Rio Brazos near Tierra Amarilla, NM

Hydrologic technician Lindsay Hastings took this photo of the Rio Brazos near Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico during her first field trip as a streamgager with the New Mexico Water Science Center. Did you know that New Mexico was the birth place of streamgaging? The USGS began collecting streamflow information in 1889 when the first streamgage was established on the Rio Grande in New Mexico, about 80 miles from where this photo was taken. Streamflow data are used for a variety of reasons including; drought monitoring, flood forecasting, and water-allocation permitting. These data are available to the public and can be found on the NWIS (National Water Information Systems) website.