How WWF and Finish are Protecting Wildlife in the Rio Grande
- Date: 26 March 2025
Recently members of the WWF Freshwater team had the opportunity to visit some of the conservation project sites that Reckitt's brand Finish Dishwashing is helping to fund in New Mexico, along the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo. WWF and Finish’s partnership supports the river’s restoration and replenishment through the funding of four projects, aimed at restoring water flows to one of America’s most important and endangered rivers. Local conservation organizations including Trout Unlimited, Rio Grande Return, Defenders of Wildlife, and The Rio Grande Joint Venture are implementing the four projects with support from WWF. Through the funding of the project, Finish is contributing to conservation efforts that will have a lasting positive impact on the river and the species and people it supports.
The Rio Grande/Rio Bravo, which winds over 1,800 miles from southern Colorado to Mexico’s Gulf Coast is teeming with biodiversity and home to many different ecosystems—some of which might be surprising. It may seem unusual to find a wetlands habitat in a river that winds through the largest desert in North America. Yet the wetlands ecosystem along the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo is an important home for many species. Among them is one of the oldest animals on the planet, sandhill cranes. The cranes, which mate for life, use the Rio Grande as a resource during their twice-yearly migration. During winter, they can be seen in large numbers, utilizing the wetlands for food, shelter, and water. This underscores the importance of ensuring water flows through the basin for both people and wildlife. WWF’s work with Finish provides a broader benefit to the Rio Grande ecosystem which is a key habitat for sandhill cranes.
Another species that relies on the Rio Grande wetlands ecosystem for survival is the beaver. Beavers’ industrious handiwork helps to support water conservation by retaining water in rivers, mitigating floods, ensuring a steady water supply, and filtering water. Along the Rio Cebolla and Santa Cruz River, tributary streams of the Rio Grande, the impacts of drought, wildfires, overgrazing, and beaver eradication can be clearly seen. That is why WWF and the local conservation organizations are working to manage and restore the wetlands and riparian areas of these watersheds.
Two of the four Finish-funded projects with Rio Grande Return and Defenders of Wildlife will aim to reestablish the ecosystem’s function and encourage beavers to reinhabit. One of these two projects is well underway as Rio Grande Return staff, with WWF support have built over 30 structures, including beaver dam analogs—manmade structures to mimic natural beaver dams —to help encourage the repopulation of beavers to the area. WWF will continue to provide updates on this and the additional three projects.
Protecting nature and biodiversity makes business sense. In the case of freshwater, it is an indispensable resource not only for consumption, but for the economy as well. Investing in water and biodiversity conservation projects in the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo will have lasting effects on the communities of both species and people that it supports. WWF’s partnership with Finish demonstrates how corporate investment can play a vital role in the health of our planet, and in turn, the health of business.