Vermejo park ranch intends to apply any awarded fish passage money to remedy the last five significant fish passage issues remaining in the upper costilla watershed

This $303,200 Project Grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the National Fish Passage Program (CFDA 15.685) will enable Vermejo Park LLC to address the last remaining fish passage barriers in the Upper Costilla Watershed in New Mexico. The key activities include: 1) Removing an obsolete fish migration barrier, 2) Replacing four undersized and perched culverts with modern structures such as open-bottom box culverts and a natural-bottom squash pipe, and 3) Restoring the impacted stream reaches to natural gradients and structures. This will allow native Rio Grande cutthroat trout, chub, and sucker to freely navigate the watershed, enabling a healthier, more connected aquatic ecosystem. The project will culminate the long-running Costilla Native Fish Restoration effort, which has increased the distribution of Rio Grande cutthroat trout by 12% and reclaimed 2% of their historic range over the past 25 years. The award is expected to be completed by June 11, 2029.

The effort will remove one obsolete purpose-built fish migration barrier and renovate four stream road crossings where undersized and perched culverts currently impede the movements of native fishes.costilla creek is a headwater tributary to the middle basin of the RIO grande river. In 2002, a collaborative effort began to restore native fishes to the watershed, involving multiple state and federal agencies and vermejo park ranch. The costilla creek native fish restoration project straddles private land and the carson national forest and is among the largest native fish restoration projects ever completed in U.S. History. By 2023, RIO grande cutthroat trout have been restored to approximately 120 miles of stream, 15 alpine lakes, and a 300-acre reservoir. The 28,417-acre watershed above the costilla reservoir exists entirely on vermejo park ranch and includes approximately 50 inhabited miles of stream, 8 alpine lakes, and the costilla reservoir. RIO grande chub and RIO grande sucker are also being restored to appropriate habitats within the project area. In total, this project has increased the current distribution of RIO grande cutthroat by 12% and reclaimed 2% of their total historic distribution since beginning nearly 25 years ago. The vision of the costilla native fish project has always been to establish the largest metapopulation of RIO grande cutthroat within its historic range, and this project will culminate in realizing that vision by addressing and removing every remaining fish passage barrier within the project area of the RIO costilla watershed. On vermejo, five key actions on the main stem costilla and casias creeks will include dismantling a moldering fish migration barrier and replacing four inadequate culverts with modern structures, including three open-bottom box culverts and one natural-bottom squash pipe. Specifically, the objectives will be (1), the removal of all previously identified barriers. (2), the installation of new structures which are designed for the free movement of the target fishes, and (3) the restoration of the impacted stream reaches to resemble the gradient and stream structure naturally occurring in the adjacent, natural stream reaches. These improvements will allow native fish of all life stages to navigate the streams seamlessly, enabling true metapopulation function with diverse fluvial and adfluvial life histories throughout the healthier, more connected aquatic ecosystem. By removing the last remaining barriers, this project will ensure that native RIO grande fish communities can thrive, maintaining ecological integrity for generations to come.