One More Round of New Mexico Field Work

From May 13 through 17, GSS staff members Andy Robertson, John Anderson, and Zack Ansell conducted fieldwork as part of a National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) update, consisting of two watersheds in Estancia and San Juan areas of New Mexico. GSS staff met with professionals from the New Mexico Environment Department and US Fish and Wildlife Service to identify different types of wetlands and examine aerial photo signatures to ensure consistent wetland mapping delineations. The main focus of the trip was to look at as many different wetland signatures in the San Juan and Estancia watersheds to assist staff in correctly matching signatures with water regimes.

The team started off in Grants, New Mexico for day 1 of the trip, reviewing pre-mapping sites in the San Juan Watershed, and headed north to Farmington. From Farmington, the team worked east and south across the study area, making it back to Santa Fe to start on the Estancia watershed. The first day in the Estancia area was spent traveling southwest towards Albuquerque. On Thursday, the team worked south from Santa Fe and headed for Capitan, the home of Smokey the Bear. After spending the night in Capitan, GSS staff worked back to the northwest to Albuquerque.