The Santa Fe River was named as one of America's Most Endangered Rivers of 2007. Steeped in rich history, the Santa Fe River was once the lifeblood of people and wildlife alike. This video (2min 31sec) features Dave Grenfeld, Director of the Santa Fe Watershed Association.
Yet for the past 20 years, the city's namesake river has not been a river at all for most of the year, but a dry, weed-choked ditch -- blocked by upstream dams. Restoring flows to the Santa Fe River would provide not only a healthy ecosystem, but also a place for residents to rejuvenate, visitors to enjoy and children to play. Local and state officials have set the stage for the river's revival -- now it's up to the city of Santa Fe to put the "river" in river restoration.
"We're trying to restore the health of this river, the Santa Fe River. People started using this water, Europeans started using this water from around 1610 when the city was founded. We're going to have our 400th in a couple of years. Normally this river is dry. It's been dry for the last twenty years or so. Not all the time, but most of the time. The river water is impounded upstream..."
