New Mexico Geological Society Annual Spring Meeting — Abstracts

The Rio Puerco [of the east] drains over 7,000 square miles in northwest central New Mexico, roughly one quarter of the Rio Grande watershed in New Mexico above Elephant Butte Reservoir. One oft-quoted estimate indicates that the Rio Puerco contributes five percent of the water and over fifty percent of the sediment reaching the reservoir. Management issues affecting the drainage include ground cover, erosion, sediment yield, water quality, impact of grazing, past mining, road building, and endangered species.

Two databases concerning scientific studies and human interest in the Rio Puerco were constructed and are being updated to provide government agencies and others with a broad range of information about the drainage basin. The Rio Puerco Database is an annotated bibliography and unpublished data-source list constructed in dBASE-compatible Paradox software. Data fields include authors or unpublished owners of data, dates, titles, publishers or data sources, locations where information is housed, keywords, abstracts, and data descriptions. The database was assembled using other databases, library research, consultation with individuals and agencies interested in the Rio Puerco, and scouring of agency offices and files for published and unpublished information on the Rio Puerco. The database contains over a thousand entries that can be selectively sorted by using any of more than 400 keywords. The keywords are arranged in a hierarchy under six major headings: geology, hydrology, human impact, ecology, climate, and geographical names. Under these categories, the keywords proceed from general to specific and may be used individually or in combination, allowing the user to focus on the level of detail desired.

The Human Resource Catalog is also a dBASE-compatible Paradox database listing people interested in the Rio Puerco, their addresses, phone and fax numbers. When respondents listed their interests, these are included in the listing.

The databases are available by contacting Chris Gorbach at the Bureau of Reclamation. Updates with expanded information will be available periodically. A user's manual is also available so that those workers with access to dBASE, but unfamiliar with the software, may use the databases.