000 acre feet of water. Mexican farmers in Juarez are only permitted 60,000 acre feet of water.
Irrigation is the greatest use of Rio Grande water. Eighty percent of the water used from the river is used by irrigation for agricultural purposes in the US and Mexico. The San Luis Valley in Colorado, the Rincon and Mesilla Valleys in southern New Mexico, the El Paso and Juarez Valleys, and the Rio Grande Valley below Amistad Dam are the areas which use irrigation for agricultural purposes.
But, there is a growing municipal demand for water as cities like Albuquerque and El Paso/ Ciudad Juarez exhaust their groundwater supply. In the next three years, Albuquerque will begin to use river water for residents. El Paso is already receiving 43 % of its water source from the river. Las Cruces will begin to use the river in the next ten years. By the year 2025, the aquifer which supplies Juarez and El Paso, El Hueco Bolson, will be empty.
Water is also used for the following: municipal and industry, fish production, flood control, pollution removal (residential, industrial, mining, and agricultural sectors use the Rio Grande for the disposal of waste), hydropower, grazing and logging in the upland areas, development, recreation, and Native American uses - spiritual, cultural, fishing.
As these cities grow, no new source of water is available for consumption. All water in the Rio Grande is claimed by someone. This means the Rio Grande is considered "fully appropriated." For the river to survive, we must use the water effectively or other sources must be found.
Geography
The Rio Grande is the 24th longest river in the world. It is one of the longest in the United States. It is approximately 1,960 miles. It starts in the San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado and empties in the Gulf of Mexico near Brownsville, Texas. The Rio Grande forms a border between Mexico and the United States south of New Mexico and in Texas. The middle Rio Grande Valley runs from the Cochiti Dam to San Marcial, New Mexico and is 160 river miles. The Rio Grande river basin is 7,700 square miles. Its major reservoirs are the Rio Grande Reservoir, La Jara Reservoir, Platoro Reservoir, Continental Reservoir, and San Luis Lake.
One of the main geological features of the river is that it was formed by a rift in the earth. This occurred over 15 to 30 million years ago when volcanic eruptions caused the crust to drop forming the rift which is a trough that is five miles deep in some areas. The rift is 500 miles long and extends from central Colorado through New Mexico. Basins in the rift eventually filled with runoff waters. This water eroded the canyons between the basins. After approximately a half million years, these basins were connected slowly forming the Rio Grande River and emptying in the Gulf of Mexico. The river consists of a series of connected basins. At one time, each of these basins had its own short-lived lake. The river has flowed in the valley in its present form for over one million years. This process has also formed the fertile valleys along the river through overflowing and flooding.
The Rio Grande has three major confluences. They are the Conchos, the Pecos, and the Chama rivers. Part of the Rio Grande basin is in the Chihauan Desert. The Conchos flows for approximately 250 miles to the Rio Grande. Lesser tributaries to the upper Rio Grande are the Conejos and Alamosa rivers.
The Rio Grande region has been arid to semi-arid for the past 5,000 years. Some years have been drought years and others have been wet years. Precipitation to the river falls at either end, in the form of snow at its headwaters and in the form of rain at its mouth. Due to the arid climate, the river shrinks in size as it flows downstream. Water is lost due to evaporation, transpiration by plants, and seepage into the ground. The amount lost is greater than the amount replaced by tributaries, rain, runoff from snow and other sources.
At one time, the Rio Grande was a free flowing river changing direction and moving within the flood plain. The river moved by forming meanders which are loop like bends. When currents erode the outside banks of the meander and sediment builds on the inner side of the meander, the direction of the river changes. An oxbow is formed when a loop is cut off from the new direction of the river. This creates a mini habitat that eventually dries out. The river also braided creating sandbars and interconnected channels. Now, however, with human intervention, the river is much more restricted to a constricted channel.
Habitat/Biome/ Ecology
The Rio Grande natural zone is a riparian zone. Riparian pertains to living or nonliving entities located on the bank of a natural fresh watercourse such as a river or lake. This zone is bordered in the Rio Grande Valley by cottonwood forest known as the bosque. These zones are threatened by continued urban development in the area. The Rio Grande river is in danger of collapse due to over irrigation and damming. Over irrigation and water use, 95% of the rivers flow, has contributed to the salinity of waters downstream. This has major effects on this aquatic biome. Both organisms and vegetation have been impacted. There is an active effort to restore the bosque and conserve Rio Grande waters.
Originally, natural flooding of the Rio Grande renewed the water and surrounding habitat. Floods knocked down old cottonwoods providing space for new trees to grow. Floods produced wetlands including wet meadows, marshes, sloughs, ponds and small lakes. Each of these were nutrient rich biomes.
Animals
Arthropods
Evidence of insects, spiders and other arthropods is of course abundant in the Río Grande bosque. This area provides an excellent opportunity for students to collect, observe, classify and study arthropods. The arthropods in the Rio Grande are both natural and exotic. Each one has its story to tell, a story about how it got there or what it does to help the environment. One example of an exotic arthropod is the crustacean isopods (pill bugs and wood lice). They are non - native invertebrates which now have the greatest population of invertebrates in the Rio Grande Valley. These animals are exotic to the Rio Grande area. Exotic means that they are not indigenous to the area. They arrived with humans in the soil carried on their boats from Europe.
Amphibians/Reptiles
The riparian habitat along the Rio Grande is ideal for amphibians which require water habitats for at least part of their life cycle. There are at least nine native species in the Rio Grande bosque. It also supports at least three turtle species, 17 lizard species, and 18 snake species according to the Bosque Educational Guide.
Leopard frogs and chorus frogs which are native to the Rio Grande, are decreasing in numbers as the wetlands decrease. The non-native bullfrog population, however, is growing in the Rio Grande area. These bullfrogs compete with native amphibians.
Fish
Because of changes to the river, 11 of 27 species of fish found in New Mexico have become extinct due to human changes to the river. Damming and irrigation have affected fish population and reproduction. For humans, this means the fishing industry has suffered resulting, in loss of jobs.
The silvery minnow is the only survivor of five similar fish that once inhabited the Rio Grande from as far up as Espanola and the Rio Chama. In 1994, it became a threatened species. This fish is about three to five inches in length with a white belly and plain fins. In the past, the silvery minnow was found in great quantities from Espanola, New Mexico to the Gulf of Mexico. It was found in the Pecos river from Santa Rosa, New Mexico to its confluence in South Texas. Now, it can only be found in about 5% of its original habitat, (275 km). It cannot be found at all in the Pecos.
The decrease in silvery minnows in the Rio Grande is attributed to the construction of Elephant Butte Dam. With its construction came the production of non-native fish. These non-native fish often replace native fish species completely. The following native fish species are now extinct: shovelnose sturgeon, Colorado River cutthroat trout, bonytail chub, Rio Grande bluntnose shiner, phantom shiner, American eel, beautiful shiner, Palomas pupfish, freshwater drum. Thirty non-native species of fish have been introduced to the Rio Grande.
Mammals
Mostly rodents, there are over 60 species of mammals in the Rio Grande Valley. Loss of habitat has threatened the meadow jumping mouse and tawny-bellied cotton rat. Beaver were once heavily trapped along the Rio Grande Valley. They became in endangered. But, through efforts to reintroduce them, their populations are growing. There are 11 species of bats. Occasionally, the jaguar, gray wolf and grizzly have visited the Rio Grande Valley. However, today, they have disappeared from the valley.
Mammals introduced to the valley have had a negative effect on the native mammal population. These include cattle, sheep, goats, horses, donkeys, mules, feral cats and feral dogs.
Birds
Over 270 species of birds are present in the Rio Grande bosque. Native species of birds are threatened by loss of habitat and non-native species of birds. The southwest willow flycatcher struggles to find breeding places. Warblers and vireos are overtaken by cowbirds. Non - native European starlings and house sparrows use up nesting cavities leaving none available for native birds. Hunting once threatened the Rio Grande turkey and whooping crane. Efforts to protect these birds have been somewhat successful.
Plants
Native plants to the Rio Grande Valley include Godding and peachleaf willow, New Mexico olive, coyote willow, false indigo, Anderson wolfberry, and seepwillow.As with animals, the plant life along the Rio Grande is either natural or exotic. Some examples of exotic plant life include tamarask (salt cedar), russian olive, Russian Thisthle and Mulin.These non-native plants are more aggressive and dominate over native plants. Many rare plant species are threatened with loss of habitat.
Trees
Cottonwoods can be up to three meters in diameter and grow up to 30 meters tall. They grow in areas where water is plenty. Their leaves are smooth, triangles with flattened leaf stalks, and have serrated edges. The fruit of the cottonwood produces hundreds of seeds with cottony plumes which are dispersed by the wind. The seeds travel long distances across the flood plains. The trees themselves do not grow in elevations over 2000 meters. Cottonwoods grow quickly.
Because of the reduction of wetlands in the flood plains of the bosque cottonwood forest are fading. Cottonwoods grow well only when their roots can reach ground water. Only in areas where there is a permanent water supply can the seeds germinate. Cottonwood forests grow along the Rio Grande, Pecos, San Juan and Gila rivers. They grow in New Mexico, Texas, Chihuahua, Sonora, Arizona, Utah and Colorado. Farming and river irrigation projects have cleared away much of the cottonwood forest. Large cottonwood forests remain only along the Rio Grande in central New Mexico. Exotic species of plants and trees caused the elimination of all saltgrass meadow and nearly half of the cottonwoods in the middle Rio Grande during the years 1918 and 1980s. The riparian cottonwood bosque will experience more changes under current human interventions with the river.
The river is no longer free flowing. This has affected the growth of cottonwoods. Cottonwoods germinate on sandbars newly formed by the river. The seeds need a bare, moist, sunny area. When the river flowed freely it produced ideal locations for new cottonwoods to grow. Now, however the population is stunted as seeds can only find shaded areas beneath older trees.
PiÔ on trees provided an important food source for prehistoric Indians. The nut from this tree is still popular today. It is a coniferous tree with a rough dark bark. Each cone produces about 20 nuts. The cones can also be used for kindling.
The ponderosa pine is a big tree that often grows to over 125 feet. It can live to be 300 years old. The leaves on the tree do not start until half way up the tree. This tree has a vanilla smell in its black, rough bark.
There are three types of juniper trees, one-seed juniper, Rocky Mountain juniper, and alligator juniper. This tree can be a shrub or small tree. It has small blue berries. Many one-seed juniper can be found with piñon trees in the lower reaches of the middle Rio Grande watershed. Juniper berries are used by Pueblo people for many purposes. The berries were used for food. Teas were made from the berries for colds, stomachaches, and rheumatism. The wood from the juniper had many purposes including building. The bark was used for matting and even a makeshift baby diaper.
Coyote willow found along the Rio Grande are used for basket weaving. The branches are also used by Pueblo people for prayer sticks. The bark from the willow tree is brewed by Navajos to form a tea that helps sore throats or other pains. The same substance found in the bark is found in aspirin.
Human Life along the Rio Grande
The Rio Grande has many different names and is home to many different cultures. It is called the Rio Bravo del Norte or el Rio del Norte in Mexico. It has been called Rio de las Palmas. Native Americans call it Po’soge.
In 1975, the Cochiti Dam was completed. This project changed the river dramatically. The dam made the water colder and clear. Once muddy and warm, the change in the river has had a negative affect on many species in the water including the silvery minnow.
Bad management of the Rio Grande has granted industry use of the water in unsustainable and wasteful ways. Many of the water laws are combined with old water laws and use first rights as a grant to use water. This means people who have been using the water have rights for continued use. However, pueblos have struggled to enforce their rights as the first people to use the water.
New Mexico does not qualify the protection of stream water as a necessity. Colorado does. It preserves some of the water to be saved for the river. However, this is miniscule compared to other water uses that are considered to be beneficial uses. Beneficial uses are domestic, agricultural, industrial, commercial, or any other purpose defined by the state engineer.
Implementation
This unit will begin by focusing on water and its properties, and rivers. Learning about rivers in general, students will make the connection between the Rio Grande and the people of Albuquerque. Emphasis will be placed on the science of water and rivers and their importance to life. But, throughout the unit, attention will be given to the Rio Grande for its aesthetic and cultural value as well.
This unit will begin with an initial field trip to the Rio Grande. Students will be invited to familiarize themselves with the river and discover the rivers many attributes. Following this field trip, an area around the river will be adopted to focus their studies. This will be a place to gather information.
The Bosque Education Guide provides many activities to help students understand the nature of the Rio Grande and how human intervention has affected the Rio Grande. Instructions are given in this guide to make a model of the river which students can manipulate to show changes in the river. This will be integrated throughout the unit.
As a read aloud title, students will hear The Mother Ditch by Oliver La Farge. This will help students understand the importance of the river to Albuquerque communities and culture throughout history. The book gives an explanations of acequias and their management. Speakers from acequia societies will be invited to present to the class.
Students will have an opportunity to see an acequia and meet people from acequia communities on a field trip. Additional field trips will include a field trip to the public works department, so students can see how water is treated and distributed to residential communities.
Lesson - River Journal
Objective: Students will keep a record of their experiences, thoughts, learnings, and feelings about the Rio Grande and water.
Materials: One notebook provided by students. River Journal Rubric. Writing utensils.
Activity:1. Read selected passages from The Heroic Triad, Mayordomo, The Mother Ditch, or other books related to the Rio Grande.
2. Explain to students that they will use this notebooks to record their thoughts about the Rio Grande and the experiences they have had with the river.
3. Allow students to work in groups to brainstorm a list of types of writings they might include in the notebook. These should include, but are not limited to, observations, personal experiences, lists, notes on experiments, feelings, etc.
4. Have groups share their brainstorming with the whole class. As they are sharing, record their ideas on chart paper with the title "River Journals." Post the chart where all students can see.
5. Allow students to quick write for five to 15 minutes depending on the atmosphere of the group. During the quick write, they may write about an experience they’ve already had on the water or record the brainstorm list as a reference.
6. Have students share their initial entries if they want.
7. Share with students how their journal will be evaluated. Explain to students that they will evaluate their own entries. A peer will evaluate an entry and the teacher will evaluate an entry. Pass out journal evaluation rubrics for students to staple in the front cover of their journal to use as a guide. Explain each category of the journal evaluations. If possible provide examples of entries that meet the criteria or fail the criteria.
8. Provide time at least 3 times a week for students to reflect and write in their journal.Evaluations: The journal is an ongoing work that should be evaluated more than once to allow students to improve. When it is time for evaluation, students will choose their best entry for evaluation. Alternating times, journal entries will be self- evaluated, peer evaluated, and teacher evaluated. The journals will be evaluated on the following criteria:
Heading - Date, Type of Entry 0 - 10 points Creativity and Ideas 0 - 20 points Originality and Voice 0 - 10 points Increased Evidence of Knowledge 0 - 10 points Expression of Attitudes 0 - 10 points Completeness 0 - 10 points Handwriting 0 - 10 points Vocabulary Usage 0 - 10 points Spelling and Grammar 0 - 10 points
