Planting Trees Along the Rio Grande

The Environmental Science Student Organization (ESSO) at New Mexico State University took part in the annual Spring Tree Planting with the Fish and Wildlife Service along the Rio Grande in late February. The tree planting site was near Hatch NM, so me and three other members from the club carpooled from NMSU to meet up with Michael Dax from Defenders of Wildlife and an employee from the Fish and Wildlife Service. From there we drove to the site, which was close by. We all gathered in a group to listen to the goal for the day, which was to plant groups of coyote willows into trench-like holes. One person would cut the top half of already present coyote willows to be planted further down along the Rio Grande. I had already attended a tree planting a previous year so the use of the bobcat to do the digging wasn’t a surprise to me, but my club members were shocked as they thought we’d be out there with shovels! Once the trenches were dug, the coyote willows were carried in front of the trenches where we all naturally made an assembly line, each one of us carrying trees and passing it to whoever was guiding them to the bottom of the trench. We would only place trees in the first half of the trench and then after burying the first half, we would chop off the top half of the newly buried trees and plant the chopped off tops into the other half. The reason for this method of planting was to promote root growth in the spring and then later in the year, around July, the coyote willows will focus on leaf growth.

The entire experience of this tree planting was a lot of fun and because it was my fellow members’ first time participating, it made it even better. They were all proud and excited to be restoring the riparian habitat for the endangered willow flycatcher and the yellow-billed cuckoo, as well as the overarching utility of having a vast amount of coyote willows along the Rio Grande. A major goal of ESSO is to provide members with useful experience and knowledge regarding environmental and sustainable practices through community service, making tree planting such as these the perfect opportunity to achieve such goals and learn about organizations like Defenders and agencies like the Fish and Wildlife Service!

- Tristan