The Dam Truth

Cochiti Dam is a mysterious and isolated place on a cool Sunday afternoon in October.

Robin, Marie, and I stopped at the Cochiti Dam Visitor Center to begin our 2^nd field experience thinking that we would be able to learn information about the history, the purpose, and the mechanics of the dam. The Visitor Center (VC) is staffed by the Army Corps of Engineers (ACE), the builders of the dam. The informational signs in the VC told us everything that we were supposed to know, apparently. The man who staffed the VC on Sunday told us that the dam was established for flood control and that once it was built, the local people clamored for it to be open for recreation.

We tried to find out more about the ACE, what it is, and why they built the dam. We also asked if there had been a small lake in that area prior to the dam that was used by Cochiti pueblo, and were told that the reservoir is the lake. The “I give up” question was our inquiry about how the control tower regulated the flow of water into the Rio Grande, and we were eyed suspiciously, asked why we wanted to know this, and told that it was a matter of National Security and he couldn’t tell us. A more congenial ACE employee outside the VC willingly answered our question on water regulation into the Rio Grande, by basically describing a hydraulic system with three gates that is data driven and computer monitored.

As far as access to the lake a.k.a. reservoir a.k.a dam--there isn't much. There is the boat launch site, a concrete "beach," a picnic area and a campground up on the rocks above the lake, and the road that one could take to drive on across the dam has been off-limits to the public since 9/11. There also are a couple of meager and short hiking trails.

Facts about Cochiti from various internet sites:

•The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District begins at Cochiti Dam and ends at Elephant Butte. Cochiti is the 23^rd largest dam in the world by volume of material. (Information in the VC stated that the dam is 5.3 miles long and is one of the 10 largest dams in the world) •Various websites stated that the dam is one of the ten largest earthen dams in the United States, and is the 11^th largest earthen dam in the world.

Other facts about Cochiti from the Internet:

•Sediment management and recreation were also reasons why the dam was built. According to a copy of a U.S. Public Law enacted on March 26, 1964, an additional use for the project was for fish and wildlife conservation and for recreation. •Construction of Cochiti Dam was opposed by the Cochiti Pueblo because of loss of agricultural land. The pueblo filed a lawsuit in 2001 and won, the outcome was to deem that the ACE apologize to the Pueblo, which they did, and require ACE to protect Cochiti’s natural and cultural assets.

•The dam changed the channel of the Rio Grande above Bernalillo from a braided channel with sand bars to a straight, incised channel.

•There are multiple points between Cochiti and Elephant Butte where the water flow and volume are measured, and this data determines how the outflow is regulated at Cochiti.

This photo and its caption is the Army Corps of Engineers acknowledgement of the Cochiti Pueblo's inhabitation and agricultural use of the land prior to 1964.

We did not see wildlife of any type. At the boat dock, there were several groups launching boats, as well as a rendevous of a few old guys on motorcycles.

The spillway and the "secret" gates that regulate the water flow into the Rio Grande with the earthen dam in the background.

•Who is the ACE? One of the missions of the ACE is to provide vital public engineering services in peace and war. There is a division called the “Institute for Water Resources” that deals with flood control, levees, deepwater ports and harbor maintenance, inland waterways, and regional sediment management. The ACE manages one of the largest federal environmental missions in the U.S., and is charged with ecosystem restoration, constructing sustainable facilities, regulating waterways and managing natural resources, and cleaning up contaminated sites from past military activities. The ACE is a federal agency and is a branch of the U.S. Army; most of its employees are civilians.

The view of the Sandias from the Rio Grande at San Felipe Pueblo. The river was running quite fast--much different from the dried up riverbed that we have in Albuquerque at Central Ave. We would have spent more time here, but there was a guy with a rifle shooting at something, and we felt it best to scurry back to Albuquerque.