The Adopt-A-Spring program was started in 2001, as part of the Burro Mountains Citizen Initiative. This UGWA effort focused on the 161,400 acres of the Big Burro Mountains, located between Silver City and the Gila River, which make up the southern-most extension of the massive Gila National Forest. The majority of the Burros drain into the Gila River upstream of the state line.

Scattered throughout the Burros lie more than thirty springs – a critical resource for wildlife migrating through the area. Located in a landscape where water is a scarce resource, these springs sustain pockets of  green riparian vegetation and a host of wildlife that depend on these wetlands – including birds, butterflies, a decreasing population of mule deer as well as other desert mammals, and populations of invertebrates.

The AAS program mobilizes a constituency of citizens who use and care about the long-term ecological health of the Burros. Volunteers make quarterly visits to their “adopted” spring and collect simple data using pre-established protocols. The aim is that critical wetlands in the Burros be protected, rehabilitated as necessary and possible, and monitored.

Program Accomplishments

UGWA hosts successful riparian restoration project in the Burros. More than twenty volunteers joined representatives from UGWA, New Mexico Wilderness Alliance and Sky Island Alliance to rehabilitate one of UGWA’s adopted springs – the Gold Gulch riparian area in the Gila National Forest located west of Hwy 90 during the weekend of April 7-9, 2006. This “Tres Alianzas” collaborative project was led by Van Clothier, owner of Stream Dynamics. The work included the installation of new fence to exclude cows and motorized vehicles, and streambed structures such as “one-rock dams”, weirs and baffles to encourage meandering and reduce erosion.