The New Mexico Environment Department, Surface Water Quality Bureau, hosted a meeting in Las Cruces, New Mexico to discuss the development of a Wetlands Action Plan for the Rio Grande watershed downstream of Caballo Dam in southern New Mexico.  The New Mexico Ecological Services Field Office attended the meeting with stakeholders in the area.  The intent is to develop partnerships for the development of the plan and eventually obtain funding to improve the health of the ecosystem, specifically wetland areas including the floodplain, riverine areas and the wetted channel.  The stakeholders were supportive of a plan and will participate.  Present at the meeting included the Southwest Environment Center, World Wildlife Fund, Elephant Butte Irrigation District, Paso del Norte Watershed Council, and agencies such as the Fish and Wildlife Service, International Boundary and Water Commission, Bureau of Reclamation, Natural Resources Conservation Service and New Mexico state agencies such as State Parks, Department of Agriculture and Water Resources Research Institute.

The funding for this program is primarily from the Clean Water Act Section 104(b)(3) that is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency to implement innovative demonstration-type approaches to wetland restoration, wetland monitoring and assessment development.  The Wetlands Action Plan evaluates the watershed issues and identifies wetland resources, and identifies measures to protect, restore and create new wetlands.