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Southwestern Rivers > Urban
Sprawl
Urban Sprawl: The Latest Threat to Rivers
 The cancer of urban and sub-rural sprawl is one of the latest
major threats to river ecosystems. Across the West, the majority
of population growth is occurring along the waterways that once
were and still are so vital to human existence. This growth is
often unplanned, without adequate controls and often occurs in
areas that are both ecologically sensitive and susceptible to
flooding. Along the Rio Grande in central and southern New
Mexico and elsewhere in the West, sprawling growth is
fragmenting valuable cottonwood/willow forest and limiting
opportunities for ecological restoration of our rivers.
National Flood Insurance
Forest Guardians has focused our efforts to limit and control
this growth by scrutinizing the efforts of the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA), a federal government agency that is
responsible for restricting development in flood prone areas.
Though the FEMA is legally obligated—via the National Flood
Insurance Program—to ensure that local planning and zoning
ordinances prohibit development of flood prone and
environmentally sensitive areas, it is often asleep at the
wheel. Forest Guardians most recent action requires that FEMA
comply with environmental laws to protect the Rio Grande and
other of New Mexico’s major rivers when overseeing floodplain
development.
Settlement - FEMA to prepare and submit a biological assessment (BA) to
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the effect, if any, of NFIP on
species and designated critical habitat through the NM portions of the
Rio Grande and San Juan River.
2/10/2002
Environmental Groups File Suit to Halt Development in Rio Grande and San
Juan River Floodplains
1/22/2001
Environmental groups file suit in federal court in New Mexico claiming
that the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s administration of the
National Flood Insurance Program facilitates development in Rio Grande
and San Juan River floodplains
1/21/2001
For specific questions about our Southwest river protection efforts,
contact John
Horning,
Executive Director.
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