La Montanita Coop Connection June, 2006 by La Montanita Coop

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Agua es Vida

For the Love of a River by Lisa Robert

ditors note: This second part of our “Agua es Vida” series continues our efforts to give an in depth understanding of the issues related to the health of the Rio Grande ecosystem and other pertinent water issues. This issue also spotlights other consumer oriented river and water issues. Flowing into the 21st Century: A Tale of Tails 1996 was the first drought year in nearly twenty. The silvery minnow had been listed as an endangered species two summers before but conditions hadn’t been so dire that its status dominated water operations. That year a meager snow pack made it almost certain that irrigation delivery, especially below San Acacia Dam where the majority of the remaining minnow population was found, would have to be curtailed. By midApril, diversions in the Belen and Socorro Divisions of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) had dried up portions of the river channel, dooming thousands of silvery minnows. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Bureau of Reclamation prevailed upon the MRGCD to maintain an emergency flow of 100 cfs [cubic feet per second] below San Acacia Dam, but before the month was over the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity had filed a 60-day Notice of Intent to Sue a variety of state and federal agencies. The charge was violation of Sections Seven and Nine of the Endangered Species Act. On May 20th, sufficient flow for a spawn of minnows was created using a ‘spike’ of San Juan-Chama (SJC) water owned by the cities of Albuquerque and Taos. With the spike successful, the Silvery Minnow Recovery Team concentrated on how to

In April, 1997 Forest Guardians and Defenders of Wildlife filed suit in federal district court over the federal government’s failure to designate critical habitat for the endangered silvery minnow. That same day, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service notified the MRGCD that it now intended to file a Notice of Violation for the conservancy’s alleged “take” of minnows in 1996 (MRGCD board minutes, April 14, 1997). Together, these two legal actions sparked a domino effect of counter suits, interventions, stays, and appeals that would reverberate for the next five years, making budding efforts to collaborate on ecosystem restoration an even greater challenge. Watching the River Flow In the summer of 1996, the Bureau of Reclamation (BR) had released an interagency study on water in the Middle Rio Grande. The report’s banner headline was that fifty percent of recharge to groundwater in the Albuquerque Basin-about 31,000 acre-feet of water each year-was coming from MRGCD canals and flood irrigation. Unfortunately, the report noted, the number of irrigated acres in the middle valley had dropped from 20,400 in the 1950s to about 11,500 acres in 1993, representing a loss of 6,000 acre-feet of recharge annually. Should urbanization trends continue, the authors concluded, a dependable means of aquifer re-

Unfortunately, the report noted, the number of irrigated acres in the middle valley had dropped from 20,400 in the 1950s to about 11,500 acres in 1993, representing a loss of 6,000 acre-feet of recharge annually. furnish a steady minimum of water to the critical reach; obtaining the necessary water was another challenge altogether. With its farmers up in arms over impending minnow litigation, MRGCD officials pressed the Bureau of Reclamation to do something. The resulting “Water Management Strategy for the Middle Rio Grande Valley,” also known as the White Paper (Whitney, 1996), was laboriously negotiated by “working guys” and eventually endorsed by managers of their respective agencies. It acknowledged that SJC water might not be obtainable in the future and that managers would have to share the responsibility of satisfying basin water users, including the minnow, beyond 1997. The White Paper recommended using any combination of a variety of suggested alternatives and pledged inter-agency cooperation.

charge could be lost, with severe consequences. City, county, and state governments were encouraged to consider incentives to preserve irrigated acreage, and irrigation and drainage facilities were identified as a possible mechanism for enhancing aquifer recharge. By 1997, concern for wildlife habitat and riparian health had signaled a significant change in water operations. Federal agency personnel in particular were beginning to acknowledge that processes such as channel meandering and periodic floods were critical to the vitality of the system. The Albuquerque’s Open Space Division had been poleplanting cottonwoods in the Rio Grande Valley State Park since the mid-1980s, but now there were plans for removing saltcedar and other exotics, as well as inter-agency efforts to foster overbank flooding for cottonwood generation. At about the same time Albuquerque published an evaluation of thirty-two alternatives for direct use of its San

Juan-Chama water for municipal consumption. Public comment was solicited, but the diversion plan initially failed to raise much concern within the environmental community. Though methods for removing 48,200 acre-feet of water a year from the river were up for debate, few questioned the effect such an extraction might have on the overall well-being of the stream system. Exactly where the Rio Grande’s water was being expended was a pivotal question. Researchers understood that evapotranspiration (ET) played a huge part in the water balance of desert stream systems, but they did not know the actual rate at which mixed stands of saltcedar, cottonwood, and Russian olive take up water and release it into the air, nor could they say for sure what effect flooding or riparian restoration efforts might

Part II have on ET rates in the bosque. To begin exploring such questions, UNM Biology Department and USFWS Ecological Field Services Office co-sponsored an informational symposium on ET. The symposium would lead to a number of cooperative efforts to obtain crucial data, resulting in a far better understanding of riparian evapotranspiration in the Middle Rio Grande.

series of activities in 1997 would shape other water dialogues. A New Mexico First Town Hall meeting acknowledged that a crisis was already at hand in regard to land and water management and recommended that “growth management” be addressed in a future Town Hall (New Mexico First, 1997). Support for regional water planning was widespread, and a grassroots steering committee, the Middle Rio Grande Water Assembly, was elected to oversee work on a water plan for continued on page 2

June is Member Survey Month! Volunteer Discount Cards Help Guide Your CO-OP Members:

Look in your mailbox for our Annual Member Survey. We sincerely hope you will take a moment to fill it out. Let us know how we are doing and what you would like to see in the future. This Survey helps us understand how to best serve you, our member owners. Please fill it out! Bring it in to the La Montanita Co-op location of your choice and receive one shopping trip at a 15% discount. Yes that’s right! We’ve upped the discount you get for your time and effort from 10% to 15% in the hopes of getting even more response than we did last year. Your input is important to us. Please take a moment to fill out the survey and bring it back to your Co-op before June 30th and receive a 15% discount Co-op shopping trip for your effort. For more information contact Robyn at 217-2027 or toll free at 877-775-2667.

get a 15% discount!

Debut This Month by Robyn Seydel hile the Co-op has changed and grown over the past 30 years the Volunteer Discount Program has remained the same. With nearly 12,000 member owners in three cities, and over 140 volunteers that like to shop at one or more of our Co-op locations, over the past few months it has become clear that our 30-year-old volunteer discount system was vastly outdated. To streamline the system and make it more accessible for volunteers, and less cumbersome for Co-op staff, we had to make some changes. After nearly 6 months of discussion throughout the Co-op, we are finally ready to unveil our new Volunteer Discount Shopping Cards.

And while we are keeping the same great 18% discount, volunteers no longer need to work in threehour shifts. Volunteers will get one card for each hour that they volunteer in a Co-op related project, or as part of our Community Capacity Building Program. Each discount card is good for one shopping trip at an 18% discount and can be used at any location. All current volunteers were sent a letter last March on the proposed changes. Their feedback has been incorprated into the new program. The new system does away with multiple trips to the info desk and our old system of banking, logging, turning discounts on and off and the inefficiency of having volunteer discount only available at your usual Co-op location. We hope volunteers will be patient with us as we get this new system up and running. We believe that once it gets going it will be far more efficient and easy for volunteers to use. New Volunteer Discount Shopping Cards should be available by June 5th. If you have problems or questions please call Robin at 217-2027 or toll free at 877-775-2667.

agua es vida A Community - Owned Natural Foods Grocery Store

For the Love of a

La Montanita Cooperative Albuquerque/ 7am-10pm M-S, 8am-10pm Sun. 3500 Central S.E. Albuq., NM 87106 265-4631

Part II. continued from page 1

Albuquerque/ 7am-10pm M-S, 8am-10pm Sun. 2400 Rio Grande Blvd. Albuq., NM 87104 242-8800 Gallup/ 10am-7pm M-S, 11am-7pm Sun. 105 E. Coal Gallup, NM 87301 863-5383 Santa Fe/ 7am-10pm M-S, 8am-10pm Sun. 913 West Alameda Santa Fe, NM 87501 984-2852 Administrative Staff: 505-217-2001 TOLL FREE: 877-775-2667 (COOP) • General Manager/C.E. Pugh x113 ce@lamontanitacoop.com • Controller/John Heckes 217-2026 johnh@lamontanitacoop.com • Accounting/Toni Fragua x102 tonif@lamontanitacoop.com • Business Development/Steve Watts x114 • Computers/Info Technology/Mark Bieri x108 computers@lamontanitacoop.com • Human Resources/Sharret Rose x107 hr@lamontanitacoop.com • Marketing/Edite Cates x104 editec@lamontanitacoop.com • Membership/Robyn Seydel x105 robins@lamontanitacoop.com Store Team Leaders: • Michelle Franklin/Nob Hill 265-4631 mf@lamontanitacoop.com • John Mulle/Valley 242-8800 jm@lamontanitacoop.com • William Prokopiack/Santa Fe 984-2852 willpro@lamontanitacoop.com • Tracy Thomasson/Gallup 863-5383 tracyt@lamontanitacoop.com Co-op Board of Directors: email: bod@lamontanitacoop.com President: Martha Whitman Vice President: Marshall Kovitz Treasurer: Ken O’Brien Secretary: Roger Eldridge Susan Cizek Tom Hammer Tamara Saimons Jonathan Siegel Andrew Stone Membership Costs: $15 for 1 year $200 Lifetime Membership Co-op Connection Staff: Managing Editor: Robyn Seydel robins@lamontanitacoop.com Layout and Design: foxyrock inc Covers and Centerfold: Edite Cates Advertising: Robyn Seydel Printing: Vanguard Press Membership information is available at all four Co-op locations, or call 217-2027 email: memb@lamontanitacoop.com Membership response to the newsletter is appreciated. Address typed, double-spaced copy to the Managing Editor, robins@lamontanitacoop.com website: www.lamontanitacoop.org Copyright © 2006 La Montanita Co-op Supermarket Reprints by prior permission. The Co-op Connection is printed on 65% post consumer recycled paper. It is recyclable.

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Sandoval, Bernalillo and Valencia Counties; almost immediately the Assembly became a vocal player in the region’s water affairs. Tribal governments were weighing the risks posed to their senior water rights. One response was the resumption of the Six Middle Rio Grande Pueblos’ Irrigation Committee. First formed in 1980, the committee included representatives of the pueblos of Cochiti, San Felipe, Santo Domingo, Santa Ana, Sandia and Isleta, all of which receive their irriga-

River

Unfortunately, collaboration had not yet trumped litigation. With prospects for a below-average spring runoff, and a court duel forthcoming over critical habitat for the silvery minnow, environmental groups sent another 60-day Notice of Intent to Sue in early 1999. But as luck would have it, a late spring storm brought substantial moisture to the thirsty system, and even in a maze of legal proceedings regarding the minnow a cautious discussion began taking place among advocates of the Green and White Papers. Fittingly, the first meeting occurred at Sol y Sombre in Santa Fe beneath a display of black and white photos of the ruins of Chaco Canyon, abandoned in response to what archaeologists term “environmental change.” To help secure congressional support and help minimize duplicated effort, the two groups began exploring “alternative processes for good faith collaborative problem-solving.”

owever, an initiative that would eventually dislodge most others was already in existence. The Endangered Species (ESA) Work Group, which eventually became known as the Middle Rio Grande ESA Collaborative Program, was considering how to keep the river wet below San Acacia, where major problems had been identified. Group members were exploring the idea that perhaps the minnow could be moved upstream in low water years and maintained in specifically conHelp prevent structed backwaters in the Albuquerque reach or above Bernalillo further on various Pueblo lands. tion water through the works of the MRGCD. In addition, the Governors of the Ten Southern Pueblos formed a coalition and appointed a committee to keep tabs on water issues of all kinds (MRGCD minutes, May 29, 1997).

t the 70 year-old MRGCD, there was yet another sign of the times: in September, the agency hired its first-ever biologist and planner to work on endangered species and bosque-related issues, and to try to bridge the gap with an increasingly critical environmental community. There were, it seemed, constant grounds for environmental advocates’ frustration. In settlement of a Forest Guardians/Southwest Environmental Center lawsuit alleging that New Mexico had failed to develop satisfactory Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for various pollutants in its affected streams, the EPA began requiring watershed recovery plans establishing TMDLs for each body of water violating New Mexico water quality standards. In reaction, the NM Environment Department proposed removing more than seventy reaches from its list of assessed rivers because there was “no data to indicate that water quality in those reaches was impaired” (“The ABC’s of TMDLs,” Susan Gorman, New Mexico Water Dialogue, December 1998). End of the Century 1998 saw the MRGCD installing an automated water measurement system to keep tabs on its diversions and to gage return flows from its irrigation and drainage facilities. State Attorney General Tom Udall issued an Opinion that New Mexico law does permit the legal protection of instream flows for recreational and ecological purposes (Attorney General of New Mexico, 1998.) The opinion represented the first recognition of a stream’s “right to water” by an entity of state government: a view that has yet to be tested in court. Also that year, the first draft of the Middle Rio Grande Water Assembly’s regional water budget sparked an uproar by concluding that despite return flows from some 70,000 acre-feet of groundwater being pumped from the aquifer, the feast of San JuanChama (SJC) water imported into the Rio Grande system since 1972 and the blessing of two of the wettest decades in the last 2,200 years, the region’s water account appeared to be vastly overdrawn. With the Middle Rio Grande Council of Governments as its host, a Bosque Consortium was formed to serve as a clearinghouse for bosque restoration work. Although matters of funding and authority proved to be ultimate stumbling blocks for the Consortium, interaction between its participants and the knowledge gleaned from their open discussion persists today in other guises. Opportunities to approach problems collectively were gathering momentum. With plans in the works by both Albuquerque and Santa Fe to begin diverting SJC water for direct use, environmental interests decided to join forces. Spearheaded by an organization called the Land and Water Fund of the Rockies, a collection of environmental groups formed the Alliance for Rio Grande Heritage and began drafting a document aimed at implementing the 1996 multi-agency river management agreement known as the White Paper. The “Green Paper” offered a roadmap that went several steps further than the water managers’ set of action alternatives.

decline of the Rio Grande Ecosystem.

River restoration had been underway at the Pueblo of Santa Ana for some time with a long-term goal of reactivation of several old oxbows and side channels. Such areas would provide natural nurseries for both cottonwoods and aquatic species like the silvery minnow. The Fish and Wildlife Service also had a recovery plan for the silvery minnow that identified four necessary actions: restoration and protection of habitat within the middle valley, reestablishment of the species into suitable habitat within its historic range, and a public awareness and education program. As the century came to a close, estimates of the region’s annual water deficit had been revised downward from 70,000 to 57,000 acre-feet a year; the amended budget also contained a brand new pie chart that assigned percentages to uses and depletions throughout the system. Discord over the deficit and those percentages would continue for the next several years. Impatience still reigned among a handful of environmental groups, too; together they filed suit in federal district court to “prevent further decline of the Rio Grande ecosystem in central New Mexico.” The New Millennium Although the new millennium opened with daily communication between water management agencies regarding flows for the silvery minnow, it was taking place amid a landscape of lawsuits and countersuits. To help connect the profusion of groups and initiatives, the non-profit advocacy group Rio Grande Restoration held an information workshop on April 11, 1996. In a world of amplified meetings, this one made a significant impression, underscoring the enormous volume of work underway on river and ecosystem issues, and showcasing the general bonhomie among those who were involved in the effort. That same day, however, Land and Water Fund of the Rockies filed a motion for preliminary injunction requiring federal water managers to keep the Rio Grande wet through the difficult San Acacia reach, and requiring a three-day notice if “discontinuous flows” were expected in the river.

ongruent with a hot Fourth of July, the MRGCD received a handcarried letter from the Bureau of Reclamation, ordering that a continuous flow of 300 cfs be maintained at San Acacia Diversion Dam for the Rio Grande silvery minnow. At that rate, the MRGCD’s water supply would be used up by the end of August. In the same letter, conservancy officials learned that the U.S. government was claiming title to MRGCD facilities. In the days that followed, the situation boiled over: Senator Pete Domenici called the action a “nationalization” of the irrigation district; the state Attorney General filed a brief intervening in the ongoing minnow suit; Albuquerque officials spoke of defending cityowned SJC water against federal takeover; the Valencia County Commission passed an emergency resolution condemning the Bureau of Reclamation’s claim on the MRGCD; suspicious irrigators reported seeing “federal marshals” on conservancy ditch banks; and in Socorro County, farmers staged an angry protest at the San Acacia Diversion Dam to keep irrigation water flowing to the Socorro Main Canal. In August, a Middle Rio Grande Water Supply Study was released. Its sobering conclusions warned that the water supply as a whole is highly variable and barely adequate to meet present demands; that groundwater is not an independent, disconnected water supply, and that its overuse will result in diminished flows of the Rio Grande; and that water use in every sub-region affects the water available to the entire region. On the environmental front, the ESA Collaborative Program offered up a draft ten-year plan to protect endangered species in the MRG. Within a few weeks of the Collaborative’s proposal, the Rio Grande Compact Commission agreed to let New Mexico “bank” spring runoff in Jemez Canyon and Abiquiu Reservoirs to be released over a three-year period for the minnow, in exchange for releasing 100,000 acre-feet of water in continued on page 3

june 2006

agua es vida

Weapons and Water: Chromium Contamination in New Mexico by Joni Arends, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety .S. nuclear weapons facilities operated by the Department of Energy (DOE) have contaminated every river they have come in contact with. Radionuclides and hazardous materials have been found in Washington’s Columbia River, in Idaho’s Snake River and in Tennessee’s Clinch River. In New Mexico, DOE owns Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) which is located on the Pajarito Plateau above the Rio Grande. The Rio Grande is not immune to contaminants. Indeed, LANL has already had a marked impact on the water quality of the Rio Grande.

In 2000, Los Alamos County closed a drinking water well due to the detection of perchlorate, a thyroid disruptor. And this past February, another contaminant, polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), caused the New Mexico Environment Department and the New Mexico Department of Health to issue the first ever “do not eat” advisory for channel catfish in the Rio Grande. Another revelation came more recently. Elevated levels of hexavalent chromium were detected in the regional aquifer. Over the years, chromium was discharged by LANL into Los Alamos, Sandia and Mortandad canyons. Releases began in the 1950s and were suspended in the mid 1970s. As a result elevated chromium levels have been found in Mortandad Canyon. Chromium is naturally occurring and can be found in plants, soil, and in groundwater, where it is highly mobile. Two forms of chromium are important at LANL: trivalent and hexavalent chromium. Although trivalent chromium is known to positively contribute to health, the EPA has found hexavalent chromium to be toxic, even when exposures are brief. If ingested, hexavalent chromium can be lethal. It causes stomach upset, ulcers, convulsions and kidney and liver damage. External exposure can cause ulcers on the skin, rashes and nerve damage. It is the controversial toxin portrayed in the Hollywood film "Erin Brockovich." In December 2005, LANL reported finding elevated levels of chromium in a characterization well for the regional aquifer. The chromium level, which was elevated for some time has recently increased drastically. Between January 2004 and December 2005, the detected hexavalent chromium levels nearly doubled from five times the state standard at 270 parts per billion (ppb) to eight times the state standard at 405 ppb. The New Mexico drinking water standard for hexavalent chromium is 50 ppb. The federal Safe Drinking Water Act standard is 100 ppb.

In March 2006, LANL released a report that documents their efforts to discover the extent and prevent the spread of the contamination plume. LANL asserts that the chromium contamination has not been detected in Los Alamos County drinking water wells. However, the most productive wells, Pajarito Mesa 3 and Otowi 4, are located within a mile of the characterization well where the chromium was found. The presence of hexavalent chromium contamination in the regional aquifer is a threat to Los Alamos County drinking water supplies. Residents there rely solely on the aquifer for drinking water. Additionally, high levels of hexavalent chromium in the aquifer is an early warning for communities who are planning to divert water from our river systems. While no one knows the full extent of the regional aquifer beneath northern New Mexico, we do know that it discharges water into springs at the base of canyons bordering the Rio Grande. Thus, river water supplies could be at risk. Communities that may be threatened include Santa Fe due to the

The priority now is to find out the extent of the hexavalent chromium contamination plume.

Valley

Buckman Diversion Project, and Albuquerque because of the San Juan-Chama Drinking Water Project. It is chromium's ground water mobility and the interconnectedness of all water systems, both surface and groundwater, that threatens the safety of our water supplies. The priority now is to find out the extent of the hexavalent chromium contamination plume through tests that characterize the water pumped from the surrounding wells.

Gallup

LANL funds a public education water resources office that is located within the offices of the County of Santa Fe. The possible influence of LANL on County water policies through this office is a case of the fox guarding the hen house. Time is of the essence, but funding that should be used to find the extent of the hexavalent chromium contamination plume is being diverted to influence public opinion and policy. LANL must be held accountable.

Santa Fe

Contact your elected officials and tell them you want more oversight of DOE and LANL operations, especially chromium contamination. For info go to www.nuclearactive.org or call at 986-1973.

For the Love of a continued from page 2

Elephant Butte. While acknowledging the action as a step in the right direction, environmental plaintiffs in the minnow case declared the agreement would neither save the species, nor derail the ongoing lawsuit. Drinking the River

n June of 2001, the City of Albuquerque applied to the Office of the State Engineer for a permit to divert all 48,200 acre-feet of its San Juan-Chama water plus an equal amount of native Rio Grande water from the river. Under the proposed Drinking Water Project, peak diversions of up to 103,000 acre-feet per year would be treated and circulated for municipal use. The native water would be returned to the river as treated effluent at Albuquerque’s wastewater plant some fourteen miles downstream. Protests of the application were subsequently filed by the Navajo Nation, the San Juan Water Commission, the community of Bloomfield, the MRGCD, the Pueblo of Isleta, a number of private citizens, and a coalition of agricultural and environmental interests. Overall, protestants charged that the diversion would infringe on existing water rights, diminish the overall water supply for downstream users, jeopardize riparian habitat, impact water quality, and interfere with the state’s ability to meet its Rio Grande Compact obligations. That fall, Rio Rancho became the first municipality in the state to have to secure up front the surface water rights to offset a proposed increase in groundwater withdrawal. Prior to a new rule, set forth in the Middle Rio Grande Administrative Area Guidelines, entities had been granted a conditional pumping permit based on a promise to acquire the necessary rights in the future. The practice, known as “dedication,” had allowed the State Engineer to grant a well permit to a municipal system, mutual domestic, or new subdivision without knowing where the offset water would come from. Now, New Mexico’s fastest-growing city would be the first to feel the sting of the amended policy.

River

By May 1, 2002, reservoirs statewide were at their lowest levels in twenty years, and the runoff forecast was one of the worst in forty-five years. On June 6, a proposed rule to designate critical habitat for the silvery minnow was published in the Federal Register, and water managers once again confronted the realities of trying to keep a desert river wet during drought. Just as farmers were bracing for a truncated irrigation season, it was announced that an agreement had been negotiated between the City of Albuquerque and the MRGCD: in exchange for dropping its protest of the city’s proposed Drinking Water Project, the conservancy would receive 70,000 acre-feet of Albuquerque SJC water to see its irrigators through to the end of the year. Albuquerque had issued a final report (CH2MHill, 2002) on the possible hydrologic effects of its Drinking Water Project, and in early July, a public hearing was held on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed diversion. A majority of speakers expressed concern over the unusual speed at which the approval process was being carried out. One noted: “The only group here in support of this project is the development community.” In December of 2002, the office of the State Engineer’s hearing began on Albuquerque’s application to divert an average of 94,000 acre-feet a year from the Rio Grande. The remaining protestant in the case, the coalition of agricultural and environmental interests, questioned the project’s effect on senior water right holders, the riparian corridor through Albuquerque, and the basin’s already-mined aquifers. They argued that city-owned SJC water had in fact been augmenting the Rio Grande for several decades through various leases, gifts to multiple users, and groundwater pumping offsets. Accordingly, the Coalition pressed the State Engineer to conjunctively administer the city’s existing ground and surface continued on page 4

Co-op Values Cooperatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, cooperative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others. Co-op Principles 1 Voluntary and Open Membership 2 Democratic Member Control 3 Member Economic Participation 4 Autonomy and Independence 5 Education, Training and Information 6 Cooperation among Cooperatives 7 Concern for Community The Co-op Connection is published by La Montanita Co-op Supermarket to provide information on La Montanita Co-op Supermarket, the cooperative movement, and the links between food, health, environment and community issues. Opinions expressed herein are of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Co-op.

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YOU OWN IT june 2006

agua es

vida

A Pharmacy Runs Through It by Michael Jensen, Amigos Bravos

t is a common perception that water treatment plants produce pure drinkable water. However, recent local and national studies raise questions about that belief. The drinking water diversion treatment facility near Alameda and the wastewater treatment facility near Rio Bravo allow pharmaceuticals and other organic contaminants to enter our drinking water and water discharged into the Río Grande. Maceo Martinet, a UNM graduate biology student, tested Albuquerque’s WWTP for 19 pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) in Fall 2004. He found antibiotics, nonprescription drugs, insecticides, the antimicrobial ingredient triclosan, fire retardants, and plastic-derived compounds in the water downstream from the facility. He also found PPCPs concentrating in the shallow groundwater and soils 30-40 yards in from the banks of the river.

Our Drinking Water The Río Grande above Albuquerque also contains PPCPs from upstream wastewater facilities and other sources. Albuquerque’s Drinking Water Project takes river water, treats it, and then pipes it to consumers. The city is also allowed to take additional river water, treat it, and pump it into the aquifer for future drinking water use. The wastewater treatment facility discharge flows downstream through Albuquerque’s South Valley, Isleta Pueblo, Belen and Los Lunas, and farther downstream. Some residents of those communities rely on river water to irrigate crops for family consumption and on shallow domestic wells for drinking water.

what’s in our water?

In 2002, the US Geological Survey (USGS) conducted the first nationwide study of 95 pharmaceuticals, hormones, and other organic wastewater contaminants in a network of 139 streams in 30 states (http://toxics.usgs.gov/pubs/OFR-02-94/index.html). Focusing on streams considered susceptible to contamination from wastewater sources, the study found human and veterinary drugs, natural and synthetic hormones, detergent metabolites, plasticizers, insecticides, and fire retardants. One or more of these chemicals were found in 80% of the streams sampled. Half the streams had 7 or more and about one-third contained 10 or more of these chemicals.

Human and River Health Impacts Research on PPCPs and their impact on health is very recent. Mainstream opinion is that individual chemicals are found in concentrations too low to affect human health. However, there are many unanswered questions. What about chemicals not meant to be consumed, such as pesticides and insecticides? Could PPCPs have a multiplier effect or combine to form new chemicals? What is the impact of these chemicals in our water every day over many decades? The impact of PPCPs on aquatic life is much clearer. Laboratory and field tests of PPCPs at concentrations found in streams produced impaired or altered sexual characteristics and produced lethargy in fish and amphibians. PPCP-induced changes likely leave animals more vulnerable to stress factors like drought or predators.

Alternative Treatment and Management Alternative methods to break down or eliminate PPCPs include: activated carbon, ozonation, increased aging of treatment sludge (allowing more bacterial activity), and membrane treatment (similar to desalinization). California and Arizona use membrane technology for water injected into aquifers for future drinking water use. PPCPs can be managed by requiring separate treatment for hospital wastewater, labeling of PPCPs regarding appropriate use and disposal, special PPCP disposal facilities, and urine separation in toilets. What You Can Do • Do not dispose of chemicals in toilets, sinks, or drains. • Take the lowest effective dose (ask your doctor) of drugs like estrogens and other hormones so less is eliminated from your body through urinating. • Ask your water utility to analyze your local water and wastewater treatment facility for PPCPs and publish the results. • Ask the water utility to conduct a public education campaign on proper disposal of PPCPs, including drop-off sites or other special handling for these chemicals. • Ask your local and state officials to investigate alternative methods of managing and treating PPCPs; and require that New Mexico use membrane treatment processes. • Ask your Congressional representatives to require manufacturers to carry warning labels regarding PPCP disposal and to set up PPCP collection programs. • Ask state and federal environment offices to establish and enforce standards for PPCPs from urban and agricultural discharges, and to fund research on alternative treatment methods.

For more information about the impact of PPCPs on our drinking water and rivers, please contact Amigos Bravos: in Taos, Rachel Conn @ 505.758.3874; in Albuquerque, Michael Jensen @ 505.362-1063.

Agua es Vida: For the Love of a River continued from page 3

Classical Homeopathy Visceral Manipulation Craniosacral Therapy

MARY ALICE COOPER, MD St. Raphael Medical Center 204 Carlisle NE Albuquerque, NM 87106

505-266-6522

water permits, and to investigate the connections between surface flow, shallow groundwater and deep aquifer more carefully before granting so large a permit to deplete the river. Indeed, as the hearing progressed it would become clear that the State Engineer’s Water Rights Division had not considered the possible impacts of the new diversion on groundwater because the application in question involved surface water. Neither had the effects of historic and proposed groundwater pumping on river flows been taken into consideration. Nor was any evaluation done on possible impacts to wells in the shallow aquifer. One witness admitted that the Water Rights Department had no idea how many individual wells there might be in

How do we get farmers listed as an endangered species? Larry Whitefield April 1996 MRGCD meeting

the Albuquerque reach, and that essentially, the OSE has always depended on seepage from MRGCD canals and drains to keep the water table stabilized. Another problematic disclosure was that the state had not been apprised of the settlement agreements between Albuquerque and other protestants in the Drinking Water Project case although it was recognized that conditions contained therein might affect the state’s ability to administer water in the basin. No Doubt About Drought While New Mexicans in Santa Fe and Las Vegas dutifully watched their evergreens, grassy sports fields and public lawns die for lack of water, Albuquerque installed seventy acres of turf at Balloon Fiesta Park and reassured its constituents that their city was “drought proof.” By September 2003, irrigation on the MRGCD’s non-tribal lands had ceased two months short of a normal season, and water procured by the Bureau of Reclamation for the silvery minnow

had nearly run out. Environmental plaintiffs in the ongoing federal district minnow case now petitioned for the release of another 20,000 acre-feet of San Juan-Chama water from Heron Reservoir to see the endangered fish through to cooler weather. But the request met an angry wall from officials at all levels of government, many of whom wanted a delay of any more releases because an appeal of Judge James Parker’s decision in the minnow case was pending. Fortunately, the middle valley’s luck held yet again. On September 20--the autumnal equinox--it began to rain. In a matter of hours, minnows below San Acacia Dam were swimming in a flow of 1,000 cfs. On January 3, 2003 City of Albuquerque officials held a ground-breaking ceremony on the riverbank at Alameda for a $22 million project to divert 3,000 acre feet of SJC water to irrigate the grounds at Balloon Fiesta Park, various sports fields, and acres of lawn at Journal Center. The “nonpotable diversion plan” would be the first component of the municipality’s overall strategy to reduce its reliance on groundwater. Officials also proposed a several-stage drought management strategy for the coming outdoor watering season, and to forestall having to implement the more restrictive levels of the strategy, they increased rebates for low-use plumbing fixtures and xeriscaping. A level up, Governor Bill Richardson was promising a State Water Plan that would integrate regional water plans, an inventory of state water resources, and a drought management strategy. In mid-May, water resource managers at the 2003 Southwest Drought Summit in Flagstaff, Arizona were urged to plan for years--possibly decades--of drought. At the same time, members of the New Mexico Drought Task Force were told by the head of the National Weather Service’s Albuquerque Office that nearly all of the state was in “severe hydrologic drought,” with reservoir storage at its lowest since 1978. A month after the dire warnings, the Circuit Court of Appeals confirmed Judge James Parker’s 2002 ruling that despite non-federal ownership, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation does have continued on page 12

june 2006

outdoor

adventures

National Trails Day: Experience Your Outdoors

elebrate our public lands by volunteering for National Trails Day on Saturday, June 3, 2006 at the Elena Gallegos Picnic Area Open Space. Starting at 8:30 am, volunteers can choose from a variety of projects, ranging from reseeding trails in the Open Space system to heavy trail maintenance on the Sandia Mountain Forest Service lands. Projects vary in level of difficulty and will last throughout the day. According to the American Hiking Society, National Trails DayÂŽ (NTD) is the largest and most influential trails celebration in the nation. This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s slogan, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Experience Your Outdoors,â&#x20AC;? encourages all people to take advantage of Albuquerqueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unique access to diverse landscapes. Whether you enjoy mountains, rivers or desert, you are only minutes away from trails that transform the city into wilderness. Open Space Alliance President and event sponsor Steve Hamp says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;National Trails

Day is a great way to explore, enjoy and appreciate the hundreds of miles of trails we have here in the Albuquerque area.â&#x20AC;? The Elena Gallegos Picnic Area is located at the end of Simms Park Road, east of Tramway, just north of Academy. All you need to bring are a hat, water bottle, lunch, sunscreen, and lots of enthusiasm. The Albuquerque Open Space Division and Sandia Ranger District will provide all other equipment/tools and instructions. At the end of the day a meal will be provided along with door prizes donated by the many sponsors. To volunteer, please sign up at Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI), located at 1550 Mercantile Ave. (I-25 and Montano), or call them at 247-1191. For more information, call Jodi Hedderig with the City of Albuquerque, Open Space Division at 452-5210 or visit www.cabq.gov/openspace/calendarofevents.

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New Mexico Volunteers for the

Outdoors

tastes. The work level is high. Please pay close attention to the classification and the project description to gain a clear understanding of what conditions are expected.

Taking Care of our Public Lands he New Mexico Volunteers for the Outdoors (NMVFO) is an all volunteer organization that has been organizing groups of individuals to participate in projects that improve New Mexico's back-country hiking, bicycling, and horse trails along with other outdoor public recreation areas since 1982. NMVFO projects are open to everyone, and volunteers have fun while caring for our public lands.

Please sign up for a project by the indicated date so that they may plan for meals, tools, transportation, etc. The project leader may be able to arrange a ride for you with another volunteer if you need one. Also, please inform the project leader if you have to cancel out of a project after you sign up.

Projects vary widely in complexity and exertion. Each is classified in one of three levels â&#x20AC;&#x201C; moderate, intermediate, or strenuous (indicated by Pulaski ratings) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; to help volunteers understand what to expect and to help match their capabilities with the tasks. All projects involve outdoor physical activity in a variety of weather conditions, and all have activities that can be tailored to meet individual

Project details are subject to change at the last minute, so call the project leader or the office (884-1991 or 1-888-8365553) a few days before the scheduled start to get the latest information. Late breaking information is also posted on their website; www.nmvfo.org on the HOT NEWS! page. For safety reasons please don't bring pets on projects. A parent or guardian must accompany children under 18. If you have any questions, please call the project leader or the office for more informationâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;884-1991 or www.nmvfo.org.

NMVO June Projects National Trails Day, Saturday, June 3 Leonard Padilla leonardpadilla@hotmail.com 505-690-6428 or Lowell Hioki Lhioki@msn.com 505-474-0913. Celebrate National Trails Day with us at Hyde Memorial State Park! Escape the heatâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;enjoy the cool mountains and pine forests just outside of Santa Fe.

help fix a trail!

Jemez Ranger District, Saturday, June 10 Phyllis Martinez pamartinez02@fs.fed.us 505-829-3535 ext. 3116. â&#x20AC;˘ Come spend the day in the beautiful Jemez Mountains and help the Jemez Ranger District get some sorely needed trail work done. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll work on the East Fork Trail, #137, doing general trail maintenance.

Member of International Society of Arboriculture and Society of Commercial Arboriculture ISA Certified, Licensed & Insured

232-2358 EricsTreeCare.com ericstreecare@earthlink.net

Spring Mulch Sale Composted Wood Chips $8 per Cubic Yard 5 Cubic Yard Minimum, Plus Delivery

Services â&#x20AC;˘ Fruit and Shade Tree Pruning â&#x20AC;˘ Technical Removal â&#x20AC;˘ Planting â&#x20AC;˘ Cabling & Bracing â&#x20AC;˘ Pest Management â&#x20AC;˘ Fertilization & â&#x20AC;˘ Root Rehabilitation Services

East Mountains/Gutierrez Canyon, Saturday, June 24 Marty Sanchez mvsanchez@sacbeemail.com 505-861-6920 â&#x20AC;˘ Continuing work on developing about 1 mile of new trail in this open space area on the east side of the Sandia Mountains, east of Albuquerque. Project will involve cutting and working the trail tread.

For upcoming NMVO activities: www.nmvfo.org.

Product Spotlight: Trail Mix for Everyone!

or those among us who love adventures in the great outdoors the bulk department has what you need. In addition to one of the finest assortments of bulk dried fruit and nuts the Co-op has a trail mix to please even the most finicky hikers. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also fun to mix and match! Fill a couple of smaller bags of different trail mixes, your favorite nuts and seeds, and then put them all together when you get home. For example, I will often fill a bag of the shelled pistachios with a touch of salt and when I get home mix it with a bag of either Wild Ginger Harvest or Cranberry Jubilee. That way I have a bit of sweet and a bit of salt and some nut and seed protein to keep me going. Try them all and find your favorites. And while youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re at it donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget the Chunks of Energy snacks in three varieties: Carob Spirulina, Chocolate Almond and Honey Pistachio, all found pre-bagged for

june 2006

your convenience in the bulk dried fruit section. Not all trail mixes are carried at every Co-op location but can be special ordered. Here are some nutritious and fun snacks to keep nutrition at optimum levels. Try the following delicious, high energy, trail food: Mountain Delight Trail Mix â&#x20AC;˘ Navajo Trail Mix â&#x20AC;˘ Wild Ginger Harvest Trail Mix â&#x20AC;˘ Coconut Deluxe Trail Mix â&#x20AC;˘ Truffle Trail Mix â&#x20AC;˘ Cranberry Jubilee Trail Mix â&#x20AC;˘ Organic Oregon Trail Mix â&#x20AC;˘ Organic Cranberry Harvest Trail Mix â&#x20AC;˘ Organic Tropical Trail Mix â&#x20AC;˘ Organic Hit the Trail Mix.

Great Hiking Food

SHOP CO-OP AND SAVE 5

co-op news

june 2006 6

A Member Profile: Evonne Maxwell of Natural Nails by Ivy Edmondson vonne Maxwell is a Co-op member and owner of Natural Nails Organic Manicures and Pedicures. She became a licensed manicurist in 2001, the same year she joined the Co-op. She decided to open her own studio to provide a natural, organic alternative to the toxic chemical processes of most common nail salons. “Unlike other manicurists who go to the beauty supply store to get their products,” she says, “I go to the Co-op!” Evonne has been generous enough to share some of her nail and skin care practices with us.

Evonne’s Product Recommendations for Nail & Skin Care For soaking hands or feet: Resting in the River Healing Body Wash Lotions: Any of the products by Jason, especially the Hemp Hand & Body Lotion Head to Toe: Anything by Burt’s Bees. Go botanical: Use non-petroleum, botanically based products free of preservatives and harsh chemicals. Be flexible: Look for crèmes and lotions you see on sale; just because the label says ‘eye crème,’ that doesn’t mean you can’t use it on cuticles.

LOCAL SALE ITEMS SHOP LOCAL & SAVE

Leona’s de Chimayo Chimayo, NM 8-Inch White Flour Tortillas, 13 oz, Sale $2.29

Tijeras Organic Alchemy Albuquerque, NM Clary & Cucumber Daily Shampoo or Conditioner, 12 oz, Sale $7.99. Additional Tijeras Products also on sale.

Herbs, Etc. Santa Fe, NM Deep Sleep, 1 oz, Sale $7.99. Additional Herbs, Etc. Products also on sale. La Montanita Co-op Albuquerque, NM Tree-Free Kenaf Co-op Greeting Cards, Sale 99¢ VALID IN-STORE ONLY from 5/31-7/4, 2006:

Not all items available at all stores.

JUNE SPECIALS WANT TO SEE YOUR LOCAL PRODUCT ADVERTISED HERE? Contact Angela at angela@lamontanitacoop.com.

Personal Growth Childhood Trauma • Illness Drugs/Alcohol • Loss Women’s Issues

Louise Miller, MA LPCC NCC Psychotherapy louise@louisemiller.org www.louisemiller.org

Phone (505) 385-0562 Albuquerque, NM

HOME FOR SALE, N. VALLEY, ALB. 2200 sq.ft., lot 85x150, Detached Studio 3bdrm, 2ba, hardwood floors CHEMICAL FREE, SOLAR, GREYWATER, RAINWATER CATCHMENT Is your philosophy Global, Working to reduce your use of resources? Affordable Realty 830.6001/dan1551_87107@yahoo.com

For naturally shiny nails: Use a three-way buffer (available at most drug stores), following the package directions to buff nails to a smooth sheen. (Note: Do NOT buff severely ridged nails, see below!) For polish: Use a base coat that is formaldehyde and toluene free to seal the nail. This creates a barrier between the nail and the polish and prevents discoloring or damage to the nails. The base coat also helps the polish adhere. Then apply two thin coats of polish, allow each coat to dry, and finish with a clear top coat. Routine Maintenance for Beautiful Hands Daily: Nip split cuticles as they appear. (It is convenient to keep a set of nail implements handy throughout the day). Rub lotion into hands and oil into cuticles and nails as often as possible. Before bed and also each morning, apply beeswax crème generously to cuticles. This repels water and protects cuticles in the same way waxing a car protects against the elements. Protect your hands: Wear gloves for gardening and housework. Also, before you slip your gardening gloves on, graze your fingernails over a bar of soap to prevent dirt from lodging under the nails. Once a week: Clip and file nails. Working on one hand at a time, soak each hand for six minutes in water with body wash, and then remove pterygium by rubbing cuticle area with a manicure stick. Nip split cuticles, rub oil into the nail and cuticle, and then wax the cuticle. Apply lotion to hands, and you’re done! Ridged, delicate nails: Do not buff severely ridged nails, as this will remove the top layer of the nail and may eventually lead to surface shredding. Ridged nails can be a sign of poor assimilation of nutrients. One way to improve absorption of vitamins and minerals is to clear pathways in the body with an internal cleansing program performed once or twice a year or take a cup of detoxifying tea with lemon on a daily basis. (There are herbal cleansing supplements and detoxifying teas available at the Co-op). Also, keep nails short; massage oil into nails and cuticles, and avoid using polish.

Note on soaking: It is best to soak hands or feet before cleaning nails and nipping cuticles. Soaking also helps with removing extremely dry skin and tough calluses. Routine Maintenance for Lovely Feet Apply moisturizer to feet every night before bed. Dry scrub for calluses as needed: Sit on a chair with a waste basket or towel in front of you to catch the dry skin. Scrub calluses on the feet with a foot paddle, using the coarse side first followed by a light sanding with the fine side. “Your goal is not to remove every last bit of dry skin in one sitting,” Evonne says. “Instead, take 5 days and remove it little by little.” Finish with a moisturizer. Once a week, soak feet for six minutes in a small tub or in a bath of warm water and body wash. Scrub off dry skin from ankle to toe and between toes, using exfoliating gloves. Remove pterygium from cuticle area and clean under nails with a manicure stick. Clip nails. A toothbrush is helpful for scrubbing the sides of big toes. Scrub calluses with a foot paddle, as described above. Then rinse and dry feet, making sure to dry thoroughly between toes. Natural Nail Care Classes Evonne offers a three hour lecture and demonstration class on nail care through UNM Continuing Education; the next “Nurturing Your Nails” class is on July 15th. She also teaches a class entitled “3-Week Therapy and Support for Nail Biters and Cuticle Pickers.” The purpose of the class is to identify situations that cause or perpetuate the habit, instruct students on grooming nails in order to prevent biting/picking, and offer techniques to overcome such deep-seated habits. Graduates are offered free attendance to future classes as a means of ongoing support. To schedule an appointment for a treatment or attend a class, contact Evonne at 280-9498. The first manicure or pedicure includes intake, nail care education, relaxation, grooming, deep cleansing, and beautification. Natural Nails Organic Manicures and Pedicures is located at 2501 San Pedro NE, Suite 117, in Albuquerque.

Letters to the Editor Dear La Montanita Co-op and Members: I would like to take a moment to thank the Co-op and the members for your support over the last seven years and into the future. I started Sandia Soap in my kitchen back in 1999 with a soap book and a few pots. Now we have accounts nationwide and pour hundreds of pounds of soap (still in small 32 lb blocks ) each month. We have moved out of our kitchen into a 1200 square foot warehouse in Albuquerque. We pour a silky, sudsy moisturizing bar at a good price and never have and never will sacrifice quality for a buck. The Co-op was the first store to accept our bars during those early kitchen soap years. Today the Co-op is our top selling health food store in the nation and rivals many of our “gift store” accounts. In keeping with your support for local business, the Co-op was one of the first stores to carry our new soap line, HIGH DESERT ESSENTIALS.

6809 VERMEJO DR NW 341-3657 $199,000 I would like to thank the great and knowledgeable staff at all sites who really are the front line sales people. They are a pleasure to work with and a major reason for our success at Co-op stores. We deeply appreciate the Co-op management for keeping our product, along with other local vendors, in prime locations. We also thank the members who play a key role in our success with their knowledge of healthy choices and for not buying cheap bar soap made from animal fat (sodium tallowate) and detergent. Again thanks to you all for your support. We will keep mixing and pouring soap as long as you keep bathing. Christopher Norton, Founder of Sandia Soap www.sandiasoap.com

Author’s Response to Thomas Mark Kujat’s May Issue Letter to the Editor: Thank you Mr. Kujat, for your letter. I agree with the premise of your letter - that hybrids are a wise choice, and that a focus on improving fuel efficiency is extremely important. In your letter, you took exception to my statement that hybrids are difficult to justify on purely an economic basis. I would like to make clear my calculations that lead to this statement.

A new 2006 Toyota Prius retails for $26,500, which is lowered to $23,500 if the full federal tax credit can be taken. In order to make a comparison, I have chosen a new 2006 non-hybrid Honda Civic, which currently retails for $19,000. These vehicles are roughly equivalent in terms of size, comfort and performance, except an owner of a Prius will experience 20 more miles per gallon of gasoline, which at current prices translates into about 3 cents of savings per mile. The difference in expense is not just the $3,500 price difference, however. We should also include about $1,100 in additional loan interest on this amount. At some point, perhaps twice, the Prius battery set will need to be changed. This is a $3,000 expense that the Civic will not have. At 3 cents a mile, it will take 250,000 miles to recoup all of these expenses. The car may well run this far, but then again it may not. Even more significantly, a consumer could purchase a reliable used vehicle that gets 30 to 35 mpg for $10,000, and save a great deal of loan interest. If we assume no maintenance differential (used car in one case, battery maintenance in the other), it will take almost 600,000 miles to recoup the extra investment. I maintain my position that the Prius is difficult to justify purely by economics. I am still very much in favor of hybrids, for those people who can afford one. They make the most sense when someone cares about greenhouse gas emissions and the evolution of technology toward higher fuel efficiency, as you obviously do. For people who cannot afford a new Prius, who may not pay enough income tax to take advantage of the tax credit, or who would pay an above average loan rate on the higher price, I suggest that there are many affordable used flex-fuel vehicles on the market, which can run on ethanol and have a similar lowering of environmental impact. See www.E85fuel.com for a listing of flex-fuel vehicles going back to 1999 models. I look forward to the introduction of flex-fuel hybrids, and believe that the answer is not supporting either ethanol or hybrid, but in supporting both. Thanks for your interest, Donal Kinney

co-op news

june 2006 7

Katrina Cooperative Recovery Funds at Work

n early May at the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA) Annual Meeting, the Co-operative Development Foundation (CDF) presented a check for $50,000 to the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/LAF for Katrina-related repairs to cooperative businesses in Mississippi and Alabama, including the Federation's own training facilities in Epes, AL. The check from CDF's Katrina Cooperative Recovery Fund was presented to FSC/LAF Board Chair Woodrow Keown and Ralph Paige, FSC/LAF Executive Director. As of May 1, 2006, contributions to the Katrina Cooperative Recovery Fund totaled $125,265. Over $72,000 of that total was raised through 22 food cooperatives and their members in 14 states. La Montanita Co-op contributed nearly $10,000 to the fund. Half of the money La Montanita Co-op sent was collected from members and shoppers in the jars

Calendar of Events

at the register and through special community fundraising events and activities. La Montanita then matched dollar for dollar community donations from its donations budget. The Katrina Fund was established for the following purposes: (1) for repairs to co-op and co-op development facilities; (2) for education and outreach to convince Gulf Coast citizens and decision makers that cooperatives can play a bigger role in the new Gulf Coast economy; and (3) for capacity building to make sure that the personnel and resources are in place both to rebuild existing co-ops and to bring significant new cooperative development to the Gulf Coast. Once again, thank you to everyone who contributed! Just as was done with the Tsunami Cooperative Recovery Fund, CDF collected no administrative fee for any of its costs associated with this Fund. As a result, 100% of the funds raised are used for the purposes for which the Fund was established.

Boar d Brief:

6/3 6/5 6/20 6/21 6/27

Coffee with the Board, Santa Fe Co-op 11am-1pm Foundations Committee, Valley Co-op 5:30pm Board of Directors Meeting, Immanuel Church 5:30pm Member Linkage, Immanuel Church 5:30pm Finance Committee Meeting, 303 San Mateo NE 5pm

TRY TRY SOME OF THESE LOCALLY MADE SOUTHWEST SUMMER SKIN SOOTHERS Milagro Herbs: Rejuvenation Hand and Body Lotion • Desert Dweller Hand and Body Lotion • Fabulous Foot Salve La Puebla Elementals: Omega Salve • Heart Salve Desert Woman Botanicals: Fab Foot Creme • Hand and Body Lotion and other Desert Woman Botanical Products

AVAILABLE AT YOUR CO-OP

Meeting of April 18, 2006 by Shirley Coe, Administrative Assistant Store Performance: The General Manager reported strong financial performance this year (mid-fiscal year). Storewide, the Co-op is exceeding projections at this point. The Nob Hill deli is looking great and performing very well. Membership in Santa Fe is also doing very well, with 64 percent of sales dollars from members in the last three months. Albuquerque averages 80 percent of sales dollars from members. Policy Manual: The Board has decided to review the Board/General Manager Relations policies to create a uniform style (without changing the content). This should make it easier to read now and easier to make any future changes.

L IANNE S T. R EMY, A . B . T. therapist & instructor

Wine License: By member request, the Co-op is pursuing a license to sell locally grown wine at the Valley store. (Gallup and Santa Fe are in different zones, and they are not being considered for wine sales at this time.) This would allow the Co-op to sell bulk wine (with no sulfites), and some wines might be sold with a Co-op label. Bylaws: The Board is reviewing bylaws that pertain to eligibility for running for the Board. Part of this stems from the Co-op’s goal of acquiring a license to sell locally grown wine. When the discussion is complete, the proposed amendments will be presented to membership in October for a vote. Board Meeting: Members are invited to attend monthly board meetings. Please consult the calendar of events for the next scheduled Board Meeting.

s h i a t s u & reiki meridian stretches mobile: 1.508.479.2675 home: 505.898.0531 Corrales, New Mexico

Traces

Local Product Spotlight: Summer Foot Soothers

ittle Moon Essentials began with a dream Laura had in the winter of 1994. She dreamed of a warming ginger bath, in a gallon jar, called "Letting Go" that would help her chronic eczema. She woke up the next morning with the blend in mind, and a picture in her head of the jar. Being a studied aromatherapist and herbalist, she made the bath salt with a combination of salts that was unique and unusual. Thus a dream company had begun, with an idea for a new kind of BODY MEDICINE — a product that would pamper you as well as make your body better every time you used it.

urge everyone to recycle their jars, and maintain an environmentally conscious standard that befits a "planet friendly" company. What’s more, they have a fine selection of great foot products to heal and soothe dusty southwestern summer feet. La Montanita Co-op is pleased to carry the full line. Choose from: Cleansing Tea Tree: Anti-fungal foot solutions, perfect for athlete's foot, blisters, nail fungi and other irritations and infections. Also makes a great massage cream and soak for pedicures. Peppermint: FOR HOT FEET! A refreshing foot duo, which will make your overheated and exhausted feet feel BRAND NEW! For shoppers, athletes, dancers, and people on their feet all day. Soothing Floral: Floral antidepressants and anxiety-relievers abound in these foot delights. Made for stressed-out feet and their owners. Uplifting Rosemary: Stimulating and reviving foot products for worn-out feet! Balances circulation and relieves pain. Great for athletes, dancers, shoppers & people who stand up all day. Warming Ginger-Cayenne: A hot toddy for cold tootsies, perfect for poor circulation, painful and gouty feet and as a great therapy for winter sports that chill the toes!

pamper your feet with

Little Moon Essentials!

With her sister Lisa, who initially helped produce many great ideas to help Little Moon expand from three products into twenty, (and the unending, and at times financial, support of their amazing mother and father, friends, and health food stores), one bulk bath salt grew into a "microblendery" body care company that now offers unique and "truly therapeutic" natural products for many ailments, situations, and injuries. Everything in the line is created with a specific healing action in mind — to help you treat yourself to good health for the mind, body and spirit. A women owned company, they use only whole, fresh ingredients, would never dream of testing on animals,

Product Spotlight: healthy summer reading

Great Books at the C O - O P

New Work by Jeff Beekman

The Nob Hill store has received a recent shipment of cookbooks and health related books. Look for the “Staff Pics” list posted on the book shelf. Some summer reading options include “The Raw Food Detox Diet” by Natalia Rose, “Ayuvedic Cookbook” by Amadea Morningstar, and “How to Prevent and Treat Diabetes with Natural Medicine” by Michael Murray, MD. Please come browse the book area in the natural living section.

June 5 – June 29 Reception: June 9 Friday, 5 PM to 8:30 PM

HARWOOD

ART CENTER

1114 7th Street NW at Mountain Road. For more information, call 505-242-6367

BUY

CAL

the co-op’s road to freshness is short !

M & M Bagels A Whole New Bagel Matt just recently began providing delicious bagels to the Co-ops in the Valley and Nob Hill. He has been baking all of his life, at home and in food service settings, and in September of 2004 he decided to take over the Great Harvest bakery in Rio Rancho from its previous owners, who had opened it in a complex in Rio Rancho in June of 2003.

Dense, Chewy, East Coast-style...

After baking artisan breads for over a year, Matt and his wife (who also bakes there) decided, in response to customers’ requests, to begin making bagels as well. He grew up in Detroit, but had experienced the chewy, moist East Coast bagel and knew that that was the type of bagel that he’d want to produce. This texture is created by boiling the bagels, rather than baking them in the oven.

Connecting With the Co-op

He approached the Co-op and we told him “If you make us some bagels, we’ll buy them from you today!” In order to perfect the texture and taste of the bagels for us, he tested variations of his recipe, giving them to friends and customers at the bak-

BUY

ery to judge. Finally on the sixth batch he had arrived at the perfect plain bagel, and began adding ingredients to that: blueberry, sun-dried tomato, and Matt’s favorite, green chile.

Natural Goodness

They grind their own flour for the whole grain bagels every day, which gives it a fresh, light whole wheat taste. For the bagels to react and raise correctly, he adds gluten to the dough, but they contain no preservatives or artificial ingredients. The sweetener that they use (required by the live yeast to rise) is either brown sugar or honey.

A Labor of Love

Matt takes a great deal of responsibility in his business. He and his wife do most of the baking –he works seven days a week, she works the graveyard shift—and he delivers their bagels three days a week. They have four employees and a delivery guy who brings us bagels the other three days. In Matt’s words “This is my baby, and it’s a lot of work!” but when you taste that fresh, chewy bagel, you know that the whole thing is worth it.

CAL

the co-op’s road to freshness is short !

Nova Homeopathics 26 Years of Local Healing Nova’s owner Dr. Bernaert is an uncommon blend of tradition and inspiration. His business has been in Albuquerque for 26 years. His homeopathic remedies are sold in the HBA section of the co-ops. “Old doctors understood because they made the medicines themselves,” he says, making the motion of grinding a mortar and pestle with his hands. This is what he does in his storefront in north Albuquerque, creating tinctures and elixirs using modern machinery and ancient herbal wisdom.

Old World Knowledge

As a child in Holland Dr. Bernaert was already experiencing the science of plants: His father was head of the botanical gardens in his town, and began to teach him the latin names of the plants. “But what use is Latin to a six-year-old?” he asks, laughing. He went on to train as a medical doctor specializing in homeopathy in Germany. While there he learned medicine and pathology, and, in his words, “to use the human body as a healing instrument.” During our talk, he came back to the border metaphor many times. “If you split your pants, it is always in the seam, never in the

fabric; it is where the fabric connects. Where things meet, there is power and tension.” This is a philosophy that Dr. Bernaert uses in his understanding of the ailments of the human body, and their treatment .

Science In Tune With Nature

Dr. Bernaert produces homeopathics using herbs and minerals from all over the world, some wildcrafted, some cultivated, because he believes that there are cases in which each of these sources are necessary aspects of the remedy. In some situations minute amounts of toxins that are present in cultivated herbals act as part of the treatment, preparing and training our antibodies to react and heal us when those toxins are present in unhealthy quantities in our surroundings.

Onward and Upward

He is currently working on a book and seminar to help other trained doctors to see the value in holistic healing practice. “I try to be a facilitator, an opening to the new era… It is an evolution and because we are on the outskirts, we express this in a positive way: we are the path to the Evolution.”

HOT

O O P C EA Alba Bontanica Green Tea Sunscreen 4 oz

D A Ls 99 99 $ New Chapter Every Man’s II Multivitamin

valid in-store 5/31 - 7/04

Quantum Buzz Away Spray

90 ct.

99 6 oz., selected varieties

made with organic ingredients

Honest Tea Organic Ready to Drink Tea

Redwood Hill Farm Goat Yogurt

Imagine Foods Enriched Rice Beverage

16 oz., selected varieties

8oz., selected varieties

Natural Sea Yellowfin Chunk Light Tuna

R. W Knudsen Just Black Cherry Juice

32 oz., selected varieties

Muir Glen Organic Tomatoes

32 oz., other 14.5 oz.,

Knudsen juices also on sale

6 oz., Salted or No Salt

selected varieties

Seventh Generation Dish Liquid

Annie’s Naturals Dressing

Organic Valley Organic Milk

64 oz., 25 oz.,selected varieties

8 oz., selected varieties

selected varieties

cooling cuisine Recipes to Cool the

Body

The American diet and lifestyle often creates heat and acid conditions in the body. In summer, as outside temperatures rise, these conditions can be exacerbated and lead to skin conditions, fatigue, stress, and irritability. The foods we eat leave either an alkaline, acidic, or neutral residue in the body after metabolization. Eating foods in a ratio of 80% alkaline to 20% acid forming will help balance the body’s pH. (Interestingly, citrus fruits taste acidic, but leave an alkaline residue and can restore the body’s alkalinity quickly, especially lemons. See food lists below). A healthy whole-foods diet, in combination with meditation practice (even just 10 minutes a day), and some form of daily bodywork (yoga, tai chi, brisk walking), can restore the body to a state of balance and help you maintain your joy in the desert heat.

Super Alkalizing Foods • Lemons and watermelon (quick alkalizers, great for fasting, cleansing, and restoration) • Agar agar, stevia, cantaloupe, cayenne, dates, figs, kelp and other seaweeds, kudzu root, limes, mango, melons, papaya, parsley, grapes, watercress, asparagus, endive, kiwifruit, passion fruit, pears, pineapple, raisins, umeboshi plum, unsweetened fruit and vegetable juices Moderate to Slightly Alkalizing All other fresh fruit and vegetables (excluding blueberries, plums, prunes, and bananas, which are slightly acid forming), raw sugar, sea salt, carob, tamari, unrefined vinegars, almonds, unrefined grain malts/syrups, coconut, honey, miso, olives and homemade pickles, most spices

june 2006 10

(excluding nutmeg and mustard, which are slightly acidic), chestnuts and water chestnuts, amaranth, egg yolks, sprouted grains, goat’s milk and whey, horseradish, homemade mayonnaise, millet, olive oil, quinoa, sesame seeds, soy beans and soy products, tempeh, and nutritional yeast Neutral to Slightly Acidic All other dairy products, nuts, dried beans and grains, fructose, pasteurized honey, unrefined maple syrup and molasses (Note: chewing each mouthful of whole grains 40 times increases alkalinity) Moderately to Extremely Acid Forming Tobacco, refined cereals (i.e. cream of wheat, corn flakes), all white flour products, fish and shellfish, fruit juices with sugar, jams and jellies, processed syrups, commercial pickles, wine, sweetened yogurt, beer, brown sugar, all fowl and meat products, chocolate, coffee, liquor, table salt, black tea, white vinegar, carbonated drinks, refined white sugar, and artificial sweeteners (t = teaspoon/ T = tablespoon/ C = cup) Cooling pH-balancing drink 1/4 C aloe vera juice 3/4 C purified or spring water 1 t liquid chlorophyll 1/8 t sea or mineral salt 1/2 t organic unrefined sugar (or a scant pinch of stevia powder) 2 t fresh lemon or lime juice Combine ingredients, stir, and drink daily. Slivered Veggie Chop Suey Almost any vegetable works in this recipe; the secret lies in making the longest and thinnest slivers that you can

manage. Use a veggie “spiral slicer” (Saladacco or similar machine) if you have one. Thin slivers will pick up the taste of the seasonings and are fun to eat and easy to digest. It is worth the effort! 2 carrots, slivered 2 stalks celery, peeled and slivered 1 C thinly sliced mushrooms 1 red pepper, slivered 2 C Bok Choy, chiffonade (roll leaves and stems cigar-style and slice very thin) 1 small zucchini, slivered 1 C green beans, slivered 1 C snow peas or snap peas 1 C mung sprouts 1 C sunflower sprouts 1 C clover sprouts 1 small red onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 1/4 C chopped cilantro 2 t ginger juice, or 1 T minced ginger 2 T or more toasted or raw sesame oil 2 T tamari 4 pieces of Nori, cut in 1/2" strips Toss well. To use as a main course or a one dish meal, add 2 cups soaked pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds or almonds. Copyright Notice: The above recipe was taken from: The Raw Gourmet, Simple Recipes for Living Well, by Nomi Shannon. ©1998 Nomi Shannon. All commercial rights reserved. Lettuce Leaf Taco 3 ripe avocados 1 large onion 1 C bean sprouts 1/4 C fresh lemon juice 1/4 C fresh parsley, chopped 1 1/2 t cumin 2 cloves garlic, chopped 1 C sun dried tomatoes, soaked and chopped

1 or more chopped jalapenos or Serranos to taste 1 1/2 t sea salt romaine or leaf lettuce Cut the avocado into chunks, and pour lemon juice over it. Chop onion in food processor, and then add the rest of the ingredients and process until smooth and creamy. Spoon some of the mixture into a lettuce leaf and wrap around mixture. I promise this tastes like a taco! This dish can be very spicy with jalapenos. For more cooling effects, use Serrano peppers or omit the peppers altogether. Raw Spaghetti 2 medium zucchini, as thick and straight as possible Grate, julienne, or “spiralize” the zucchini in a Saladacco Spiral Slicer or similar machine. Arrange on plate similar to pasta. Pasta Sauce 10-12 sun-dried tomatoes, soaked for several minutes in warm water and drained 1/3 C olive oil 1 large fresh tomato 1 large red pepper 1-2 stalks of celery 1 clove garlic sea or mineral salt to taste 4-5 fresh basil leaves Blend all of the sauce ingredients in a blender or food processor. Add the soaked sun-dried tomatoes last, a few at a time. Pour over the zucchini “pasta”. Some fresh curly parsley sprinkled over the top adds a nice touch!

GET TO KNOW THIS LABEL The Beneficial label is your assurance of fresh, regional, chemical-free, delicious food with a unique, family-farmer signature. Consumers now have a clear choice for buying fresh, high-quality produce, eggs and meat at prices that reflect the true costs of small-scale, sustainable farming.

Beneficial Foods is a collaborative of small family farms and ranches in the Rocky Mountain bio-region dedicated to producing food with a strong emphasis on soil, ecology and nutrition.

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All of the farms in the collaborative grow their products with organic production methods, but not all are certified organic. Products are identified by individual farm, and that information is available to consumers.

Give yourself the good feeling that comes from participating in a vibrant and growing local food system while shopping at the co-op. www.beneficialfoods.org

cooling cuisine Sunflower Sprout Wraps 1 tomato, chopped 2-1/2 cups sprouted sunflower seeds (soaked 8 to 12 hours, then sprouted 1 day) Juice of 1 lemon 1 tsp. dulce flakes 1 sm. zucchini, or yellow summer squash, diced 1/4 cup of scallion, diced Romaine lettuce leaves, or other broad leaf lettuce Liquefy the tomato in a blender. Add to the blender the sunflower sprouts, lemon juice and dulce flakes, and blend on medium speed until smooth. Pour the blended mixture into a bowl and mix in the remaining ingredients. Spoon the mixture onto the lettuce leaves, roll them up, and pierce the rolls with toothpicks to hold together. Coconut Pinon Patè 1-1/2 C raw walnuts or other nuts 1-1/2 C raw pine nuts 1/4 fresh coconut 2 bunches fresh parsley 1/2 t dill 1/8 t liquid smoke 1 t pickled garlic(or substitute 1 crushed clove of garlic and 1 t apple cider vinegar) 1 t paprika 1/2 jicama 1-2 red, green, or gold bell peppers In food processor, grind each nut separately (walnuts, pine nuts, coconut) until smooth. Grind parsley separately as well. Add nuts back to food processor with spices, blending until smooth. Adjust seasoning to taste. Serve with jicama and red bell pepper sliced into “chips” or spread on whole-grain toast. Serves 4-6. Creamy Avocado Gazpacho 1 C water Flesh of 1 large or 2 small avocados, reserving 1 T for garnish 2 C chopped cucumber 1-1/2 C chopped tomatoes 1/2 to 1 Serrano chili, sliced with seeds (optional) 1 large clove garlic, minced 1 sprig mint Juice of 1 lemon and 1 lime 1/2 t salt 1 t maple syrup (can use dates or honey to sweeten) 2 small mint leaves Paprika Combine all ingredients in a blender in the order listed. Start blender on low speed for a few seconds, then switch to high. Blend until creamy and smooth, about 1 1/2 minutes. Pour into 2 soup bowls. Slice reserved avocado and gently drop them into the center of the bowl. Add a mint leaf and sprinkle with paprika. Raspberry Almond Salad 1/2 head of Romaine, washed, chopped and chilled 2 ripe avocado, chopped

eat your

GREENS SHOP

CO-OP!

june 2006 11

2 tomatoes, chopped 1 cup almonds, chopped or slivered 1 cup feta or other raw milk cheese (optional) 1/4 cup red onion, diced Fresh raspberries Raspberry walnut vinaigrette, store or homemade Very quick, easy, and high protein salad! Not to mention extremely tasty. Wash and chop all ingredients. In four bowls, layer lettuce, avocado, tomatoes, and onion. Top with raspberries, almonds, and cheese or substitute. Drizzle vinaigrette over the top and chow! Ivy’s Raspberry Vinaigrette 1/4 C raspberry vinegar 1/4 C maple syrup 1 t Worcestershire sauce 1 t Dijon mustard 1 to 2 cloves pressed garlic (or 1/2 t garlic powder) 3/4 C olive oil 1/4 C walnut oil or other nut/seed oil 1/2 t salt, to taste 1/2 t pepper Mix together the vinegar, maple, Worcestershire, Dijon, garlic, salt and pepper. Drip in the olive and nut/seed oils slowly and mix with whisk until all is emulsified. This dressing will last in the refrigerator for several months. (Substitute apple cider vinegar for raspberry and add a teaspoon or so of poppy seeds for a stylish dressing that goes well with arugula and spinach salads). All recipes and information on alkaline and acidforming foods adapted and reprinted from the following sources: Pelago Productions “Food Theory for Healthy Living: 80/20” (E-mail pelago@ihug.co.nz to order an 80/20 chart or for more info) www.livingnutrition.com/recipes www.living-foods.com/recipes www.vegweb.com/recipes/raw www.vegparadise.com www.sidedish.allrecipes.com and Ivy Edmondson

watermelon a super alkalizing food!!

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For the Love of a River: Part II. continued from page 4

the discretion to curtail water deliveries to its San Juan-Chama contractors in order to comply with the Endangered Species Act. The Appeals Court further agreed that the Bureau of Reclamation had the power to reduce MRGDC diversions to supply water to the Rio Grande silvery minnow. State and City of Albuquerque officials and the MRGCD all voiced outrage at what could be construed as a federal “taking” of state and private water rights. That same month, Albuquerque’s $1.7 million refugium for the minnow took in its first guests, and the story of the Middle Rio Grande bosque took a

fateful turn: a massive blaze, sparked by fireworks in the hands of teenagers, broke out in the cottonwood forest just south of Interstate 40, in the very heart of Albuquerque. Before the Atrisco Fire’s smoke had lifted, a new fire broke out the next evening, north and south of the Montaño Bridge. The story drew national news coverage, federal funds, and the appalled attention of the public, to whom the term “bosque restoration” had previously meant very little. The 2003 monsoon season was passing by without much promise. On the other side of what local weather forecasters call “the central mountain chain,” wells were drying up. More ominous still, Tijeras Creek had ceased to flow “for the first time in decades.” Down in the basin to the west, MRGDC irrigators between Cochiti and Isleta received an unprecedented letter. Non-Indian water users no longer had any stored water, and irrigation was finished for the remaining 2003 season. The letter went on to say, “the Six Middle Rio Grande

Pueblos have prior and paramount rights to irrigate 8,847 acres…. Extra measures are being taken to ensure delivery [of that water and to] identify non-authorized use by junior users. If necessary, appropriate legal remedies will be pursued by federal government officials.” Where Do We Go From Here? As the ten-year anniversary of the Bosque Biological Management Plan approached, there were many subjects that disturbed the sleep of the water-minded in the middle basin. The Middle Rio Grande Regional Water Plan (MRG Water Assembly, 2004) was completed at the end of 2003, and almost all pertinent municipalities and state agencies passed Resolutions Pointing of Acceptance. The water plan offered a collection of the way non-compulsory strategies toward more and policies for preserving sustainable and protecting water rewater use. sources, with a focus on the availability of “wet water” and on ways to begin mitigating the past and present regional deficit. Alone, none of the forty-three recommendations provide a solution to the region’s water problems, but together they point the way toward more sustainable water use. By the close of the year, the first signs of implementation were also underway on an embryonic State Water Plan intended to “bring all administration of water within New Mexico under one common umbrella.”

n 2004, the City of Albuquerque was granted its permit to begin diverting SJC water for direct municipal use by way of an inflatable dam on the Rio Grande just downstream of the Alameda Bridge. As a result of the protest lodged by the agricultural and environmental Coalition, a number of conditions were attached to the diversion permit, among them improved accounting of Rio Grande return flows, a reduction in the city’s per-capita water consumption to 175 gallons per person per day by the time the project goes

online, and 155 gallons per person per day within twenty years.

eanwhile, applications to transfer paper water rights to offset increased groundwater pumping in the region continued to cross the desk of the State Engineer. One in particular—the proposed transfer of 652.20 acre-feet per year of groundwater rights from Sierra County below Elephant Butte Reservoir to the municipality of Rio Rancho, 150 miles upstream—suggested the desperation of both urban developers and the state in trying to find water to keep the growth balloon afloat. On the other hand, the long struggle to account for the critical-but-unseen connection between groundwater pumping and river flow seemed at last to be bearing fruit. Unequivocally, the final phase of the Middle Rio Grande Water Supply Study indicated that ‘renewable’ supplies of both surface and groundwater are inadequate to meet current demand. Assuming a variability in climate similar to that of the past fifty years, Rio Grande Compact debt can be expected in three out of every five years, and even with the immediate and unlikely implementation of every single alternative contained in its several regional water plans, the middle basin’s supply situation cannot begin to improve until the year 2040. The winter of 2004 proved to be an exceptionally wet one, although forecasters warned that the welcome moisture in no way spelled the end of the drought. Once again, variability—a characteristic of arid regions that repeatedly argues for prudence and resourcefulness—seemed to be offering the Middle Rio Grande an opportunity to mend its ways. Coming in July: For the Love of a River Part III: Taking an Ecosystem Approach.

For a complete copy of the Middle Rio Grande Ecosystem Bosque Biological Management Plan The First Decade: a Review and Update, from which this article was excerpted, contact Cyndie Abeyta at the Fish and Wildlife Service, at 761-4738 or e-mail her at cyndie_abeyta@fws.gov. Please let her know if you would like a hard copy or a CD of the complete report.

Are you ready to Drink Rio Grande River A public Meeting on the plan for us to drink the Rio Grande Water! Is it safe? Hear Citizen experts who are not tied to the developers report on their research. Wednesday June 14, 7:30PM Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice 202 Harvard S.E. Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque Safe Drinking Water Coalition 505-268-9557

Water? is it safe?

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june 2006

consumer

news

Report Gives Consumers Dairy Ratings

Is Organic Dairy Corrupted by Factory Farms? by Will Fantle, Research Director for The Cornucopia Institute ne of the country's preeminent organic watchdogs has released a report alleging that a handful of leading marketers are shortchanging organic consumers. The report and scorecard, rating 68 different organic dairy name-brands and private-labels, was produced by The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based farm policy research group. It profiles the growth and commercialization of organic dairying and looks closely at the firms that now seem intent upon taking over the organic dairy industry by producing all or some of their milk on 2000- to 6000-cow industrial-style confinement dairies.

The organic scorecard ranks brands on a one- to five-cow scale (with five cows scoring best). Interested consumers can visit the group’s Web page at www.cornucopia.org and easily view how their favorite dairy products measure up to consumer values.

cures milk from its 4000-head Idaho factory farm and another 10,000 head “split” organic and conventional operation in California, plus it is aggressively working to develop factory farms elsewhere in the country. But the company, owned by dairy behemoth Dean Foods, currently obtains at least 50% of its milk from family-scale producers scattered across the country. "Our research,” notes Kastel, “has found nothing to indicate that family farmers whose milk is marketed under the Horizon label aren't every bit as dedicated and ethical as farmers associated with other competing brands. But it is unfortunate that their milk is being co-mingled with the company’s factory-farm milk supply.”

pasture-fed cows

The scorecard’s release comes amidst a growing debate occurring in produce national the organic farming comhealthy milk munity over the rise of confinement, factory farms in organic dairying. Public interest groups and farmers The good news in the survey is that “the vast major- have accused the USDA of purposefully ignoring the ity of all name-brand organic dairy products are pro- matter for years and refusing to enforce organic duced from milk from farms that follow accepted rules governing the management of organic livelegal and ethical standards.” Many of the branded stock—a fact that has allowed these gigantic farms milk, cheese, keifer, and yogurt products are pro- to proliferate and gain a growing foothold in the organic marketplace. duced with exemplary organic practices and ethics. But consumers should also know that nearly 20% of the name-brands now available on grocery shelves scored a lowly one cow—the substandard rating. A booming, lucrative $15 billion market for organic food and a severe national shortage of organic milk are two factors that industry observers mention as driving the “get organic milk from any source” philosophy. It’s spurring the development of huge confinement organic dairy operations that pen thousands of milk cows into drylots and small sheds. Horizon brand’s one-cow ranking on the scorecard partially reflects this situation. The company pro-

action alert!

A much more anonymous but powerful organic dairy interest was also noted on the Institute’s scorecard: the Aurora Organic Dairy, in Colorado. The nation’s biggest factory dairy, it produces private-label dairy products for sale as store-brands in a number of chains such as Safeway, Wild Oats, Giant, and Costco. Iowa dairy farmer Francis Thicke, of Fairfield, says, “We have a moral obligation to produce milk that conforms with the expectation that our customers have in the marketplace. These industrial dairies are multiplying at a frightening rate and have the potential to create a glut in organic milk, endangering the livelihood of ethical family producers all over America."

The Organic Consumers Association and some Co-op’s nationally are calling for a boycott of Horizon products. Although La Montanita Co-op does not carry Horizon milk or many other Horizon products we invite our members and other concerned consumers to check out the following websites and decide for themselves what they choose to support with their purchases. www.organicconsumers.com www.cornucopia.com www.horizonorganic.com JillWalters@HorizonOrganic.com

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health &

healing

june 2006 14

herbs and more

N EW DIR E C T I O N

C H IR O PR AC T I C Chiropractic with an Ayurvedic Influence K elly Coogan D.C. 3216 Monte Vista Blvd. NE, Suite A Albuquerque, New Mexico 87106 chiroveda9@yahoo.com ph 505.247.HEAL fx 505.247.4326

Heart disease risk factors are different for women?

she knows.

Women’s Health Services is now accepting new patients and most major insurance plans. Dr. Deborah Thompson has joined Women’s Health Services as a Primary Care Physician. Dr. Thompson received her M.D. from the State University of New York Health Science Center, where she participated in the renowned Rural Medical Education Program. She completed her family practice residency at Fort Collins Family Medicine Residency Program and her general preventive residency at the University of Colorado Health Science Center in Denver. Dr. Thompson is currently accepting new patients.

A National Community Center of Excellence in Women’s Health 901 West Alameda, Suite 25 Santa Fe, NM 87501 (505) 988-8869 www.WomensHealthSantaFe.org

The Premier New Mexico Herbal Expo

awareness to the public on the clinical efficacy and the potential agricultural industry of medicinal and aromatic herbs in New Mexico.

by Deborahlise Mota, DOM, RH(AHG) year ago there was a vision, shared by two nonprofit organizations, to create an herbal educational conference together with an herbal fair. The NM Chapter of the American Herbalists Guild and the NM Herb Growers Association collaborated to form the first NM Herbal Expo.

When is NM Herbal Expo? The Expo will be on Sunday, June 25th. The vendor exhibit area will be open to the public, free admission, between 8am to 5pm. Registration for the conference starts at 8am, with opening ceremonies and keynote address starting at 9am. The two-track conference will begin at 10am, ending with a panel discussion and closing ceremonies between 4:45 and 6:30pm. The event will be held at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, at 2401 12th St. NW in Albuquerque. The Cultural Center is located on the corner of Menaul and 12th St., just north of I-40 and west of I-25. Thanks to sponsors, the fees to attend the conference are extremely reasonable and there is a discounted rate for AHG and NMHGA members.

What is it? The New Mexico Herbal Expo was envisioned to bring together growers, herbalists and healthcare practitioners, in dialogue to promote quality and sustainability in herbal medicine. New Mexico has an impressive history and connection with herbs, from the rich Native American history, to Mexican Curanderismo, to one of the largest U.S. population of licensed Chinese Medicine herbalists per capita. There is also a number of successful herbal product manufacturing companies and educational facilities within our state.

There will be 5.5 CEU’s available for both Registered Professional Herbalists with the AHG and Diplomates in Chinese Herbology (Doctors of Oriental Medicine) with the NCCAOM (pending). The CEU’s are only available for the Clinical track and the Panel. There is an additional charge of $10 for the NCCAOM CEU’s. Please register for the CEU’s when registering for the conference, so as to acquire the appropriate forms.

The vendor exhibit will showcase the finest local herbal companies, practitioners, spas, growers, educational institutes, and independent businesses. There will be educational presentations, given by our vendors throughout the day, which are free and open to the public. The educational portion of the conference runs from 9am to 6:30pm, has two tracks with eleven speakers and ending with a panel discussion of professionals in the herbal industry. Two tracks will run simultaneously: the Clinical Use of Herbs and the Production and Growing of Medicinal Herbs. Conference attendees are welcomed to attend classes from both tracks, and can move freely between the two. Speakers are an impressive blend of clinical herbalists, authors, educators, manufacturers, researchers, and growers from throughout the state of New Mexico

For more information or to request a brochure and registration form, please contact Deborahlise Mota, in Albuquerque at 247-4372. Or e-mail nmherbalexpo @yahoo.com. Registration will also be available at the door, the day of the event.

There are many pressing issues facing the use of herbal medicine in the U.S. The Herbal Expo hopes to address many of these issues, while bringing

herbal history, tradition efficacy

Bach Flower Remedies: Emotional Wisdom ach Flower Remedies were formulated 75 years ago by the noted British physician, Dr. Edward Bach, and are used successfully today in 66 countries by millions of people. This healing system, derived from flowering plants and trees, is safe and effective, and may be used on infants, the elderly and even animals. The remedies do not interact with other forms of treatment and are a truly complementary therapy. The 38 Bach Flower Remedies are a gentle and subtle means of restoring peace of mind thus allowing the body, and the being as a whole, a chance to regain its strength and ability to combat ill health through its own natural healing process. Dr. Bach believed that disharmony within oneself was the root cause of disease. Today, doctors agree, claiming that stress is a contributing factor in 50-75% of all disease. A healthy mind really does ensure a healthy body.

ative effects of receiving serious news, or the fright and trauma following an accident. Example: Hearing for the first time that a loved one has past away, facing surgery, a lawsuit or other serious circumstance. • LARCH- For lack of confidence, inferiority or fear of failure. Example: Not attempting to go after what one wants because of a fear of not being able to succeed. • MIMULUS- For the fear of known things. Example: Fear of heights, darkness, flying or pain. Also for those who are overly shy and timid. • OLIVE- For feeling fatigued or drained of energy. Example: Mentally or physically drained from a long period of illness or stress. • HOLLY- For those who feel hatred, envy, or jealousy. Example: When a second child is born, the first often shows jealousy, in the form of moodiness, rebelliousness, etc. • WILD OAT- For lack of direction or dissatisfaction because ones’ mission in life is not found. Example: The recent college graduate who may not be certain as to what he/she wants next. • ASPEN- Apprehension for no known reason. Example: Fearing something bad will happen, but cannot pinpoint what it is. • IMPATIENS- For those who feel impatient, irritable or frustrated. Example: Have difficulty waiting for co-workers to finish a project, feeling others are not fast enough and it’s easier to just do the work alone.

Product

Spotlight

Top 10 Bach Flower Remedies • WALNUT- To assist with adjusting to any change in life or to protect from the influences of others in your environment. Example: Relationship breakups, divorce, new surroundings, new job, new career move, biological changes (menopause, puberty, teething, pregnancy, terminal stages of illness), etc. • WHITE CHESTNUT- For persistent unwanted thoughts that continue to go round and round in one’s head. Example: Constantly replaying a conversation or scene that may have occurred during the day or the inability to turn off thoughts at bedtime. • STAR OF BETHLEHEM- Helps to neutralize the neg-

To learn more about the Bach Flower Remedies, by accessing a free computer based training go to www.bachtutorial.com.

community

forum

june 2006 15

statewide

Hot Nuke Waste on Our Roads? Public Hearings on WIPP Permit

hen Los Alamos was first located in New Mexico, no one considered how atomic bomb research and development would affect the surrounding Pueblo and Hispanic villages. When the United States Government placed $80,000 in a Western Shoshone bank account and then told tribal leaders that their land would be used for atomic bomb testing, no one considered the health of the Shoshones or that of their fragile desert home. But now we are more aware and wiser about siting nuclear projects, or are we? The Department of Energy and the New Mexico Environment Department are proposing, in the new operating permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), that remote-handled waste (very hot waste) be allowed to come to New Mexico. However, neither agency is planning to study whether this waste will disparately impact lower income people, those already impacted by dirty industries, or people of color along the route or at the site. Many groups and citizens in New Mexico believe that a disparate impact study should always be completed before dangerous nuclear projects are sited and the routes that hot waste will travel are chosen. There are a number of examples of disparate impacts along the WIPP route now. In Northern New Mexico, loaded WIPP trucks have been stopping two or three at a time in Romeroville, a largely Hispanic community. These trucks stop at a convenience store where resident families shop on a daily basis. In Southeastern, New Mexico a 15.2 million dollar by pass was built around the northern, more lucrative part of Carlsbad, while WIPP trucks drive through the poorer part of town on a road which bisects the community and where children are often seen trying to cross.

WIPP

truck In early June, New Mexicans will be given a chance to speak out against allowing remote handled waste to come to New Mexico (Why is hot waste being shipped across thousands of miles of highways to New Mexico instead of being taken care of closer to the generator sites?) and against the lack of disparate impact studies of the WIPP route and site. On June 7 and June 8, at 6pm each day public hearings will be held in Santa Fe at the Santa Fe Community College Board Room on WIPP’s new operating permit. Car pools will leave each day from the Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice at 4:30pm. Public testimony will also be taken on June 8th at 11:30 and 3pm. by Janet Greenwald, Citizens for Alternatives to Radioactive Dumping If you cannot attend the hearings, a letter to be presented at the hearings is available for you to sign. Letters and packets of information are available at the Peace and Justice Center, 202 Harvard SE or from CARD, 266-2663.

Rio Grande Community Farms: Urban Gardening in a Community Setting GET YOUR OWN GARDEN PLOT! io Grande Community Farm (RGCF), located in Los Poblanos Fields Open Space, is an historic 138 acre farm in Albuquerque’s North Valley. Like the Co-op, YOU OWN IT! If you’ve been to the Annual Maize Maze, you’ve been to RGCF. Maybe you walk your dog, jog, or stroll at the farm. Or maybe you are one of the 20-25 community gardeners!

The Community Garden is located at the northwestern corner of RGCF. Just across the acequia is Alvarado Elementary School, whose students have been community gardeners at this site for many years. The Master Gardeners also have four rows at the Community Garden where they do experimental plots. This year they are trying to see if mechanical barriers will help prevent curly top virus, which attacks tomato plants. The Master Gardeners are at the Community Garden on Wednesday mornings from 8:30 or so, until around 11am. This would be a great time to ask questions of these knowledgeable folks. The rest of Community Garden is for you. For $75 per season, you get an 85-foot row, free seeds, water, and the use of our tools. RGCF is in the process of

organic certification of some of the acres, including the Community Garden, so you’ll have to garden without the use of agricultural petrochemicals. Besides growing your own veggies, you will be supporting community agriculture. Further benefits of participating in the Community Garden are: fresh air, sunshine, community building, and wild life viewing. Kestrels, meadowlarks, hawks, sandhill cranes, Canadian geese, shy coyotes, and elusive voles are just a few of the critters that might visit you while you pull weeds and tend your urban garden. If you are interested in renting a row at the RGCF Community Garden, please contact Beverly Rowe at 344-4592. Bev coordinates the Community Garden and is a Master Gardener herself. Not sure you want to take the plunge and have your own garden, but this RGCF thing sounds intriguing? There are lots of volunteer opportunities at this nonprofit farm from being on the Maze Committee to teaching a gardening session at the Community Garden to being on our board. This is YOUR farm… come on down! For more information about RGCF, call 345-4580. by Vikki Ratliff, RGCF Volunteer

Habitat for Humanity’s Global Music Sampler Join Greater Albuquerque Habitat for Humanity and Habitat for Humanity’s International Disaster Relief for a spirited evening of music from Guatemala, India, Indonesia and the Gulf Coast Region. Bands include, Gamelan Encantato, Sama Duo, New Mexico Mirimba Band, and Fitti

Fonteneau and the Fat Tuesday Band. Support their local, regional and international relief and rebuilding efforts. The concert and Habitat presentation will begin 7:30pm at the Lobo Theater, 3013 Central Ave on Saturday, June 17th. For more information contact them at 265-0057

Talking Talons: Kids Summer Science Adventure Talking Talons Youth Leadership Program is offering an exciting Summer Science Adventure program for Youth ages 6-12. Kids can learn about reptiles, birds of prey, bats, and arthropods, go on nature hikes, field trips and expeditions, learn to handle birds of prey and reptiles and make community presentations, play games, make artwork and much more.

Three sessions are available, June 12-23, July 3-14 and July 24- Aug 4th. Sessions run Monday thru Friday from 9 to 4:30pm. For more information or to sign up call 281-1133 ext 8 or go to their web site at www.TalkingTalons.com. Sibling discounts and scholarships are available.

Paul Barlow

M A S S A G E T H E R A P I S T

242-1795

Polarity Somato-Emotional Release Cranio -Sacral Swedish RPP LMT #2663

in the Old Town Area

Peacecraft’s 17 Anniversay Celebration • June 10th, 12-3 pm/3215 Central Ave NE, Join us for cake and live entertainment, including storytelling and Fair Trade Coffee tasting! Call 255-5229 for more information.