The Forgotten River: The Struggle to Revive a Once Bountiful Oasis

Posted: 04-Aug-2003; Updated: 22-Aug-2003

The Forgotten River is a remote stretch of the Rio Grande that runs from Fort Quitman to Amistad Dam. Along the way it winds through vast ranchlands, through farming communities like Presidio where it supplies water for irrigated agriculture, and through rugged, scenic canyons in Big Bend National Park and surrounding areas, where during normal years wildlife habitat and opportunities for recreational rafting abound.

Early accounts of the river describe it as  "wide"  and "copious," with  backwater sloughs replenished by periodic floods. Here once flourished large cottonwood and willow bosques. Thousands of migratory ducks, geese and songbirds thrived in this sliver of green, and game such as deer, turkey, quail, rabbit, as well as large fish, eels and turtles, were plentiful.

But today, for much of its journey, the Forgotten River shows the dramatic effects of upstream diversion and dams. Between Fort Quitman and Presidio, the river has dwindled to a trickle of salty water, bordered by acre upon acre of invasive saltcedar, a nonnative plant that has choked and obliterated the river channel and every year consumes thousands of acre-feet of water. In April 2003, the river dried up through Big Bend National Park's Mariscal Canyon, halting recreational rafting and stranding fish and aquatic species. 

Our team of experts at Environmental Defense is working to build a case for large-scale improvements in this segment of the river, including massive removal of saltcedar, restoration of native vegetation and channel maintenance. The goal is to re-create a river channel capable of transporting flows from the upper to the lower basin, to bring back native vegetation that supports more diverse wildlife species, and to increase flows as water is freed from saltcedar forests.

To this end, we've hosted a series of landowner workshops, met with farmers in Presidio (a joint effort with USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service) to inform them about Farm Bill conservation programs (click here to view our Farm Conservation Toolkit), researched what actions would be necessary for large-scale improvement, and produced newsletters about the Forgotten River and ways to revive this once-majestic stretch of the Rio Grande.

Over the next year, Environmental Defense will continue working with landowners, elected officials and others to build the case and secure funds for restoration of this unique stretch of the Río Grande.

Click here to learn more about the Rio Grande.