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Running through the Southwest's arid countryside, including through New Mexico, are ribbons of lush green.

The narrow corridors are where rivers and streams, some ephemeral, some continually flowing, have slaked the parched desert to give rise to riparian (or stream-side) ecosystems rich with life.

These riparian habitats comprise only a tiny fraction of the Southwest's landscape, yet they support the majority of its avian diversity, including the endangered Southwestern Willow Flycatcher and Yuma Clapper Rail, the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Elf Owl, Hooded Oriole and Wilson's Warbler.

Despite their importance, these riparian areas are among the nation's most threatened bird habitats, according to a new report published by the American Bird Conservancy: "The Top 20 Most Threatened Bird Habitats in the United States." The report is available online at: www.abcbirds.org/habitatreport.pdf.

Today, more than 80 percent of the riparian habitat of the Southwest is gone. The elimination of beavers and the loss of their water-diverting dams were followed by timber extraction, agriculture and livestock grazing that degraded or eliminated riparian habitats.

Today, cattle cause severe erosion of stream banks and denude riparian areas of vegetation when allowed to wallow in the streams.

To combat erosion caused by the cattle, and also for the ornamentation of gardens, salt cedar (also known as tamarisk) was planted. This woody shrub grows in dense thickets that are of limited value to wildlife, because they support few insects.

Salt cedar spread quickly through the Southwest, where it choked out native vegetation. It has now invaded more than one million acres of wetlands in the region and continues to flourish at the expense of native plant, mammal, amphibian, and bird diversity.

In the Gila River basin of Southwest New Mexico and Arizona, the listing of the Southwestern Willow Flycatcher as "endangered" has resulted in the Gila National Forest's removing cattle from 200 miles of fragile streamsides.

Regrowth of vegetation since the removal of livestock has transformed a barren moonscape into lush, living forests and clear-water stream communities. Beaver ponds have since been re-established, creating additional habitat for birds and other wildlife. However, trespass by cattle remains a problem.

The Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge is a desert and wetland area used by millions of migrating waterfowl, cranes, song birds and raptors in Central New Mexico near Socorro. The refuge has carried out a number of successful projects to remove salt cedar.

Following removal of this harmful invasive, the refuge staff planted Rio Grande cottonwood and Goodding's willow to restore native habitat.

Achieving riparian habitat conservation depends on support from public land management agencies and creating incentives for private property owners to restore their degraded land and keep cattle out of the streams.

Urbanization and agriculture continue to be the most severe threats to the limited and vulnerable plant life of southwest riparian systems. Cities such as Phoenix, Albuquerque and Tucson are expanding into surrounding habitat as their populations rise.

The scarcity of water in the Southwest makes rivers and streams particularly important for sustaining the region's communities. This dependence places a severe strain on natural ecosystems.

Water diversion and pumping for irrigation and consumer demand, combined with flood control projects, have all but eliminated the broader flood plains and associated swamps and marshes of many river systems, particularly along the Colorado River and its tributaries.

Riparian areas take time to fully recover, but some management options, particularly fencing out cattle, have proven successful. Even in severely degraded systems, the speed and extent of recovery - once habitat is protected from grazing and trampling - can be remarkable.

For example, Congress designated 40 miles of the upper San Pedro River as the first National Riparian Conservation Area in 1988. The Bureau of Land Management removed all the cattle, and the riparian zone quickly changed from barren sand to lush habitat.

Many studies have documented bird population increases since then.

Now an internationally recognized birding area, this riparian reserve supports more than 350 species of birds including the Gray Hawk, Mississippi Kite, Crested Caracara, Green Kingfisher, Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet, and Yellow-billed Cuckoo.

Citizens can help save and restore riparian areas by contacting their elected officials and urging them to support protecting and restoring these vibrant ecosystems of the Southwest.