New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science

Free Flow

New Mexico’s Gila River

First Floor Changing Exhibits Gallery

The Gila River is the last free flowing river in New Mexico. It flows southwest through 3.3 million acres of the Gila National Forest, past Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. An ecological jewel, the Gila arises from perennial springs in the green highlands of the Mogollon Mountains of southwestern New Mexico on the western slopes of the Continental Divide. The Gila is the only major river in New Mexico free of permanent dams, and it maintains an extraordinary biological diversity: communities of native fish, including the threatened loach minnow and spike dace, and habitat for more than 300 species of birds.

In Free Flow: New Mexico’s Gila River, photographs by Jan Haley reveal the undeniable beauty and the immeasurable rewards of a free flowing river. Haley has extensively photographed the Gila River from its headwaters on the western slope of the Continental Divide to the Arizona border, and she provides a comprehensive look at how the river has shaped the landscape and the wildlife that is nourished by it. Her mission is to keep the river, as it has always been—free flowing.

Free Flow: New Mexico’s Gila River is cosponsored by Jan Haley, The Nature Conservancy, and the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.