NM projects get natural resources funding

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Three resource restoration projects on the Middle Rio Grande corridor near Albuquerque have been completed with $881,000 from a settlement.

The settlement involved the New Mexico Office of Natural Resources Trustee, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.

State officials say the settlement compensated for damages to groundwater and habitat from activities at the railway's Albuquerque tie-treater facility.

Money from such settlements goes to restore, replace or acquire the equivalent of natural resources that were damaged.

The projects included revegetating 200 acres in Rio Grande Valley State Park, groundwater restoration with the Bernalillo County Public Works Department and removing water-guzzling invasive plants near the river at Isleta Pueblo.