Agricultural History

The Rio Grande valley is often called the heart of central New Mexico. Historic human settlements in Valencia County, like present day ones, were concentrated mainly along the Rio Grande. Today six pueblos are situated on or near the river within the Middle Rio Grande Basin. Agriculture has been supported along this river for centuries with transported sediments periodically overflowing the banks to enrich the valley floors. Puebloan cultures developed their crops in tandem with a river that shifted constantly in volume and in location. Later, Spanish settlers developed a network of irrigation ditches with about 22 acequias irrigating 25,000 acres in the 1600s, 61 acequias irrigating 73,500 acres in the 1700s, and 81 acequias irrigating over 123,000 acres by 1880. (Bauer et al., 2003).

Beginning in the 1920’s, the river system was capable of supporting about 40,000 acres of cultivated land due to its physical characteristics and human influence. Local groups from community and institutional settings combined efforts to restore the river and agricultural lands. In 2005, Valencia County alone had 23,390 acres of land dedicated to agriculture.
The whole of Valencia County is included in the Middle Rio Grande Basin water planning area and defines the southern boundary of the planning area. The Middle Rio Grande Basin water planning area covers about 3,060 square miles and includes three subregions: the Rio Puerco watershed, the Middle Rio Grande Valley, and the Rio Jemez watershed. The Middle Rio Grande Basin water planning area was identified as a “critical basin” in 1995 by the Office of the State Engineer, defined as a groundwater basin experiencing “rapid population and economic growth for which there is less than adequate technical information about the water supply.” (Scurlock, 1998)

The Valencia County Comprehensive Land Use Plan, described in Section 4.3 of this document, calls for preservation of agricultural land where possible to retain the cultural and agricultural heritage of the area. If urbanizing trends seen in Bernalillo County are replicated in Valencia County, the land use priorities are expected to evolve significantly over the period of this Master Plan. Presently, Valencia County protects 8,724 acres of open space. The Rio Grande itself and associated bosque riparian systems comprise another 10,017 acres of land.

Continued Growth

References

Bauer, P.W., Condie, C.J., Lozinsky, R.P. and Price, L.G., 2003. Albuquerque A Guide to its Geology and Culture. New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, Socorro, NM.

Scurlock, Dan, 1998. From the Rio to the Sierra: An environmental history of the Middle Rio Grande Basin. General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-5. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.