Costilla Creek [1] Río Costilla, Costilla River, Costilla Creek Number One, Río de Costilla | |
---|---|
Location | |
Country | United States |
States | Colorado, New Mexico |
Counties | Costilla County, Colorado, Taos County, New Mexico |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | Confluence of West Fork Costilla Creek and East Fork Costilla Creek |
• location | Costilla County, Colorado |
• coordinates | 36°59′45″N105°15′04″W / 36.99583°N 105.25111°W |
Mouth | Rio Grande |
• location | Taos County, New Mexico |
• coordinates | 36°58′51″N105°43′03″W / 36.98083°N 105.71750°W |
• elevation | 7,369 feet (2,246 meters) |
Discharge | |
• location | Rio Grande |
Costilla Creek is a tributary of the Rio Grande in Colorado and New Mexico.
The creek rises in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in far southern Colorado at the confluence of East Fork Costilla Creek and West Fork Costilla Creek. It then flows southward across the border into New Mexico. Here it is impounded by the privately-held Costilla Reservoir on the Vermejo Park Ranch. [2]
From there, it flows generally southwest, receiving the waters of its tributary Comanche Creek at the north end of Valle Vidal. Costilla Creek then begins to curve towards the northwest towards a point where it meets New Mexico State Road 196.
The creek then travels generally northwestward, following alongside State Road 196 through the small town of Amalia. It leaves the mountains after passing through a diversion dam — the beginning of the Acequia Madre irrigation ditch — and just before flowing through the town of Costilla, entering the broad, flat plain of the Taos Plateau volcanic field.
Flowing north from Costilla, the creek enters Colorado at Garcia. It then flows in a broad semi-circle to the west, eventually flowing to the south, just west of Jaroso, Colorado and crossing the border, once again entering into New Mexico. Soon after crossing the border, the creek turns to the southwest and empties into the Rio Grande, its mouth in a gorge just to the northwest of Ute Mountain.
Popular with anglers, the creek offers fishing for rainbow trout, brown trout, and Rio Grande cutthroat trout. [3] The Rio Costilla is stocked on a regular basis with trout from spring to fall. [4] The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish implemented the final phase of the Restoration of Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus clarki virginalis) and the Native Fish Community to the Upper Rio Costilla Watershed project in March 2021, which should be complete by the fall of 2021. [5] [6] The removal of non-native fish such as non-native rainbow trout and non-native suckers through this initiative should provide high-quality angling opportunities for native trout and expand the range of interconnected populations of Rio Grande cutthroat trout and other native fish, decreasing their likelihood of becoming threatened or endangered species. [7]
The North Costilla SNOTEL weather station is near the confluence of the east and west forks of Costilla Creek, at an elevation of 10600 feet (3231 m).
Climate data for North Costilla, New Mexico, 1991–2020 normals, 1988-2020 extremes: 10600ft (3231m) | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °F (°C) | 60 (16) | 62 (17) | 64 (18) | 65 (18) | 78 (26) | 89 (32) | 83 (28) | 80 (27) | 75 (24) | 71 (22) | 66 (19) | 58 (14) | 89 (32) |
Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 35.0 (1.7) | 35.7 (2.1) | 41.2 (5.1) | 45.5 (7.5) | 53.3 (11.8) | 63.5 (17.5) | 67.0 (19.4) | 65.6 (18.7) | 60.6 (15.9) | 51.1 (10.6) | 41.7 (5.4) | 35.0 (1.7) | 49.6 (9.8) |
Daily mean °F (°C) | 23.8 (−4.6) | 24.7 (−4.1) | 29.8 (−1.2) | 34.7 (1.5) | 42.2 (5.7) | 51.6 (10.9) | 55.3 (12.9) | 54.3 (12.4) | 49.5 (9.7) | 40.3 (4.6) | 31.0 (−0.6) | 24.3 (−4.3) | 38.5 (3.6) |
Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 12.5 (−10.8) | 13.6 (−10.2) | 18.5 (−7.5) | 23.7 (−4.6) | 31.1 (−0.5) | 39.7 (4.3) | 43.6 (6.4) | 43.0 (6.1) | 38.2 (3.4) | 29.4 (−1.4) | 20.4 (−6.4) | 13.6 (−10.2) | 27.3 (−2.6) |
Record low °F (°C) | −21 (−29) | −26 (−32) | −16 (−27) | −3 (−19) | 9 (−13) | 12 (−11) | 23 (−5) | 23 (−5) | 12 (−11) | 2 (−17) | −8 (−22) | −21 (−29) | −26 (−32) |
Average precipitation inches (mm) | 1.74 (44) | 1.99 (51) | 2.70 (69) | 2.86 (73) | 1.77 (45) | 1.14 (29) | 2.76 (70) | 3.06 (78) | 1.88 (48) | 1.88 (48) | 2.10 (53) | 2.11 (54) | 25.99 (662) |
Source 1: XMACIS2 [8] | |||||||||||||
Source 2: NOAA (Precipitation) [9] |
The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River. Flowing through the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska, it is itself a major river of the American Midwest and the American Southwest/Mountain West. Its drainage basin includes much of the eastern flank of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, much of the populated region known as the Colorado Front Range and Eastern Plains, and a portion of southeastern Wyoming in the vicinity of the city of Cheyenne. It joins the North Platte River in western Nebraska to form the Platte, which then flows across Nebraska to the Missouri. The river serves as the principal source of water for eastern Colorado. In its valley along the foothills in Colorado, it has permitted agriculture in an area of the Colorado Piedmont and Great Plains that is otherwise arid.
The Lamar River is a tributary of the Yellowstone River, approximately 40 miles (64 km) long, in northwestern Wyoming in the United States. The river is located entirely within Yellowstone National Park.
Animas River is a 126-mile-long (203 km) river in the western United States, a tributary of the San Juan River, part of the Colorado River System.
The Bitterroot River is a northward flowing 84-mile (135 km) river running through the Bitterroot Valley, from the confluence of its West and East forks near Conner in southern Ravalli County to its confluence with the Clark Fork River near Missoula in Missoula County, in western Montana. The Clark Fork River is a tributary to the Columbia River and ultimately, the Pacific Ocean. The Bitterroot River is a Blue Ribbon trout fishery with a healthy population of native westslope cutthroat trout and bull trout. It is the third most fly fished river in Montana behind the Madison and Big Horn Rivers.
The Payette River is an 82.7-mile-long (133.1 km) river in southwestern Idaho and is a major tributary of the Snake River.
The Price River is a 137-mile-long (220 km) southeastward flowing river in Carbon, Utah and Emery counties in eastern Utah. It is a tributary to the Green River, itself a tributary to the Colorado River.
The Valle Vidal is a 101,794 acres (41,195 ha) mountain basin in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains within the Carson National Forest, northwest of Cimarron, New Mexico. Elevations in the basin range from 7,700 to 12,554 feet. Valle Vidal is noted for its pristine scenery and wildlife. It was protected from oil and gas exploitation by an act of Congress in 2006. The Valle Vidal borders on Vermejo Park Ranch, Philmont Scout Ranch, and other private lands.
The greenback cutthroat trout is the easternmost subspecies of cutthroat trout. The greenback cutthroat, once widespread in the Arkansas and South Platte River drainages of Eastern Colorado and Southeast Wyoming, today occupies less than 1% of its historical range. It is currently listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. It was adopted as the state fish of Colorado on March 15, 1994, replacing the unofficial rainbow trout.
The Rio Chama, a major tributary river of the Rio Grande, is located in the U.S. states of Colorado and New Mexico. The river is about 130 miles (210 km) long altogether. From its source to El Vado Dam its length is about 50 miles (80 km), from El Vado Dam to Abiquiu Dam is about 51 miles (82 km), and from Abiquiu Dam to its confluence with the Rio Grande is about 34 miles (55 km).
The Crooked River is a tributary, 125 miles (201 km) long, of the Deschutes River in the U.S. state of Oregon. The river begins at the confluence of the South Fork Crooked River and Beaver Creek. Of the two tributaries, the South Fork Crooked River is the larger and is sometimes considered part of the Crooked River proper. A variant name of the South Fork Crooked River is simply "Crooked River". The Deschutes River flows north into the Columbia River.
The Rio Grande cutthroat trout, a member of the family Salmonidae, is found in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado in tributaries of the Rio Grande.
Vermejo Park Ranch, Vermejo Ranch, or Vermejo, is a 550,000-acre (220,000 ha) nature reserve and guest ranch in northeastern New Mexico and southern Colorado. Ted Turner Reserves, the luxury hospitality company founded by Ted Turner, includes conservation research and ecosystem restoration along with guest operations. The reserve, which stretches from the Great Plains at an elevation of 5,867 ft (1,788 m) to the summit of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, reaches an elevation of 12,931 ft (3,941 m). The ranch produces significant quantities of coalbed methane, a type of natural gas.
The Piedra River is a river in the U.S. state of Colorado. It drains parts of Archuleta, Hinsdale, and Mineral counties along a mainstem length of about 40 miles (64 km). The river flows through a series of isolated box canyons, emptying into the San Juan River at Navajo Lake. Its name stems from the Spanish word, piedra, meaning rock.
Martis Creek is a northward-flowing stream originating on Sawtooth Ridge, west of the peak of Mount Pluto in Placer County, California, United States. After crossing into Nevada County, California, it is a tributary to the Truckee River on the eastern side of Truckee.
The Middle Fork Eel River is a major tributary of the Eel River of northwestern California in the United States. It drains a rugged and sparsely populated region of the Yolla Bolly Mountains, part of the California Coast Range, in Trinity and Mendocino Counties. Its watershed comprises roughly 745 square miles (1,930 km2) of land, or 20% of the entire Eel River basin. The river provides groundwater recharge and is used for recreation and for industrial, agricultural and municipal water supply by residents.
Trinchera Creek is a tributary of the Rio Grande in Costilla County, Colorado in the United States. It flows west from a source in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to a confluence with the Rio Grande.
Fishing in Colorado has brought in a large amount of revenue for the state. In 2019 Colorado Parks and Wildlife estimated outdoor recreation contributed roughly 62 billion dollars to the state economy. Fishing was reported to be the 5th most popular outdoor activity and 110, 511 fishing and hunting combination licenses were sold. Ice fishing makes up part of this total fishing revenue and is a common annual sport for Colorado residents and out-of-state visitors. There is no legal definition of ice fishing season. Rather, people begin to ice fish once the lakes freeze over with thick enough ice. Colorado Parks and Wildlife also recommend that people always ice-fish with another person. Typically, this starts in December and ends in April for Colorado. Lakes size, depth, elevation, and seasonal weather can cause variance to the season. Once the lakes freeze over with thick enough ice, anglers go out onto the ice, drill holes through the ice, and fish for a variety of species.
Smith Reservoir is located in Costilla County, Colorado, south of Blanca in the San Luis Valley. The reservoir is owned by the Trinchera Irrigation Company.
The Rio de los Pinos is a river in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico.
Costilla Reservoir is a 90 acre privately owned reservoir on Costilla Creek, 10 miles east of Costilla, NM. It is owned and operated by Vermejo Park Ranch. You can contact them at 575-445-3097.