New Mexico

KMZs and other files showing the distribution of wild trout in NM are available from the download system.

New Mexico, the "Land of Enchantment", possesses relatively limited trout habitat. However, wherever the elevation climbs above 6,000 feet, there's a shot at cold water that can support wild trout, and the locations of these high mountain streams can be among the most beautiful in the country. The native fish, Rio Grande Cutts and Gila Trout, have become so adept at surviving in marginal habitat, that many of their streams aren't even classified as "cold water habitat", while "exotics" - rainbows, browns, and even Eastern brook trout, inhabit most coldwater streams.

NM cold water habitat

Source: Google Earth image with data based on print maps provided by NM Environment Department created by the NMED EGIS system

We struggled to find useful data about New Mexico. We're extremely excited about where we ended up, however, as the data we ultimately found is some of the newest and best available.

In the image above, cyan and orange lines mark stream segments designated as high quality cold water fisheries (HQCF) by NMED. The legal definitions are provided in the table below*, but this is the best trout habitat in the state. The cyan streams are further classified as suitable for Fish Culture (FC, i.e. providing water for a hatchery), though only a few actually do so. The blue lines are lower quality coldwater habitat.

Note that cold water habitat within Indian Reservations is NOT coded in this file, so a substantial amount of trout habitat is missing here. In addition, there are some "marginal" cold water streams in the state which we chose not to code. These may hold wild trout (even larger trout than the headwaters streams). Trout will pursue what is known as a "fluvial" life cycle where they live in the main stem river during cooler months, and migrate into the colder headwaters streams if the temps get too high during the summer.

What's truly exciting, is we've managed to pair this database with the latest products from the US EPA's WATERs database. In particular, you'll want to load the 305b Assessed Streams KMZ along with the "Cold Water Streams" KMZ. We've paired them in a single zip archive in the download system.

What you'll see when you load the them both is a thin, brown line for any stream which is assessed in the 305b database. All but 2 or 3 of the coldwater streams are assessed, and many marginal coolwater and coldwater streams also have data. Note in the photo you see an HQCF(FC) stream on the left (cyan), a couple of HQCF streams on the right (orange) and several segments that aren't designated as coldwater streams for whatever reason, but which are in the 305b assessment database (thin brown lines only).

Click on the BROWN line within Google Earth. This can be slightly tricky, as it's only a pixel wide. To make it easier, you may need to click on the 305b Assessed Streams layer in the sidebar to make sure Google Earth knows it's the active layer.

When you successfully click on a 305b stream, a balloon will pop up, with a URL at the top (along with a limited amount of other information). Click on the URL. This will connect you to a webpage containing the 305b assessment report for that specific stream segment, which will appear within the Google Earth UI (See image below).

The 305b report tells you whether the stream is living up to its designation(s). In this case, Bull Creek, the cyan stream, is "impaired" relative to its designation as a HQCF stream. Scan down to the "Causes of Impairment" section, and you'll see that the stream was not meeting the temperature standard for a HQCF in 2008. Now if 2008 was a particularly hot year (it was) this could be a temporary issue. Or it could mean that there is a serious problem on the stream. Either way, you're warned.

In addition to these wonderful datasets, be sure to check out the "native" datasets for Gila Trout and Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout, both of which live in New Mexico. All are available from the download system via the "Download" tab, or the links on the NM Resources menu.

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*New Mexico State-Designated Use Definitions

Color Code	State-Designated Use Code	State-Designated Use	State-Designated Use Description
Orange	HQCF	High Quality Coldwater Fishery	A perennial surface water of the State in a minimally disturbed condition which has considerable aesthetic value and is a superior coldwater fishery habitat. A surface water of the State to be so categorized must have water quality, stream bed characteristics, and other attributes of habitat sufficient to protect and maintain a propagating coldwater fishery.
Cyan	FC	Fish Culture	Production of coldwater or warmwater fishes in a hatchery or rearing station. [Note: All FC streams are also HQCF]
Blue	CF	Coldwater Fishery	A surface water of the State where the water temperature and other characteristics are suitable for the support or propagation or both of coldwater fishes.

Last Updated (Sunday, 01 May 2011 13:45)