The City plans to invest $15,300,000.00 of City funds to improve and develop Tingley Beach and San Gabriel Park for the Rio Grande Biological Park. The City cannot, however, risk the investment of public funds to improve property it may not own. Until the cloud on the City’s title to the property has been removed, the City cannot improve Tingley Beach and San Gabriel Park and complete the Rio Grande Biological Park.

Because of their location and characteristics, Tingley Beach and San Gabriel Park are unique properties for the development of the Rio Grande Biological Park. Monetary damages or the purchase of other property will not permit the City to develop the unique, high quality park that it can develop by improving Tingley Beach and San Gabriel Park. The Conservancy District leased Tingley Beach to the City in 1931 and San Gabriel Park in 1963. The City has been in possession of the property since that time. The Conservancy District has not used the property and there are no reclamation works on the property. The Bureau of Reclamation recently determined that Tingley Beach and San Gabriel Park is surplus to the reclamation project and that the Bureau of Reclamation does not want the property. The enactment of Senate Bill 2696 will remove the cloud on the City’s title to Tingley Beach and San Gabriel Park and permit the City to complete the development of the Rio Grande Biological Park. Rio Grande Biological Park

The Rio Grande Biological Park lies along the east side of the Rio Grande River north and south of Central Avenue, which is historic Route 66 through Albuquerque. It is an educational, research and recreational treasure, that provides a unique and vital view of New Mexico and our biologically diverse world, not only for the residents and visitors to Albuquerque, but for the State of New Mexico. When completed, the Rio Grande Biological Park will instill in the public a recognition of the need for water conservation, habitat conservation, the interdependence of life and environmental stability that is essential to our future as a community, state and nation; support and enhance environmental education, awareness and stewardship; and provide a recreational, cultural and educational facility and resource that uniquely portrays the cultural, environmental and ecological aspects of the Rio Grande River.

The Rio Grande Biological Park occupies 170 acres and consists of the Rio Grande Zoo, Tingley Aquatic Park, and the Albuquerque Aquarium and Botanic Garden. Tingley Aquatic Park will be constructed on the site of Tingley Beach and the Botanic Garden will be expanded into San Gabriel Park.

Tingley Beach consists of 35.3 acres and is located south of Central Avenue between the Rio Grande Zoo and the Albuquerque Aquarium and Botanic Garden. It was created when Mayor Clyde Tingley, who later became Governor of New Mexico, asked the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District to lease burrow pits that had been dug to construct a levy to the City for a park and swimming beach.

The Albuquerque Aquarium and Botanic Garden is located north of Central Avenue across from Tingley Beach. San Gabriel Park consists of 42.7 acres and is located northwest of and adjacent to the Botanic Garden. In the late 1950’s, the Conservancy District moved the Albuquerque Drain west and isolated a portion of the Rio Grande River channel. The Conservancy District leased this property to the City for park and recreation purposes.

Tingley Aquatic Park

Because it lies between the Rio Grande Zoo and the Albuquerque Aquarium and Botanic Garden, Tingley Aquatic Park is a key transitional and connecting element in the Rio Grande Biological Park system that is accessible by trail, road and eventually by a railroad.

Tingley Aquatic Park will be developed for water-oriented recreational use, education and environmental research and planning. Improvements will consist of five lakes for boating, deep-water fishing, children’s fishing and model boating. One lake will be an observation lake. The City will also construct a swimming pool, picnic areas and facilities, and a building for group meetings and gatherings on the property.

As part of this project, the City will remove all non-native plants from the bosque adjacent to Tingley Beach and re-establish and maintain the Rio Grande cottonwood as the dominate canopy species. The City will also create additional wetlands and marshes that were historically abundant in the Rio Grande Valley.

The United States Corps of Engineers has plans to assist the City in the reclamation and construction of the lakes. The Corps of Engineers also plans, in association with the Rio Grande Zoo, to construct a bosque exhibit on property adjacent to Tingley Beach that will illustrate a succession sequence from an oxbow lake, to a cattail marsh, to a saltgrass meadow, to a bosque.

The City’s and the Corps of Engineers’ projects at Tingley Beach will improve wildlife habitat along the Rio Grande River at Tingley Aquatic Park.

Tingley Aquatic Park is also a part of the Rio Grande Valley State Park which was authorized by the New Mexico Legislature in 1983 to preserve, protect and maintain the natural scenic beauty of the Rio Grande River and its immediate riverine corridor. The City is the operator of the Rio Grande Valley State Park. San Gabriel Park

The Botanic Garden was created to reflect the region’s environmental and cultural heritage. The expansion of the Botanic Garden into San Gabriel Park will carry through with this theme. The improvements will include seventeen gardens, including a Japanese Tea Garden, conservatories, a tree nursery, botanic library, herbarium, office and meeting rooms, and support facilities.

The expansion at San Gabriel Park will include ethnobotanic exhibits which will offer the only place in the state to learn about the historic use of plants for fiber, food and medicine. An antique apple orchard will feature apple trees that were brought to the area by Hispanic settlers. The Zuni Waffle Garden will illustrate ancient Anazazi Indian methods for conserving water and will feature ancient plants cultivated by the Anazazi. The City has already constructed the El Jardin de la Curandera exhibit at San Gabriel Park, honoring 400 years of Hispana presence in New Mexico and exploring herbal medicines used within the contexts of the practices of curanderismo. A Period Farm will illustrate farming techniques and practices during the period from 1920 through 1940 which was the period of Albuquerque’s greatest growth and transformation into an urban center.

The Trial Garden will feature new breeds of plants and the Camino de Colores will be a highway of flowers. An exhibit entitled El Canoncito will provide the backdrop for the Conifer and Mountain Meadows exhibit and will illustrate the varied microclimates found in the mountain environments of New Mexico.

San Gabriel Park is in the cottonwood bosque (riparian forest) of the Rio Grande River and offers an unparalleled opportunity to showcase this distinctive natural environment. The expansion of the Botanic Garden into San Gabriel Park will include a Cottonwood Gallery of the magnificent existing stands of cottonwoods that remain to provide a living example of the native bosque.

The City, in cooperation with the State of New Mexico and the United States Bureau of Reclamation, will construct, at San Gabriel Park, the Rio Grande Silvery Minnow Rearing and Breeding Facility for breeding and conditioning the endangered Rio Grande Silvery Minnow for release into the Rio Grande River. The City recently awarded a contract for the construction of this facility. Rio Grande Bosque Railroad

The master plan for the Rio Grande Biological Park includes the construction of the three-quarter scale Rio Grande Bosque Railroad which will provide a transportation link that covers the four miles of the Rio Grande Biological Park between the Aquarium and Botanic Garden in the north, through Tingley Aquatic Park, to the Rio Grande Zoo in the south. A depot and turnaround will be constructed at San Gabriel Park and a depot will be constructed at Tingley Aquatic Park. The Rio Grande Bosque Railroad will also connect the national Hispanic Cultural Center south of the Rio Grande Zoo with the Rio Grande Biological Park. The enactment of Senate Bill 2696 will make the City’s vision for a unique biological park possible. I urge your support of Senate Bill 2696.