Natural Resources Section

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 facilitates and documents the decision-making process for federally funded Highway and Bridge Projects.  The Natural Resources & NEPA Section ensures that highway and bridge projects that are under design and development comply with environmental laws and regulations including the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, National Historic Preservation Act, and other federal, state, and local regulations.  The Section coordinates consultation between NMDOT Project Development Engineers and regulatory agencies such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Mexico Environment Department, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, State Historic Preservation Office, New Mexico Department of Wildlife and other agencies.  Public input is solicited for highway and bridge projects that would have a significant impact on the traveling public.  The environmental impacts and public input are commonly documented with Categorical Exclusions (CEs) and Environmental Assessments (EAs) in accordance with NEPA and the Federal Highway Administration.

Contractors may propose activities/infrastructure needed to complete construction of a NMDOT project. Commonly proposed contactor located activities (CLAs) include construction yards, aggregate pits, and material-disposal sites. In general, CLAs are not certified during the initial environmental analysis and certification of the larger construction project. Contractors must submit a request form for all proposed CLAs. The purpose of the program is to coordinate the environmental and cultural-resource certification process among the contractor/consultant and all pertinent agencies for all proposed CLAs.

Highways can inadvertently fragment wildlife habitat, potentially affecting resource availability, species distribution, and genetic diversity. Roadways can negatively affect wildlife populations through direct mortality from vehicle collisions and by disrupting wildlife movement corridors. Collisions with large animals, such as deer, elk, bear, and other species, also pose a significant safety risk to the traveling public.

Since 2004, New Mexico has implemented a number of wildlife mitigation projects designed to improve motorist safety and reduce the impacts of highways on wildlife populations by facilitating safe wildlife passage across roadways. These projects often incorporate tall fencing to prevent animals from entering the roadway and guide them towards bridges, culverts, or other crossing structures designed to safely accommodate wildlife beneath or over highways.

Following the passage of the Wildlife Corridors Act in 2019, NMDOT and the New Mexico Department of Wildlife collaborated with a team of consultants to develop the Wildlife Corridors Action Plan, which was released in 2022.  The plan established a prioritized list of wildlife-vehicle collision hotspots and important wildlife corridors, providing a framework for strategically advancing mitigation efforts.  These efforts are intended to further improve motorist safety while reconnecting fragmented wildlife habitat and maintaining critical wildlife movement across New Mexico’s transportation network.

There are approximately 29 known bat species present in New Mexico. Of these, 28 are known to use, or have the potential to use, bridges or culverts. This use may be limited to short-term activities such as transitional roosting, but could also include critical life phases such as breeding, hibernation, or full-time residency. Bats provide invaluable ecosystem services such as insect suppression, pollination, and seed dispersal, as well as cultural importance. Human impacts have caused bat population declines, and often when bridges are replaced or repaired, the previously existing roosting habitat for bats (such as exposed joints or crevices) may be lost.

To mitigate lost bat roosting habitat when replacing an old bridge, NMDOT installs “bat boxes” under the new bridge.  These structures are installed to facilitate bat use equal to, or greater than, that of the previous structure. These efforts ensure that road and bridge projects minimize impacts to bat populations so that they may continue to provide their essential services to New Mexico.

U.S. federal law protects critically rare animal and plant species and their habitats. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C 1531) provides for the protection of species that are at risk of extinction and for the protection of ecosystems on which they depend. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service coordinates the Endangered Species Act but other federal and tribal agencies have additional sensitive species requiring protection. New Mexico has a wide range of threatened and endangered species, from endemic fish, snake and amphibian species in the Gila, to the Rio Grande silvery minnow, to plant species such as the Mesa Verde cactus and the Pecos sunflower.

The NMDOT consults with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and coordinates with other government agencies and the public to ensure that construction and maintenance impacts on T&E species do not have an adverse effect, or that the adverse effect is mitigated through other conservation actions that will benefit the species. New Mexico also has a state endangered plant species list that is maintained by and requires consultation with the Forestry Division within the Energy, Mineral and Natural Resources Department.