Los Lunas Bosque cleanup leaves river habitat safer, cleaner

Contractors for the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District finished a Bosque cleanup in Los Lunas that left a visibly cleaner stretch of river habitat, with before-and-after photos showing debris removed from the area. In a county where the Bosque doubles as open space, drainage corridor and wildfire buffer, the work mattered well beyond appearance: it made the river edge safer for people who live, work and recreate near the Middle Rio Grande.

The district said the cleanup was part of a broader effort to protect the Bosque while addressing a growing list of hazards, including fires, vandalism, illegal dumping and unlawful camping. In earlier work near the Route 66 overpass in Los Lunas, MRGCD said crews spent almost 300 hours over two weeks clearing the area after an increase in encampments in Valencia County. Eric Zamora, the district’s chief operating officer, said officials had issued about 30 to 35 notices tied to prohibited activity, including overnight camping. “The deeper we go into the Bosque, the more stuff we find,” Zamora said.

The Village of Los Lunas and MRGCD also posted signs at the Los Lunas Bosque Open Space Preserve warning that overnight camping is prohibited. That sign campaign underscores how much pressure the Bosque has taken on as a shared public space. Trash, abandoned camps and other hazards do not just create a nuisance; they can put visitors, maintenance crews and nearby neighborhoods at risk, especially in dry conditions when stray sparks can turn into a fast-moving fire.

The cleanup also connects to the district’s core job in Valencia County and across the valley. MRGCD is responsible for flood protection, groundwater management and delivering irrigation water, so maintaining the river corridor is not just an environmental project. It is part of the infrastructure that helps shape how water moves through the region and how safely the land can be used.

The Bosque itself is especially vulnerable. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service describes the Middle Rio Grande Bosque as a cottonwood-dominated riparian corridor that depends on flowing freshwater and shallow groundwater, and it provides habitat for species including the southwestern willow flycatcher, western yellow-billed cuckoo, Rio Grande silvery minnow and New Mexico meadow jumping mouse. That ecological importance makes each cleanup more than a cosmetic pass through the trees.

Recent fire history has made the stakes even clearer. In June 2025, the Desert Willow Complex fire burned an estimated 237 acres in the Bosque near the Main Street bridge. Another June update said the Cotton and Cotton 2 fires reached an estimated 260 acres and forced evacuations in parts of Los Lunas and Peralta. Against that backdrop, the Los Lunas cleanup looked less like a one-time tidy-up and more like an ongoing public-safety task in a river corridor that Valencia County cannot afford to neglect.