After the 2012 Flood at Government Spring

The Rio Bonito experienced a large flood in 2012

At 8:00 pm on July 9, 2012, the Rio Bonito experienced a flash flood at the HQ building, raising the water level by 4-5 feet. The muddy ash turned the Rio black.
Looking South, Government Spring is just off the left side of this picture. The riparian area just to the north of Highway 380 caught much of the mud "slurry" from the flood.
The plywood weir was covered by a foot of the black mud from the Rio flood, completely stopping the Government Spring flow.
The top of the 2x8 used as a bridge over the spring pool was buried under an inch or more of mud. The scale now extends under about a foot of mud.
On New Year's eve, 2012, Lee and Sylvie took this picture of the spring area showing some of the work in progress to install a new weir.
"If it were only a bit larger, you could ice skate on the Spring" reported Lee.
 
March 2016 Government Spring Repair
After the Little Bear Fire and flooding events along the Rio Bonito, Michael McGee (BLM Roswell Hydrologist) began making plans to replace the washed out plywood weir placed by the FSCSP in 2008. Several designs were considered, but plans changed as the increasing rains continued to flood the Government Spring site and we realized that the spring pool needed better protection from the Rio Bonito in flood conditions. A proper stainless steel "V" notch weir plate was obtained and the site was carefully monitored during various flood events. Far upstream in Ruidoso, Bonito Lake was also significantly silted to the point that it was no longer useful for flood control and would take several years to dredge out the extra silt. In the meantime, Government Spring was carefully "dug out" and the narrow spring vents began to flow again. But several times during our visits to the spring we observed the muddy Rio Bonito overflowing the shallow bank between the spring and the Rio. These photos from Michael McGee show the progress on the rebuilding next to Highway 380 during March, 2016. The highway is hidden by the willows in this riparian area.  

Large rocks were used to rebuild the Rio Bonito bank by the spring. Then sand and crushed fines were added with plywood, and later HDPE plastic on one side of the spring pool. The original plan to use a large stainless steel "V" notch was changed to a flume type weir, which better fit the spring pool geometry.
The new bank protecting the spring was planted with willow "poles" and grass.
  
There is still work to do in protecting the spring, including more dirt & rock work near the spring pool and at the bend in the Rio Bonito.
   
 

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