Trout Unlimited volunteers Dan Muenzberg and David Howard scoop up invertebrates Tuesday from the Pecos River. Muenzberg and Howard joined leaders from River Source and Pecos High School students as they studied invertebrates, water quality and river habitat health.
Pecos High School juniors and Trout Unlimited volunteers identify invertebrates captured from the bottom of the Pecos River near its intersection with Glorieta Creek as part of an outdoor watershed program.
Pecos students wearing waders and carrying nets walk toward a bus after conducting research at two sites on the Pecos River, including measuring water quality indicators, identifying invertebrates and surveying the riparian habitat.
Pecos students on Tuesday visited Pecos National Historical Park, where they conducted research, including water quality sampling and riparian habitat evaluations.
Trout Unlimited volunteers Dan Muenzberg and David Howard scoop up invertebrates Tuesday from the Pecos River. Muenzberg and Howard joined leaders from River Source and Pecos High School students as they studied invertebrates, water quality and river habitat health.
Courtesy photo River Source
Pecos High School juniors and Trout Unlimited volunteers identify invertebrates captured from the bottom of the Pecos River near its intersection with Glorieta Creek as part of an outdoor watershed program.
Courtesy of River Source
Pecos students peer at invertebrates pulled from the river.
Courtesy of River Source
Pecos students wearing waders and carrying nets walk toward a bus after conducting research at two sites on the Pecos River, including measuring water quality indicators, identifying invertebrates and surveying the riparian habitat.
Courtesy of River Source
Pecos students on Tuesday visited Pecos National Historical Park, where they conducted research, including water quality sampling and riparian habitat evaluations.
PECOS — The reaction was instantaneous. The clear water sample thickened and turned yellowish brown. The solids weren’t present for long: Another solution was added and, as a student shook the bottle, the liquid turned a transparent amber.
Slowly but surely, another student dripped liquid from a pipette into the sample, occasionally shaking the bottle as the color faded back to clear.
The Pecos High School students were on their second field trip Tuesday as part of a state-funded project to both test stream water and immerse kids in nature, building their interest in conservation.
The program is part of the juniors’ environmental science course. The Upper Pecos Watershed Association had received a $14,900 grant from the New Mexico Outdoor Recreation Division’s Outdoor Equity Fund in 2023 and contracted watershed resilience nonprofit River Source to plan the educational trips.
Youth in the program visited the same sites on both trips and will create a presentation comparing their data.
Tuesday, the goal was to measure the oxygen content in the water near the intersection of the Pecos River and Glorieta Creek.
“We want it to be above six, because if it’s above six parts per million of dissolved oxygen in the river, trout can survive,” said River Source founder Rich Schrader.
The sample passed the test.
Students also tested pH (a measure of acidity), water clarity and the presence of elements like phosphorous.
River Source and watershed association members said projects like these are critical to get kids interested in protecting the local environment.
Frank “Pancho” Adelo, the association’s president, said volunteers with the organization wouldn’t have the time or capacity to collect such data. Board members serve on a volunteer basis.
He also noted some kids in the community might only see the outdoors from the back of an ATV.
He said he hopes the program’s participants will be “future board members” of the association.
Connection to the land
Tuesday’s group seemed promising for that. High school junior Jesus Horta was “panicking” to get his application in for a summer internship with River Source, due the same day as the field trip.
Past students have also returned to work on the river.
Water is Anna Archuleta’s passion.
Archuleta, a Pecos High School graduate and River Source watershed educator, is currently studying water conservation at Santa Fe Community College.
She likes to help students build their connection to the land. Born and raised in Pecos, Archuleta would like to see more young people stay in the area.
“Our families have been here since the 1500s, so we know that they had a really close connection to this land,” Archuleta said. “In New Mexico, we have a growing problem of a lot of people leaving because there’s no money. There’s money in the cities, but they’re losing a connection to their culture. They’re losing a connection to their land.”
Kianna Quintana, 22, is another Pecos alum. She’s now working as an intern with River Source and interested in studying biology.
Quintana was tapped to manage the invertebrates station.
“I did want to be a wildlife biologist, but now I don’t know,” Quintana said. “I like working with the water.”
In the field
A group of juniors donned waders and slogged into the river. The site, located in Pecos National Historical Park, was the second location students had visited that day.
Dan Muenzberg, a member of the Trout Unlimited Truchas Chapter, said he learned to fly fish in the same area. Muenzberg joined the Tuesday outing as a volunteer.
He recalls the Terrero mine spill in the 1990s, which killed “just about everything” downstream.
How things have changed. Within a few minutes of entering the water, the group had captured dozens of invertebrates, which wriggled and fought in plastic tubs.
“Look at all this life!” he exclaimed. “Just teeming there.”
But fears of future contamination still hung over the outing.
Danielle Seaboy, an assistant principal with the Pecos district, remembers her grandparents talking about the mining spills in the 1990s. Now, some students haven’t even heard about the area’s mining legacy, Seaboy said, although they fish in and spend time around the Pecos River.
“Our kids have to learn about our water system,” Seaboy said. “It’s a huge part of our community. That’s our watershed, where we get our water, and having a good, healthy river really helps us. ... this is their backyard.”
