Bog Springs school water project set to move forward in April
A project designed to create a wetland and capture rainwater for irrigation at Ruidoso High School could get underway as early as April, said the founder of the company handling the work.
Nora Midkiff, chairman of the Ruidoso River Restoration Committee, which is charged by the courts with selecting $850,000 worth of projects aimed at improving the quality of water in the Rio Ruidoso, last week introduced Van Clothier to village councilors. Clothier, the founder of Stream Dynamics Inc. based in Silver City, gave the board an overview of the Bogs Springs project, the first approved by the RRRC.
"We are trying to craft a graceful resolution to a difficult water problem," Clothier said. "There has been some squabbling in the past and were looking to move forward with all the partners with minimum pain. The in-kind is an important part of that."
"I do watershed restoration and harvesting, and I know how to fix creeks and to turn erosion problems into water harvesting solutions. My company was awarded a contract two years ago to do an assessment of 28 miles of Ruidoso creeks. I have flown over your town twice and taken 1,000 air photos. Me and my partner, Steve Vrooman, walked Cedar Creek, Gavilan, Rio Ruidoso, all over the place and I have 1,000 (Global Satellite Position) points. We ended up proposing 28 possible projects to the committee."
"We interviewed longtime community members, conducted elevational surveys, analyzed our photos, met with the principal and teachers of the school and the school board, and took people on tours of the property." Clothier said.
"Bog Springs Creek is undercutting Warrior Drive and Warrior Drive will fall into the creek one day, if we don't stop it," Clothier told councilors. "So we propose to move the creek away from the road and create a wetland habitat up there. A little farther down along the creek, we will do grade stabilization of the creek and one of the concepts for this plan is called Entrance Park at the entry to the high school. We were talking to the principal and other administrators and they have an access problem at certain times and they've been wanting to move this road over anyway. This is great because we needed a little more room to do a water feature at the entrance to the school."
