On July 3, 1998, the Rio Grande received its designation by the White House as an American Heritage River. Of the 150 rivers nominated, the Rio Grande shares the honor of being one of only fourteen selected. The office of the First Lady selected the Rio Grande Riverpark as a Community Millennium Trail on June 3, 2000.
The Rio Grande encountered by the early Spanish explorers in the El Paso del Norte region was very different than it is today. Meandering over a wide floodplain, the river teemed with more than 20 species of native fish, includingsuch big river species as sturgeon, gars and eels. The cottonwood bosque, meadows and wetlands that lined the river's banks, were alive with an immense variety of birds and animals, including the majestic jaguar.
The river flowed year-round in most years. Even during droughts, enough water remained in ponds and wetlands to allow aquatic life to survive until the river's life-giving flows returned.
Snowmelt in the upper basin brought spring floods in most years. Flooding was key to the river's productivity. By depositing nutrient-rich sediment, cleaning out vegetation and carving new channels, these floods helped sustain the great variety of riverine habitats and created conditions needed by young cottonwoods and willows to get established.
Everything changed over the past century. The construction of dams, first Elephant Butte in 1916, then Caballo in 1938 put an end to the annual floods that sustained the river's communities of plants and animals. By straightening the river and turning off its flows every winter, we made it impossible for two-thirds of the native fish species to survive. The practice of cutting down all of the trees along the river in the name of flood protection eliminated most of the original bosque and wildlife. Today, we have a utilitarian waterway shorn of extraneous qualities like trees, beauty and ecological integrity.