The Galisteo Dam Project

I have not seen much of the Galisteo Dam since our contract ended in the summer of 2010. At that time, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers told the public that the reason the goats were leaving the dam was simply the matter of a lack of funds and not a reflection of our work there. And that the goats would be invited back for more work when the Corps received money for it. Indeed they were happy with what had been accomplished by the goats in just a few years, and we were glad to have learned as much as we all did from them.

When our last contract ended at the Galisteo Dam in July 2010, we already were scheduled to work in Eldorado remediating the communal areas there, namely the greenbelts, as well as working on other out of balance areas for individual residents on their own properties. We stayed very busy that first year in Eldorado and developed a fan base of enthusiastic folk who were uplifted by the goats and the work they did.

We did keep in touch with the Corps as we were and are very interested in that ongoing environmental remediation project. We had thought, as the Corps promised, that we would be contracted to continue on the first two phases of the project and then the third (which has not yet begun). Last year the Corps chose to utilize methods other than using goats. The dam face has been cleared using herbicides again. Chamisa and tamarix in this area have been cut and had chemicals applied. This process cleared the dam face of vegetation, but I have serious reservations about walking through this area, about the rain runoff, as well as proximity to the river below.

We have experienced this method in the past and have experienced bad effects both in ourselves and the reproductive health of our goats. We have offered to work the dam for free at the same time as we contract work in the basin, because we have come to understand this is the best way to remove chamisa from the dam face: to pen the goats on the dam letting them fill their off hours (goats love to browse in the middle of the night) with the chamisa. This balance also serves to improve their appetite for Tamarix, Russian Olive and Cockleburr in the basin, which aids their ability to eat down tall growth of chamisa on the dam. This way both the dam face and the basin are worked simultaneously and the need for herbicide application is removed. But the Corps chose to use other methods.

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