Plum creek is a primary tributary to the Chatfield Reservoir, a major source of water for Denver, Colorado. Urban development and increased stormwater runoff disrupted the creek’s sediment dynamic, causing streambed degradation and loss of wetlands. This project restored Plum Creek and its riparian habitat to increase water supply and protect native species. 

Tomorrow’s Water led by Playa Lakes Joint Venture (PLJV) is an organization working to ensure water availability under immediate and future drought conditions in the Ogallala Aquifer region. PLJV restores playas to enhance water availability and quality, helps communities increase irrigation efficiency, and empowers communities to establish water management plans. 

The Heritage Reach is a portion of the Santa Cruz River that runs through a highly urbanized portion of Tuscon, Arizona. This area used to support a variety of wildlife but has severely degraded from urban development. In 2019, Tuscon Water began releasing treated effluent into the Reach to restore river flows. 

Led by USACE, the Bosque Wildfire Project was initiated to restore bosque habitat and wetland function around Albuquerque, New Mexico. Key features of restoration included constructing wetlands and swales to support moisture-seeking plants and animals, creating high-flow channels and bank terracing to enhance hydraulic connectivity within the bosque, and revegetating with native plants.

The United States Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission (USIBWC) partnered with the USFWS and the Elephant Butte Irrigation District (EBID) to restore over 550 acres of riparian habitat of the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico and West Texas, and acquire water rights for irrigation. 

The Nature Conservancy led the restoration of abandoned agricultural fields on the Cobra Ranch property in Klondyke, Arizona. The initial goal was to establish native grass ground cover. The project has since expanded to include multiple ecosystem improvement objectives, such as increasing water infiltration and aquifer recharge, and promoting sustainable farming and grazing practices.

To recharge water into the groundwater basin, the Stockton East Water District (SEWD) led the Farmington Groundwater Recharge Program (Farmington Program), which replenishes groundwater through excavated fields called spreading basins. These basins capture stormwater and enhance precipitation infiltration into the aquifer.

USIBWC and the USFWS collaborated on habitat improvements for fish and wildlife on the Rio Grande Canalization Project (RGCP). USIBWC implement habitat restoration at 22 sites covering 509 acres to reduce saltcedar and increase native riparian vegetation. Restoration also included mitigating channel maintenance activities that impacted vegetated islands.

Drought, grazing, and monoculture have led to low infiltration and high erosion in New Mexico during the monsoon season. With funding from the New Mexico Healthy Soils Program, the owners of C-B Ranch and Esquibel Ranch are restoring infiltration and vegetation using keyline design techniques, such as swales and rip lines.

A rancher-led conservation organization in southeastern Arizona is aiming to halt excessive erosion in the Altar Wash. In 2012, they initiated the Elkhorn/Las Delicias Watershed Restoration Demonstration Project (Elk/LD Demo Project), a 13,000-acre project using road rehabilitation, upland restoration, and natural channel design to recreate conditions where natural erosion and deposition processes could resume.

Multiple organizations are working with public and private landowners to restore the riparian woodlands and enhance grassland habitats throughout the Terlingua Creek watershed. The project involved revegetating riparian plants (specifically Fremont cottonwood and Goodding’s willow), increasing sediment retention and riparian aquifer recharge, and establishing nurseries to generate sustainable native plant material for harvest.

The Dixon Water Foundation utilizes rotational grazing regimes to rehabilitate grasslands at Mimms Ranch in the Chihuahuan Desert, which was previously degraded by overgrazing. Rotational grazing mimics historical bison movements, allowing pastures long periods of rest and recovery after short disturbances. This promotes soil health and reduces runoff and erosion.

The Dixon Water Foundation employs grazing techniques that mimic historical bison movements to rehabilitate the Chihuahuan Desert grassland from the impacts of overgrazing, which have led to increased erosion, runoff, reduced aquifer recharge, and carbon sequestration. Such rotationally grazed practices improve soil health as cattle fertilize soil with manure and break up surface to allow seeding and water infiltration.

Massachusetts government initiated the Permeable Paving Materials and Bioretention in the Silver Lake Beach Parking Lot, aiming to reduce runoff volume, improve water quality, and enhance groundwater recharge. The project incorporated permeable paving materials, bioretention cells, and two ten-foot-wide vegetated water quality swales.

Beginning in 2004, the National Park Service began experimenting with mulch, branch mulch, rock mulch, and various planting techniques in highly degraded and eroded soils in Big Bend National Park (BIBE) in the Chihuahuan Desert grasslands of western Texas. The goal was to restore the banded vegetation to naturally direct rainfall and runoff, assist water infiltration, and reduce erosion.

In the 1980s, the City of Tuscon implemented a “storage and recovery” (S&R) strategy to reduce its unsustainable reliance on groundwater. They treated groundwater, stored it in the aquifer, and reuse the treated water for non-portable water needs instead of pumping fresh groundwater. The Sweetwater Recharge Facilities features 40 acres of recharge basins and 22 acres of constructed wetlands.