Rio Grande Means Life

English: , Early people in this area found much of what they needed in the Rio Grande valley. They moved throughout these grasslands and foothills in search of food and resources. Later, settlements concentrated along the river, using the water for their crops., For thousands of years, the Rio Grande flowed year-round as a meandering stream. Changes in the ecology of the valley began in the late 1800s and early 1900s with the manipulation of river flows by dams, canals, and the confinement of the river to a straightened channel., Although the benefits that the river now provides to plants and animals have changed, the benefits to humans in the form of crops, recreation and water supply remain important., Today the Rio Grande, bordered by remnants of the lush cottonwood bosque, flows through the surrounding, dry Chihuahuan desert. Here, a large diversity of mammals, amphibians, turtles, lizards, snakes, birds, fish and insects find food and shelter., [background photo caption] , Irrigated cropland at Mesilla, New Mexico,