Embedded Files
2023 Tijeras Creek Watershed Restoration Project
With funding provided by NMED through the River Stewards Grant Program and from the NM Soil and Water Conservation Commission through a Special Legislative Appropriation, Bernalillo County and Ciudad Soil and Water Conservation District initiated a project in 2023 to restore degraded stream and flood plain conditions on 12 acres of County property surrounding Tijeras Creek adjacent to Los Vecinos Community Center and A Montoya Elementary School. Restoration consultants Bohannon-Huston, Inc. and Rio Grande Return designed and installed engineered natural systems solutions to stabilize the stream bed and reconnect it with the floodplain, re-routing Tijeras Creek into its original channel (disrupted prior decades by a holding pond rupture in a tributary arroyo).
On July 12, 2025, with the project ~90% complete and awaiting replanting of native vegetation, an unprecedented rain event in the Tijeras Creek Watershed occurred, causing massive flooding that resulted in significant damage to the partially-complete Tijeras Creek Watershed Restoration Project south of Los Vecinos Community Center. The Sandia Collaborative was represented by Mike Madden and Steve Glass during a July 29, 2025 TCWRP project site tour by the Tijeras Creek Watershed Collaborative. Additionally, a volunteer work day was organized at the project site on August 2, 2025 by Ciudad SOil & Water Conservation District in coordination with property owner Bernalillo County. Importantly, embedded root wad erosion control structures functioned as intended, mitigating flood damage to a certain extent. Efforts are underway to locate additional funding to begin repairs to the project. A group of engineers from local firms visited the project site on August 2, 2025 for a briefing by Bernalillo County staff; read a recap and watch a video produced by Alfredo Rodriguez (CDM Smith) on LinkedIn. To view photos and videos of the flood event, click here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1fBbVNhXCBfefBI1QlW8l6HD-LNVJ6mdg?usp=sharing
2022 Tijeras Creek Cultural Corridor Project
The Albuquerque Open Space Division has worked with TCWC to draft a plan for the Tijeras Creek Cultural Corridor trail. As part of the project, a virtual story map has been created, with which one can learn about the importance of Tijeras Creek, both from a natural resources perspective and from a cultural perspective.
2020 Upper Tijeras Creek Watershed Based Plan
The focus of the Upper Tijeras Watershed Based Plan is to identify restoration projects that will help to improve water quality and to ensure the watershed is resilient to forest fire and post-fire flooding that contributes to water quality degradation. Restoration projects include forest thinning to mitigate catastrophic fire impacts, erosion control to mitigate upper watershed stormwater impacts, green infrastructure to mitigate urban runoff, control of erosion from road drainage, restoration of steam channels, streambanks, and riparian areas, invasive species treatment, and mitigation of impacts from septic tanks and pet waste. Click here for a fact sheet and click here for the complete Plan.
2018 Cedro Creek Hydrological Improvement Project (RMYC)
Rocky Mountain Youth Corps, WildEarth Guardians, the Cibola National Forest, Bernalillo County, Albuquerque Wildlife Federation, Timberline Environmental LLC, and the Tijeras Creek Watershed Collaborative have been awarded a grant from the Rio Grande Water Fund to restore hydrologic function within the Cedro Creek watershed. Cedro Creek is a tributary of Tijeras Creek, and this project will design and implement on-the ground activities to improve watershed hydrology and extend the duration of base flows by slowing the flow, improving infiltration, capturing sediment, increasing riparian vegetation, and reconnecting the floodplain along incised stream reaches.
Much of the watershed is characterized by a highly eroded and largely incised channel in what was likely a historic gently sloping valley swale that slowly conveyed surface waters as sheet flow across a broad floodplain. The resulting gully formation has effectively drained this area of slowly saturating waters, thus trapping surface flows in a narrow channel devoid of an active floodplain. This has dramatically increased velocities and erosional capacity, simultaneously reducing infiltration and runoff storage capacity.
WildEarth Guardians and Timberline Environmental staff bring years of experience and technical expertise in completing stream and wetland restoration projects. RMYC will employ approximately 16 full-time crew members, ages 18-25, during project activities and will provide robust workforce development training for those entering natural resource careers.
2017 UNM CRP Student Capstone Studio Project
The 2016-2017 Student Capstone Studio Project is intended to assist with the work of the Tijeras Creek Watershed Collaborative (TCWC). The TCWC brings together people from government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and east mountain communities to restore and preserve ecological and cultural resources within the Tijeras Creek watershed. The initial work of the group has been to establish a structure for the collaborative, agree on project priorities and to build a timeline and process for achieving these goals. Three graduate students in the UNM Community and Regional Planning Department completed a study of the Tijeras Creek watershed and presented their findings in a public meeting.
2017 TTYL Baseline Ecological Monitoring ProjectBaseline ecological monitoring took place at the Tijeras Creek restoration site during summer, 2017. The monitoring was collaboratively designed by staff from Arid Land Innovation, The Nature Conservancy, Ecotone Landscape Planning, and Adaptive Terrain Systems. The monitoring was conducted by students and staff from Talking Talons Youth Leadership (TTYL) with support from the organizations that designed the monitoring approach. The ecological monitoring was designed based on the goals outlined by the Tijeras Creek Watershed Collaborative group (TCWC) for the restoration work at Tijeras Creek, including reduced invasive vegetation cover, increased native plant cover, and improved hydrologic function. The primary goal of the 2017 monitoring campaign was to document baseline conditions across the 12-acre project area owned by Bernalillo County. To read the final report of the monitoring project click here.
2016 UNM Preservation Technologies and Adaptive Reuse Project
Francisco Uviña Contreras, Interim Director, Historic Preservation and Regionalism Graduate Certificate
Students: Thelma Antonio, Matthew Cooper, Numair Latif, Cameron Sapien
The UNM School of Architecture and Planning course, Preservation Technologies and Adaptive Reuse, discusses the theory and applications of preservation technology, along with the practices commonly used in the management and rehabilitation of historic buildings, structures and landscapes. The course integrates the scientific, aesthetic, managerial and legal dimensions of preservation. Case studies illustrate key issues in historic preservation and adaptive re-use, and highlight the wide array of participants and stakeholders involved in this process. During the semester students develop rehabilitation or adaptive reuse projects of existing historic buildings and/or cultural landscapes, and apply course lectures, readings and discussions learned throughout the course.
One of several projects for the Spring 2016 semester was the "Canoa" belonging to the Acequia Madre de San Antonio in the Cañon de Tijeras. Students had the task of researching and developing solutions for the rehabilitation of the historic wood aqueduct, which had been replaced by a large PVC pipe. The pipe is currently clogged and prevents any water runoff to be captured and put to use. Recuperating the canoa is essential to the interpretation of the cultural landscape and vital to the function of the acequia and its community. To view the final project presentation board, click here.
(Photo credit: Canales de riego de Marchena)
2002-Present Tijeras Creek Remediation ProjectIn the canyon east of Albuquerque, along Tijeras Creek, are reaches where storm water causes problems such as increased flooding, pollution, and erosion. The Tijeras Creek Remediation Project is designed to treat one of those areas to reduce the impacts of urbanization on the riparian (streamside) environment and on the creek itself. The site, near the A. Montoya-Roosevelt Middle School campus, will serve as an example of the methods (called "Best management Practices", or BMPs) used to solve these problems. Beginning in 2002, with partial funding from USEPA and the NM Soil and Water Conservation Commission, example low-cost, low-tech BMPs have been installed and improved by Adaptive Terrain Systems in collaboration with Bernalillo County and Ciudad Soil and Water Conservation District. The project could have widespread impact, as many streams in New Mexico flow through increasingly populated urban areas. The project implements portions of the 2021 Upper Tijeras Creek Watershed Basesd Plan. Be sure to like us on Facebook!
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