New Mexico Geological Society Annual Spring Meeting — Abstracts

The Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge in San Antonio, New Mexico, faces increasing challenges due to water scarcity and water-quality concerns, affecting both wildlife and supplemental grain farming. Yet, critical knowledge gaps related to water quality hinder the full addressing of these problems from a management perspective. This project examines concentrations of major and trace elements, as well as nutrient levels, in both surface and groundwater, and assesses how these relate to agricultural practices and wildlife needs.

To understand temporal water quality variations, which can better inform resource management, conductivity data loggers, which track changes in water salinity, were installed where the low flow conveyance channel (LFCC) diverts water into the refuge and also where water is delivered back to the LFCC from the refuge to provide high-resolution insights into seasonal salinity fluctuations. There are seasonal saline increases in the south as the refuge cleans soil units from the previous roosting year in the spring or prepares them for the upcoming winter months for roosting birds in the fall. The northern site shows a more consistent salinity throughout the seasons and is less saline than the southern boundary. In addition to the loggers, water samples were collected from the LFCC, moist soil units, and groundwater wells on the refuge at different times of the year to better understand the major and trace elements, including toxic elements that can affect wildlife, and the composition of the various water sources on the refuge. There are clear seasonal trends in the LFCC during the summer, such as higher arsenic concentrations in the south. The interior ditch shows clear trends influenced by the most soil units in the middle of the Refuge. Ultimately, this research aims to strengthen the long-term sustainability of the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge.