Our Rio Grande I-Movie
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Rio Grande Water Rights
The United States and Mexico share the water of the river under a series of agreements administered by the International Boundary and Water Commission,US-Mexico. The most notable of these treaties were signed in 1906 and 1944. The IBWC today also allocates river waters between the two nations, and provides for flood control and water sanitation.
Use of that water belonging to the United States is regulated by the Rio Grande Compact, an interstate pact between Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. The water of the Rio Grande is over-appropriated: that is, there are more users for the water than there is water in the river. Because of both drought and overuse, the section from El Paso downstream through Ojinaga was recently tagged "The Forgotten River" by those wishing to bring attention to the river's deteriorated condition.
Information taken from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_Grande
Use of that water belonging to the United States is regulated by the Rio Grande Compact, an interstate pact between Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. The water of the Rio Grande is over-appropriated: that is, there are more users for the water than there is water in the river. Because of both drought and overuse, the section from El Paso downstream through Ojinaga was recently tagged "The Forgotten River" by those wishing to bring attention to the river's deteriorated condition.
Information taken from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_Grande
Rio Grande ENDANGERED species
Rio Grande silvery minnow (Hybognathus amarus)
Federally listed on July 20, 1994
Description: stout minnow with a maximum length of 3.5 inches. Historically 1 out of 7 most abundant minnows on the Rio Grande and is now the only spawning minnow left. Life span in the wild is ~2-years but few survive past 13 months.
Endangered due to: River regulation (dams, diversions), alteration of natural hydrograph Channelization Introduction of nonnative fishes due to discharge of contaminants into the river
Southwestern willow flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus)
Federally listed on February 27, 1995
Description: Small gray-green bird measuring at most 5.75 inches. It is a neotropical migrant breeding in the southwest and migrates to Mexico down to South America.
Endangered due to: Loss, fragmentation or modification to habitat Urban, recreational and agricultural development, cattle grazing Water diversions, pumping and channelization Parasitization of the brown-headed cowbird
Federally listed on July 20, 1994
Description: stout minnow with a maximum length of 3.5 inches. Historically 1 out of 7 most abundant minnows on the Rio Grande and is now the only spawning minnow left. Life span in the wild is ~2-years but few survive past 13 months.
Endangered due to: River regulation (dams, diversions), alteration of natural hydrograph Channelization Introduction of nonnative fishes due to discharge of contaminants into the river
Southwestern willow flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus)
Federally listed on February 27, 1995
Description: Small gray-green bird measuring at most 5.75 inches. It is a neotropical migrant breeding in the southwest and migrates to Mexico down to South America.
Endangered due to: Loss, fragmentation or modification to habitat Urban, recreational and agricultural development, cattle grazing Water diversions, pumping and channelization Parasitization of the brown-headed cowbird
Northern Leopard Frog
http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/eek/critter/amphibian/leopard.htm
I live near standing water where I can keep my smooth skin wet. I have a fast tongue for catching flying insects. My long legs help me jump away from turtles and birds that want to eat me. My name comes from the spots on my skin. When I was a young tadpole, I used gills to help me breathe underwater but now I have lungs and can live on the shore. I lay my eggs in the water, attached to plants or to the bottom.
Western Chorus Frog
http://www.michigan.gov
I often sit at night on floating plants with my companions. Our voices join in a trilling song. When danger approaches, I quickly disappear underwater. When I was a tadpole, I lived underwater all the time. Then I ate plants, but as an adult I eat insects. My striped body helps me hide from turtles, birds and mammals. Fish eat my young. In the early spring and fall I am active during the day, but when it gets hot in the late spring and summer I come out at night.
New Mexico Whiptail
http://www.reptilesofaz.org/
I move very fast on my four legs. I have stripes and light spots along my back. My tail is bright blue when I am young but changes to gray with a gray-green tip when I am grown. I like dry, open areas where I can sit out in the sun. I also seek shade under big trees and shrubs. I sleep through the cold winter. I eat insects and spiders. Roadrunners and other birds like to eat me. I have only sisters, because there are no males of my kind. My young hatch from eggs.
Garter snake
http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes
I am a reptile without any legs or arms. I have a long yellowish-white stripe down my back. I eat fish, frogs, toads, tadpoles, lizards and worms. I can dislocate my jaw to open my mouth very wide for large prey. I swim well, but usually I slide along the moist ground under plants. Herons, roadrunners and some mammals try to catch me. If I get caught, I can release a stinky material to scare off the predator. My young do not hatch from eggs—they are born live.
Bull snake
http://www.texassnakes.net/bullsnake.htm
I have a long, slender body with brown and black patches. When disturbed, I shake my tail in leaves on the ground and sound like a rattlesnake. But I do not have a rattle and I am not poisonous. I like to eat mice, rats, eggs, lizards and small birds. I am a constrictor. I squeeze my prey, and then I swallow my food whole. I can even eat prey bigger than my head. I hunt all through the bosque and surrounding uplands. My young hatch from eggs during the summer.
Spiny Softshell turtle
http://www.oceanlight.com/spotlight.php?img=09809
My shell can bend, and it is covered with a leathery skin. My arms, legs and body are flat and my toes are webbed, which helps me swim well. I have a long nose which I stick out of the water for air. I eat earthworms, snails, crayfish, insects, fish, frogs, tadpoles, and some aquatic plants. I like to stay in the river in areas with a sandy bottom and strong currents. On sunny days I like to bask on the river bank or on logs. I am very fast on land and in the water.
Silvery Minnow
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_Grande_silvery_minnow
I am a small, silvery animal with fins and scales. I have small eyes. I rarely get longer than 3.5 inches (9 centimeters). I hatched from a floating egg. I eat algae and tiny plant pieces I find floating in the water and on the gooey river bottom. Sometimes I eat old insect skins. I usually travel in large groups called “schools.” I prefer slow-moving waters where the river meanders and braids. I release my eggs when the river flow increases during the early spring to summer.
Rio Grande Bluntnose shiner
http://www.arkive.org/bluntnose-shiner/notropis-simus/
I am a small, shiny animal with fins and scales. My back is pale greenish-brown, and I am about 3 inches (7.5 centimeters) long. I am most known for my flat face, well, it’s really just my nose that’s flat. I eat tiny plants, bugs, and plant pieces. I like to swim in the slow-moving parts of the river where the bottom is sandy and the water is no deeper than a foot (30 centimeters). The Rio Grande and its tributaries are my only home.
Red shiner
www.trekearth.com
Most of the time my fins and scales are a dull color. My 3-inch (7.5-centimeter) body has an olive back, shiny sides and a white belly. However, when I am fertilizing eggs in spring and summer I have a red head and pink sides. Males of my species defend territories where we lay our eggs. I swim in the Rio Grande, where I prefer deeper, slower water. I eat small animals and plants, such as insects, crustaceans and algae.
Shovelnose Sturgeon
http://www.arkive.org/shovelnose
I grow to three feet (1 meter) long with a slender body and have rows of bony plates on my back. My nose looks like a shovel. When I eat I stick my extendible mouth out into the bottom of the river. When I pull my mouth back in, I eat the larva of aquatic insects. I live most of my life in the Gulf of Mexico. I usually swim alone in the large channels of the Rio Grande. When I am an adult, I attend a large family reunion, where all adults return to the place we were born to lay or fertilize our eggs.
information from:
http://www.nmnaturalhistory.org/BEG/bosBAckground_V.html
Images from weebly images