The
Santa Fe River is a
tributary of the
Rio Grande in northern
New Mexico. It starts in the
Sangre de Cristo mountain range and passes through the state capital,
Santa Fe providing approximately 40% of the city's water supply. It is an
intermittent stream with two perennial reaches.
The river is long. It was first dammed in 1881 and flows when water is released by the city of Santa Fe from two continuous reservoirs. The site of the 1881 dam, upstream of Santa Fe, is now part of the Santa Fe Canyon Preserve, a trailhead for the Dale Ball Foothill Trail System.
The Santa Fe River Watershed is , ranging in elevations between to .
The environmental group
American Rivers designated the Santa Fe River as America's most endangered river of 2007,
Santa Fe River Trail
As of 2007, the Santa Fe River Trail existed in short segments, within Santa Fe (city) and
Santa Fe County, and the city and county developed plans to link those segments. The initial push was to develop the trail from the city downstream; this was the corridor of the historic
El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, which approached Santa Fe from downstream via the Santa Fe River Canyon below the east rim of the
Caja del Rio. The
paraje on the Camino Real before Santa Fe was in
La Cienega, at...
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