Freshwater Conservation - Helping Plan a Colombian River's Future

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“The Conservancy’s input and advice on management of the Magdalena is being requested at the highest level in Colombia.”

— Aurelio Ramos, director of the Conservancy's Northern Tropical Andes program

A River of Diversity

At 965 miles long, the Magdalena River embraces almost every ecosystem of the Andes — from snow-capped mountains, high-altitude grasslands and countless wetlands to cloud forests, dry-forest valleys and coastal lagoons.

The Magdalena also serves as a vital commerce corridor and supports the economic and cultural foundation of Colombia:

Around 28 million people live in the river's basin, including people in 45 indigenous reserves.
The Magdalena also provides 70 percent of Colombia’s hydroelectric power and 95 percent of the country’s thermoelectric energy

Go Deeper

Slideshow of the Cormagdalena Trip
See images from the Cormagdalena team's trip to New Orleans and St. Louis.

The Nature Conservancy in Colombia
Learn how the Conservancy is helping protect the incredibly rich natural diversity of Colombia — which has 10 percent of Earth's species.

By Elizabeth Niven

Imagine the opportunity to start fresh with the Mississippi River. No structures, no channels, no dredging — just a massive, free-flowing river.

Cormagdalena — a governmental agency in Colombia — has just such an opportunity with that country's Magdalena River, which courses through one of most biologically diverse areas in the world and has not yet been significantly modified by development pressures.

Conservancy and Army Corps Helping with Expertise

But the river faces many of the same development issues that the Mississippi has struggled with for more than 150 years — balancing navigation, flood control and conservation needs.

So The Nature Conservancy and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are helping Cormagdalena with freshwater expertise — including bringing Colombian officials to New Orleans and St. Louis recently to see the work of the Conservancy and the Corps on the Mississippi River.

"Cormagdalena officials are taking a strategic view of the river’s management, and they want our expertise in formulating their plan," says Aurelio Ramos, director of the Conservancy's Northern Tropical Andes program.

"The Conservancy’s input and advice on management of the Magdalena is being requested at the highest level in Colombia," he adds. "Together, we can balance the economic, cultural and conservation interests of the Magdalena in a timely manner for all Colombians.”

Learning from Hurricane Katrina

While in New Orleans, Cormagdalena representatives learned about coastal land loss, sediment management issues, navigation needs and flood-risk management.

Lieutenant Colonel Murray Starkel, deputy commander of the New Orleans district for the Corps, led a tour through devastated areas of New Orleans and discussed levee failures and the impacts of Hurricane Katrina.

The group visited several pumping stations, levee projects and canal protection projects — all measures to mitigate damage from hurricanes and resulting flooding. They also attended Conservancy- and Corps-led sessions on topics ranging from freshwater restoration to long-term river monitoring systems.

"They [Cormagdalena representatives] need to consider resource stewardship and the ecological repercussions and long-term effects of watershed management's unintended consequences," says Ramos. "I think their experiences in New Orleans amplified that point."

Cormagdalena representatives also went to St. Louis, where they toured a lock and dam, visited a habitat rehabilitation and enhancement project, and participated in a demonstration of long-term resource monitoring program on the Mississippi.

'An 11 on a Scale of One to 10'

The trip culminated with an agreement among the three groups to develop a six-month work plan for the Magdalena:

The plan identifies and outlines best-practices and strategies for ensuring the sustainable management of the Magdalena River — using technology, engineering, restoration and conservation expertise from top river managers across the United States.
Staff from the Conservancy, the Corps and perhaps other partner organizations on the Mississippi River will serve in an advisory capacity to Cormagdalena as they make management decisions for the Magdalena.

Ramos is excited about the path forward for the Magdalena.

“On a scale from one to 10, this visit was an 11," he says. "Cormagdalena is very serious about implementing a conservation component to its management plan. They need science-based adaptive management that will ensure the long-term sustainability of the river's economic uses and its ecological integrity."

This international exchange represents one of many global efforts by the Conservancy to preserve and protect at least 10 percent of all freshwater ecosystems on Earth by 2015.

By identifying and prioritizing 10 major freshwater systems — including the Mississippi River — and exporting the lessons learned throughout the world to places like the Magdalena River, the Conservancy and its partners can meet this ambitious goal.

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): All photos © Erika Nortemann/TNC. (Conservancy staff members and representatives from the US Army Corps of Engineers canoe in a swamp in Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve; John Chick from the Illinois Natural History Survey discusses the various fish found in the Illinois River and Swan Lake.)