New funding has been announced for a big and ongoing project in New Mexico: seeing the restoration of an ecosystem stretching from the center to southern part of the state.
The funding is coming through the Inflation Reduction Act, which was approved by Congress last summer and allows for the spending of up to $161 million for ecosystem restoration efforts across the West.
By design, the restoration work will be overseen by the Bureau of Land Management. According to a BLM document, the latest work will “build on nearly 20 years of experience restoring the Pecos River Watershed.”
This latest funding comes on top of around $1.3 million for Pecos River work that was earlier secured through the Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act.
The ongoing Pecos River restoration work, according to the BLM, centers on such initiatives as improving water filtration and groundwater recharge, protecting fragile soils, and reducing sediment loads.
“Restoring the landscape will enhance recreation on public lands,” notes the BLM document, “and help fulfill our mission of multiple use and sustained yield.”
Altogether, the $161 million in funding announced by the Department of the Interior will support 21 projects in eleven Western states.
“The pressures on our public lands, from invasive species, unprecedented wildfires, drought, and increasing uses, are being exacerbated by the climate crisis, degrading landscapes and impacting public uses,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement.
“If we are going to ensure America’s public lands are available to everyone, we must invest in their health,” the Secretary continued.
The BLM is overseeing and directly involved with all the 21 restoration projects. Those projects, says the BLM in a document titled BLM’s Restoration Landscapes, comprise an investment in “ecosystem restoration and the economic resilience of communities that depend on these lands to support their livelihoods and traditions.”
By Garry Boulard
