April 2016 Green Fire Times

News & Views

from the

S u s t ai n ab l e S o u t h w e s t

New Mexico’s Watersheds Forest Health and Landscape Resiliency

Minding the Chama Río Grande Diversion Local Food vs. Urban Water April 2016

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News & Views

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Sustainable Southwest

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Contents

Determining the Future of New Mexico’s Watersheds . – Steve Harris, Joanne Hilton, Rosemary Romero . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 7 Forest Health and Landscape Resiliency in the San Juan-Chama Watershed – Monique DiGiorgio . . .. .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 9 Minding the Chama – Jack Loeffler . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 11 Federal Agreement on Gila River Triggers Review . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 15 Op-Ed: Water in New Mexico – Sanders Moore . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . . 18 From Survival and Sustainable Agriculture to Río Grande Diversion: The History of Santa Fe’s Water Supply – Hilario E. Romero and Michael Aune. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 20 The Aamodt Settlement Conundrum . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 23 Linking Santa Fe’s Local Food Demand to Urban Water Demand Management – Quita Ortiz . . .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 24 Op-Ed: El Agua Bendita / Sacred Water – Alejandro López . . .. . .. . .. . 27 Self-Healing and the Water Pathways of the Body – Japa K. Khalsa. . .. . . 30 Could Rainwater Harvesting Solve Flint’s Water Crisis? – Nate Downey . . 31 Water Newsbites . . .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 19, 25, 35, 37 What’s Going On. . .. . .. . ... . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 38

Gay Rathman, 505.670.4432 GayRathman@yahoo.com Kurt Young 505.913.0699 Kurt@GreenFireTimes.com

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Green Fire Times

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Water from an acequia flows through a farm in Santa Cruz, New Mexico

COVER: Río Chama west of the village of Abiquiú, New Mexico

Photo by Anna C. Hansen

Green Fire Times • April 2016

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Determining the Future of New Mexico’s Watersheds

Steve Harris

© Steve Harris

Local Strategies Generated at Regional Water-Planning Meetings and Rosemary Romero

R

ío Grande Restoration, an Embudo, New Mexico-based nonprofit focused on improving the health of rivers and watersheds, has received a WaterSMART grant from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to explore creation of a Río Chama Watershed Partnership. The project’s goals are to develop a citizen’s voice in water-management decision-making processes and develop an implementation plan for improving conditions in the Río Chama and its tributary streams such as the ríos Cebolla and Gallina.

Río Chama near Benson Bar, where it intersects with the Río Gallina

resources. They also reviewed the watershed-partnership initiative and discussed a set of future projects and activities that could support improvement of streams, wetlands and aquifers.

Río Grande Restoration (RGR) sees its watershed plan as supplementing and informing planning processes already being undertaken by the Carson and Santa Fe national forests, Interstate Stream Commission (ISC), Río Arriba County and Upper Chama Soil and Water Conservation Districts and helping to address the region’s future efforts to resolve important water- and land-use issues.

Chama, Abiquiú and Cebolla

In August 2015, with the community-organizing support of Rosemary Romero, who is also working with the ISC on regional water planning, RGR hosted wellattended public meetings in Abiquiú, Chama and Cebolla to hear from neighbors, community groups, scientists and managing agencies. They discussed the impacts of flooding, pollution, land use, wildlife habitat, recreation, the role of science and local knowledge in public health and safety, and the conservation of vital

Chama Peak Land Alliance stewardship field tour in the Brazos Watershed

Local citizens with diverse perspectives were asked to develop ideas about what a healthy watershed would look like and what values were most important to them.

Among the specific issues they identified were environmental releases from El Vado and AbiquiÚ reservoirs and their impacts on fish, wildlife, recreation and riparian ecology; groundwater depletion in the Río Cebolla; wastewater treatment in the village of Chama; landslides, flood damage, forest conditions, wildfire in certain areas; oil and gas exploration; rural development and cultural preservation.

A citizen’s voice in water-management decision-making and implementation People expressed that they want healthy forests, active thinning, more water in the river, protection of drinking water, control of sedimentation and noxious weeds, forage for animals, wildlife corridors, management of livestock populations, floods, erosion and landslides, as well as better management of oil and gas development, fracking and contamination of wells from septic tanks. They were also concerned about lack of water rights and water storage.

Río Chama Watershed Congreso

Seeking opportunities for collaboration and to develop recommendations for the region’s water- and land-management challenges, on Feb. 26 and 27 students and other citizens, agency planners and nongovernmental organizations—Río Grande Water Fund, Trout Unlimited, Chama Peak Land Alliance—came together at the Río Chama Watershed Congreso, held at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiú. continued on page 8

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Green Fire Times • April 2016

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© Rich Schrader

Determining the Future continued from page 7

Coronado High School students measure water depth on the Río Gañones.

Local mediator/facilitator Rosemary Romero welcomed the group, reviewed the purpose of the meeting and provided a summary of the outcomes from the previous three meetings. Río Chama Watershed Partnership project manager Steve Harris thanked the project’s partners (Chama Peak Land Alliance, The Nature Conservancy, New Mexico Wildlife Center and River Source), mentioned that there are several planning efforts with a variety of funding sources going on that overlap with the project, and presented an overview. He described the region as a “hydrologic commons” that needs to be protected and restored and noted that the word “Chama” in Keres means tomorrow, and, in Tewa, wrestling place. “We are in the wrestling place of tomorrow,” he said.

Rivers like the Chama should be viewed as a “hydrologic commons” to be protected and restored.

To set the foundation for issues identified from the previous public meetings, six presentations, followed by questions and answers, were prepared by the Congreso’s key partners: • Forests Health/Restoration—Monique DiGiorgio, San Juan-Chama Partnership • Education/Economic Development—Rich Schrader, River Source • Water Management/Streamflow—Steve Harris, Río Grande Restoration • Landslides, Flooding, and Erosion—Keenan Boliek-Poling • Fish and Wildlife —Katherine Eagleson, New Mexico Wildlife Center • Río Grande Water Fund—Laura McCarthy, The Nature Conservancy Students from Gallina, New Mexico’s, Coronado High School presented their study of water quality in Cañones Creek and offered recommendations for watershed management.

In small groups of their choosing related to each issue, the participants brainstormed a variety of strategies such as providing environmental flows, developing wildlife corridors, fencing projects, reducing the elk population by working with agencies such as New Mexico Game and Fish, creating jobs, educational opportunities, rehabilitating acequia diversions and improving fisheries.

Land Stewardship

While land ownership, management and use are very diverse in the region, landowners share a common desire to keep this spectacular landscape healthy through stewardship efforts. Given adequate support, landowners are in a unique position to respond quickly, implementing management practices that proactively address threats such as drought, catastrophic wildfire, historic overuse of the land and degradation of bird and wildlife habitat.

A full-time coordinator for the Chama Peak Land Alliance’s (CPLA) Stewardship Program works side by side with private landowners to further their management and conservation goals: • Coordination of landscape-scale, multiproperty conservation projects including river and wetland restoration and forest health • Connecting landowners to economic and technical resources • Sharing ecologically and economically sound land-management practices through peer networking, landowner-expert problem solving, and local landmanagement workshops • Presenting a unified response to issues such as oil and gas and other development that threaten the rural landscape Some of the Alliance’s major accomplishments: • Restoration along 6.75 miles of the Navajo River with nine landowners and two miles of the Río Chama • Planting of 450 native willows, bareroot seedlings, alders and cottonwoods along the Navajo River and its tributaries to increase riparian health, water quality and wildlife habitat • Engaging 30 landowners in conservation, restoration and agricultural projects affecting hundreds of thousands of acres in key private lands • Reaching out to more than 2,000 landowners throughout the region, inviting them to participate in CPLA’s stewardship efforts • Over 30 nonprofit, state and federal partners are working with CPLA on private lands stewardship • $530,000 in private dollars raised for habitat restoration • $125,000 of in-kind professional and volunteer match raised supporting planning and implementation of on-the-ground projects • $150,000 raised in staff capacity and support of stewardship efforts • 10 workshops held across the Colorado/New Mexico landscape, connecting private landowners with technical and financial resources through experts and partners

Interstate Stream Commission Regional Water Planning

by Joanne Hilton and Rosemary Romero

In 2013, the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer and the ISC initiated an approach for updating 16 regional water plans that could help inform the State Water Plan, as required by the authorizing legislation. Surrounding states have been actively planning for dwindling water supplies due to prolonged drought in the Southwest that, despite a respite in 2015, studies suggest is likely to continue. So it was timely to begin to update the regional water plans. Many were 10 years old.

Critical for the plans has been the funding aspect of projects or programs needed to meet long-term water supply and demand. Many regions used New Mexico Environment Department funding for addressing water-quality issues, while others depended on U.S. Forest Service Collaborative Forest Restoration dollars, Soil and Water Conservation dollars and National Resources Conservation Service support.

Another important funding source for many projects is the Water Trust Board.

This funder prioritizes proposals that are in an ISC-accepted Regional Water Plan, which includes publicly funded water infrastructure, conservation, flood prevention, watershed and endangered species projects.

The ISC Regional Water Planning Update includes the following objectives: • Updating 16 regional water plans in a common timeframe • Providing a better process for informing funding agencies of water-project needs • Informing future updates of the State Water Plan • Providing opportunity for local collaboration

Rich Schrader works with students to identify aquatic insects called benthic macroinvertebrates that provide insight into the health of a stream.

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Green Fire Times • April 2016

The ISC has used several consulting teams to help the 16 regions with their updates. The planning team of Joanne Hilton, hydrologist, and Rosemary Romero, continued on page 16

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© Anna C. Hansen

Forest Health and Landscape Resiliency in the San Juan-Chama Watershed Monique DiGiorgio

W

hat do southern Colorado and northern New Mexico have in common? In addition to sharing a border, the southern San Juan Mountains contain forested watersheds of high value to both states. The area supports traditional agricultural operations, substantial wildlife populations, tourism-based economies and public

recreation, including hunting and outfitting opportunities that attract international visitors.

In the center of the region is the Bureau of Reclamation’s San Juan-Chama Diversion, which moves 110,000 acrefeet of water annually from the San Juan Basin to the central Río Grande Valley, providing approximately 50 percent of Santa Fe County’s and 90

Prescribed Burning on Private Lands

Intentionally putting fire on the ground as a land-management practice is, at best, a complex and responsibility-laden endeavor. One only has to look at federal government nomenclature to get the first wisp of this complexity. Early on, as federal land managers were beginning to use fire, they called the burns “controlled fires” but, because control was an oxymoron, given the chaos of fire behavior, the term “prescribed fire” quickly won favor. When control was lost on some prescribed fires that became very large wildfires in the early 2000s, the federal name shifted to “fireuse.” Still, most resource managers heard their seventh-grade English teachers scold them each time they said “the fire-use fire.” Today, the feds refer to their intentional fire as a “managed fire,” and they are less concerned whether they started the fire or it ignited naturally; they are managing the fire for resource benefit.

Most private landowners are less concerned with being politically correct, and so the term “prescribed fire” is still preferred with private land managers. What landowners are extremely concerned with is the liability that comes with purposefully igniting a fire with the intention of providing better forest management. In New Mexico, the liability for open burning lies with the landowner, and it is the responsibility of the landowner to ensure that such activities are conducted in a safe and responsible manner. Should a prescribed fire escape control and become a wildfire, then the state has a responsibility to fully suppress the fire. The landowner can be liable for all associated costs and penalties.

The landowner is also responsible for acquiring all applicable permits, including smoke permits from the New Mexico Environment Department and burn permits issued by each respective county where the burn is taking place. For less complex fires, such as burning isolated piles with snow on the ground, many ranchers conduct these activities on their own. For more complex broadcast burning, most private land managers will hire consultants to write burn plans and implement the burns with qualified staff.

Although many landowners choose not to use fire on their lands, those who do generally find fire is more economical for slash disposal and keeping forest stands healthy than using mechanical operations. In addition, burning recycles nutrients in the forest and helps put forest ecosystems into more natural conditions.

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La Plata Mountain Range, Pagosa Springs, Colorado

percent of Bernalillo County’s water supply. Three watersheds—the Navajo, Little Navajo and Blanco—are tapped for water that is transferred under the Continental Divide to the Chama River and then to the Río Grande.

The waters of the San Juan-Chama Diversion support nearly a million people, as well as native fish and migratory birds.

The waters of the San Juan-Chama Diversion support nearly a million people, as well as native fish and migratory birds. Like much of the western United States, wildfire risk for these watersheds is high. Based on similar regions that have experienced catastrophic fire, large-scale erosion, landslides and post-fire debris such as dead trees will challenge the operation of this diversion. Not only does this threat affect the consistent delivery of clean water to Ne w Mexico communities; floods and debris-flow will also affect communities like Chromo and Edith, in Colorado.

To proactively address these issues, the Chama Peak Land Alliance launched the San Juan-Chama Watershed Partnership (www.sanjuanchama. org) in 2014. This community-based partnership is working to increase the resiliency and ecosystem health of the watershed. Through thoughtful restoration and management, the partnership intends to improve the health of forests, increase water yield, improve water quality and wildlife

habitat and support a sustainable biomass industry that creates jobs and boosts the economy.

As part of the partnership, the Chama Peak Land Alliance and The Nature Conservancy’s New Mexico office have teamed up under the auspices of the Río Grande Water Fund to, over the next three years, conduct prescribed fire and thinning on 800 acres to improve forest health and restore wildlife habitat.

To accomplish this, they plan to 1) create fire plans for private lands and coordinate fire-management activities across jurisdictional boundaries to include local, state and federal agencies including the U.S. Forest Service, as well as tribal and other jurisdictions responsible for fire management in the project area; 2) share lessons learned from

Navajo River

cross-boundary management in this landscape with others restoring forests in the Río Grande Water Fund area and with other members of the national Fire Learning Network; and 3) increase the ability of local ranches, community members and government partners to conduct prescribed burns through trainings and workshops in the region. continued on page 16

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Minding the Chama

Jack Loeffler

B

Barbara Turner points out that almost the entire watershed is contained in the geopolitically defined region presently known as Río Arriba County of northwestern New Mexico. And she conveys the current faces of jeopardy— including “fracking”—that threaten this watershed, which conjoins with that of the Río Grande further downstream. She provides us with an excellent model of how to look at homeland in a balanced and educated fashion, a true bioregional approach that would moderate the threat of turning habitat into money—the hallmark of the prevailing monoculture. I love this little chapbook, a tastefully handcrafted way to convey information in this time of digitized techno-fantasy.

The watershed of the Río Chama remains a jewel of Nature.

“Thinking Like the Río Chama Watershed” is also a model of perceiving a watershed as a commons. However, the European definition of commons differs from that of the Tewa-speaking people who are indigenous to this region. The big difference is that the sons and daughters of Europe perceive the commons as a region of common-pool resources freely available to all humans, whereas the Tewa people perceive the commons as everything in Nature as an integrated system on which everything therein reciprocally relies for subsistence. This is a valid holistic perception that is much more in keeping with the flow of Nature.

As a point of reference, the last Ice Age, known as the Pleistocene, ended about 11,700 years ago. The warming trends ushered in what is known to science as the Holocene epoch. Quite recently, there has been a move to change the name of the present epoch yet again to Anthropocene because our anthropocentric species is regarded by many as the greatest force now shaping the flow of Nature on our planet Earth and even beyond. My personal preference would be that we simply change one letter in Holocene, to Holicene, to ratify a much broader perception of what wholeness really means.

© Anna C. Hansen (2)

arbara Turner has penned a superb essay entitled “Thinking Like the Río Chama Watershed” that appears in a finely designed chapbook of the same name and published by the Río Arriba Concerned Citizens. In this essay, she clearly defines what a watershed is, the nature of the water cycle, the biogeographical characteristics, the diverse cultural characteristics—the compelling beauty of this Chama River bioregion.

The Brazos in the San Juan Range in the Chama Valley

it is a way of doing justice to the complexity of the situation actually on the ground.

So the way I would define a bioregion is, I would imagine a GIS [Geographic Information System] layer [on a map]. And the first layer is a watershed. And then I would imagine that you would add to that a series of layers that have to do with plant distributions. And then a series of layers that would have to do with animal territories. And over that you would put layers that have to do with human culture. And over that, maybe lastly, you would put air-shed types of things. So, then, imagine you are up above, and you are looking down through the layers.

What you would have then, if you imagine some opaqueness to the watershed, is that each map has some opaqueness that defines the territory of what you are talking about. Then, if you imagine looking down through these series of GIS layers or transparencies, then at some center you would have a very dark area. And then gradually, the denseness, the darkness would decrease as you went outward until at the level of air shed, you would have the thinnest layer.

“So, then, for practical purposes, the bioregions are the very dense areas toward the center. Clearly, you could never precisely define the boundaries of the bioregions.

That would be good because, in fact, things are complex. And, eventually, you would get out at last to the entire Earth, and that would acknowledge the fact that we are all part of one system. So that is how I would go marking out a bioregion.

And one of the reasons for it, of course, when you come back to the practicalities of the situation, is getting people involved in your bioregion. Watershed is a nice

continued on page 12

Fifteen years ago, I was busily producing a six-part radio series for Public Radio entitled “Moving Waters: The Colorado River and the West.” In my travels, I chanced to meet Dr. David Robertson, a professor at the University of CaliforniaDavis, who was then teaching aspects of bioregionalism. I asked him to provide his view of bioregionalism: “I would start off with the notion of a watershed. And the term watershed is used around the country, probably more frequently than bioregion. Watershed is a nice place to start because it doesn’t have the political overtones of bioregion.

Also, watershed can be pretty easily delineated. You can mark it off on a map with great accuracy.

“One of the reasons to pursue a bioregional approach from my point of view is that

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Longhorn cattle in the Chama Valley

Green Fire Times • April 2016

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Minding the Chama continued from page 11 behalf of our planetary habitat each adopt an endangered species, and then work relentlessly to restore these creatures to their native homelands, we may yet piece our shattered ecosystems back together into some state of balance. Dr. Melissa Savage is a highly regarded scientist who responds to her intuitions and aesthetic sensibilities as well as her intellect.

© Anna C. Hansen

Downstream from the dam, the Río Chama passes into the Abiquiú Valley, where Hispano farmers have tilled the soil for centuries, rooting themselves to a new arid homeland made more benign by the river. Acequias abound, and the river runner must take care to avoid entering an acequia mistaken for the main channel. I did that once, back in 1970, with my old friend Jimmy Hopper, who gave me an ironic grin as we dredged to a halt at the edge of a cornfield and, thereupon, had to drag our raft back to the river. place to start because, as you are talking to people trying to get them involved, you can give them a fairly precise definition of it. So there is some practicality to being simple as you start out.”

This is good advice, especially for a simple-minded fellow like myself. I asked my old pal Melissa Savage, who is a world-class biogeographer, if she could define “watershed.” She replied, “That’s easy because you’re just following the raindrops downhill. So you just draw a line around where the raindrops are rolling down to a convergence with the sea.”

Simplicity within complexity. jjj Many are the times that I’ve floated down the Río Chama, having camped for the night at the whim of a late-afternoon moment. All told, I’ve run the river from just downstream from El Vado all the way to the confluence with the Río Grande, albeit in separate journeys. Running the river downstream from El Vado brings to my mind a flute concerto by Mozart. One passes through the bottom of the watershed in a state of absolute delight, where wildlife is abundant, the forested terrain is healthy, the air sparkling. The river gradually riffles past the piedmont of the plateau east of Dead Man’s Peak into one of the most Steve Harris on the Río Chama beautiful regions of the North American Southwest, el Valle de la Piedra Lumbre, or the Valley of the Shining Stone. Downstream, Abiquiú Dam stoppers the Río Chama and forms Abiquiú Lake. I remember the valley before the dam was built, before the harsh hand of man had reduced the magic that permeates this mythic landscape, before developers and their political counterparts claimed this commons as their own. Even so, the watershed of the Río Chama remains a jewel of Nature in spite of the limited perception of monocultural humankind.

As my friend Melissa Savage so aptly put it, “We are so presumptuous, we can’t even imagine ourselves outside of our range of presumption.”

Melissa has spent the latter half of her life restoring river otters to their appropriate habitats. She has concluded that if those of us who are inclined to work in

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Green Fire Times • April 2016

The landscape is somewhat tamed by the riverine communities downstream from Abiquiú until one reaches Ohkay Owingeh, formerly known as the San Juan Pueblo. It is just downstream from there, east of Chicoma Peak, that the Río Chama conjoins with the Río Grande, and the two rivers become one.

Many years ago, I visited the Tewa Pueblo of Ohkay Owingeh and met with Herman Agoyo,a highly venerated community elder,who gave me permission to record him reading his river poem, “P’o-Kay” . i

P’o-Kay “To us you are P’o-kay. Strong water.

You are the source of life and joy.

You nurtured us with swimming and fishing holes.

You cleanse us now, and in 1680.

When you overflowed, there was an abundance of trout, carp, suckers, minnows

Herman Agoyo

and catfish.

We gather your gifts with bows and arrows, .22 rifles, pitchforks, nets, fish lines

and by hand.

and all of life along the riverbanks.

You water our corn, squash, chile, wheat, alfalfa, hay, pumpkins, fruit trees You are home to the O-yo. Beaver.

Oh-kano. Otter.

Oh-kooh. Turtle.

Oh-maku hedeghe. Watersnake.

Diditi. The water spider,

and numerous unknown creatures.

And in recent time you brought in the elk, bear and eagles.

You are Avañu. Sacred water serpent.

You fed our sacred springs, ponds and wells.

Because of you, Oh-kay Owingeh, Village of the Strong People was born.

Because of you, we are all connected.

We are still connected to our place of birth and emergence.”

Jack Loeffler is an aural historian, author and radio producer whose perspective includes bioregionalism and systems thinking. He has recently completed a 10-part documentary radio series entitled “Encounters with Consciousness.” www.loreoftheland.org

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Crabapple tree in bloom Š Anna Christine Hansen

James H. Auerbach, MD and Staff support Green Fire Times in its efforts to bring about a better world by focusing on the people, enterprises and initiatives that are transforming New Mexico into a diverse and sustainable economy.

Some of the topics Green fire times showcases: Green: Building, Products, Services, Entrepreneurship, Investing and Jobs; Renewable Energy, Sustainable Agriculture, Regional Cuisine, Ecotourism, Climate Adaptation, Natural Resource Stewardship, Arts & Culture, Health & Wellness, Regional History, Community Development, Educational Opportunities James H. Auerbach, MD provides dermatology services in Santa Fe, NM (Sorry, we are no longer accepting new clients.)

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Green Fire Times • April 2016

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Federal Agreement on Gila River Triggers Review

Photo courtesy Audubon New Mexico

Conservationists’ opinions were ignored by the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission in 2014, when the commission moved forward with the Gila River diversion project.

an agreement with the newly formed New Mexico Central Arizona Project Entity (CAP Entity), which sets in motion a process for evaluating the merits of the river diversion that includes both economic and ecological considerations. The review process will not conclude until 2019.

In a watershed where Aldo Leopold established our nation’s first official Wilderness Area, the Gila, a snow-fed tributary of the Colorado River, provides habitat for wildlife, including seven endangered species, and numerous archaeological sites. It is a paradise for outdoor recreation and tourism, as well as an economic driver for local communities. Conservationists would like to keep the state’s last wild river free and undammed. They believe that the review process will show that the diversion is not feasible environmentally or financially and that the area’s long-term water needs can be met through conservation, groundwater management, water recycling and watershed restoration.

Federal funding of $100 million, based on the 2004 Arizona Water Settlements Act (AWSA), has been earmarked for the two-phase project,

Gila Trout Restoration

The Gila trout, a pretty fish that has a yellow or coppery head and black spots, grows to an average length of 11.8 inches and a maximum length of 21.7 inches. It is native to tributaries of the Gila River, but, by the late 1950s, fishing for the trout had been banned because its numbers and range had been seriously curtailed due to competition and hybridization with non-native fish and because of habitat loss due to wildfires, human destruction, overgrazing by livestock and agricultural irrigation and diversion.

Photo courtesy Gila Conservation Coalition (2)

I

n approving a procedural agreement with state water managers in November 2015, the U.S. Dept of the Interior emphasized that final approval of a proposed diversion of New Mexico’s Gila River will require a thorough environmental review, including looking at watermanagement alternatives, before any next steps are taken on the controversial project. The DOI signed

The proposed Gila River diversion site, located just below the confluence with Turkey Creek, would turn this popular recreation area for hunters, fishermen and river runners into an industrial zone.

which is estimated to cost from $775 million to $1 billion. The New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission (ISC) has already been using AWSA funding to conduct studies and contract engineers, consultants and attorneys. “Recent findings by the independent Project on Government O ve r s i g h t h a ve estimated the costs of the diversion, as proposed by the CAP Entity, at $1 billion,” said Sen. Howie Morales of Silver City. “New Mexico taxpayers would be on the hook for 90 percent of it. Our tax dollars would clearly be better spent elsewhere.”

Albuquerque’s drinking-water project, and the Navajo Reservoir—were twoand-a-half times over budget.

The Gila diversion,which technical experts say would take decades to complete, would divert up to 14,000 acre-feet of water annually, moving it around mountainsides through a series of dams, concrete canals, pipelines and three reservoirs.

The water would ultimately be moved to Deming.

Diversion supporters, including the ISC, appointed by Gov. Martínez, claim the project is vital to supplying water to drought-bound communities and irrigation districts in southwestern New Mexico. i

The Gila is the last main-stem river in New Mexico without diversions or dams. It is home to more than 360 species of birds.

Three recent New Mexico water projects—the Buckman Diversion,

Wildlife biologists have been working to reestablish the Gila trout in New Mexico and Arizona waters. On the endangered list until 2006, it is listed as threatened now, and limited fishing is permitted. It has so far been established in 62 miles of stream. To help reestablish the trout, the New Mexico Game and Fish Department wants to use rotenone, a controversial pesticide to kill invasive fish species along 24 miles of Whitewater Creek and associated tributaries. A spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says it poses few risks because it degrades quickly.

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Green Fire Times • April 2016

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Determining the Future continued from page 8 facilitator, has been working with regions mostly in the northern part of the state.

Their efforts have dovetailed with other projects such as the Río Chama Watershed Plan development and the San Juan Partnership, led by the Chama Peak Land Alliance, which is focused on addressing watershed issues on private lands.

ISC’s team, in addition to the above-mentioned meetings, also held stakeholder meetings in Española and Hernández. In 2014 and 2015, five ISC-facilitated meetings focused on developing a steering committee and an outreach plan in coordination with the designated chair of the steering committee, led by Lucía Sánchez, director of the Río Arriba Land Use Department.

The next phase of ISC’s program will be for the steering committee and consultants to review the projects, programs and policies of the Regional Water Plan update and the public input. The draft plans will then be submitted to the ISC for approval.

resolve significant issues that affect many downstream planning efforts. They may instigate significant policy changes that will address long-term needs throughout the state of New Mexico. i Steve Harris is an Embudo-based outfitter and guide, as well as executive director of Río Grande Restoration, a river protection nonprofit.

Hydrologist Joanne Hilton has more than 25 years of experience conducting water resource investigations. She has been the project manager for development of water plans for seven New Mexico regions and worked on technical portions of updates for 16 regional plans.

Rosemary Romero has worked on natural resource issues for 30 years and has co-written nine Watershed Plans for New Mexico. She is a former city councilor and planning commissioner for the city of Santa Fe.

Related Programs:

San Juan-Chama Partnership—brings together public and private landowners to address watershed-restoration projects: 970.335.8174, chamapeak@gmail.com, http://chamapeak.org/programs/san-juan-chama/ Collaborative Forest Restoration Programs—provide funding for projects on federal, tribal and state lands: 505.842.3425, wdunn@fs.fed.us, www.fs.usda. gov/detail/r3/workingtogether/grants/?cid=fsbdev3_022022 I nterstate S tream C ommission —facilitates regional water planning: 505.827.6167, angela.bordegaray@state.nm.us, www.ose.state.nm.us/index.php New Mexico Land Conservancy—helps develop agricultural/conservation easements to protect rural lands: 505.986.3801, ext. 107, bmills@nmlandconservancy. org, www.nmlandconservancy.org Río Grande Water Trust—helps build sustainable funding for a 10- to 30-year program of large-scale forest and watershed-restoration treatments in the Río Grande basin: www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/ newmexico/new-mexico-rio-grande-water-fund-2015-highlights.xml The Brazos River in the Chama Valley

Grant, Hidalgo, Catron and Luna Counties

On March 13, a public meeting was held in Silver City to help the four-county region of Grant, Hidalgo, Catron and Luna develop strategies for their regional water plan. The ISC’s contractors will put the proposed strategies into a draft form and return it to the stakeholders for comments. The contractors have also updated the Projects, Programs and Policies list, including all proposals on the Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plans.

Strategies reached by consensus included the following items: • Watershed restoration including erosion control, water-quality protection and post-fire riparian restoration • Grant County regional water supply and its distribution • Education for the four-county area on issues such as septic-system impacts including conservation, capacity building, resources and energy efficiency • Gila Diversion Projects (Arizona Water Settlements Act) • Flood-control dams and infrastructure repair • Use of effluent water for aquifer recharge, irrigation and recreation • Hydrogeological investigation of the Plains of San Augustín, which impacts the Tularosa, Alamosa and Gila rivers and connected ground waters • Water conservation, source water protection, drought mitigation and rainwater harvesting • Development of a Food Hub, which includes protecting and acquiring agricultural water rights and purchase of mining water rights for other uses such as agriculture and economic development • Maintaining and optimizing existing diversions and infrastructure on the San Francisco, Mimbres and Tularosa rivers These various initiatives hold the potential to create the momentum needed to

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Green Fire Times • April 2016

Chama Flow Project—Río Grande Restoration, in consultation with a broad range of stakeholders, seeks to mimic the natural hydrology of the river with water releases from El Vado and other reservoirs.

Forest Health continued from page 9 Chama Peak Land Alliance

The CPLA, launched in 2010, is a diverse group of conservation-minded landowners committed to practicing responsible land, water and wildlife stewardship in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico for the benefit of the region’s multicultural heritage and future generations.

CPLA members share ideas and help educate one another in areas of land management, promote conservation of open space and help deter landscape f ragmentation, and coordinate landscape-scale management efforts such as forestry, prescribed fire and wildlife stewardship.

CPLA members represent a land area that ranges from 7,000 feet to over 12,000 feet in elevation, including

portions of the Continental Divide that cover approximately 250,000 acres.

CPLA’s conservation efforts are further enhanced by the official participation of the Jicarilla Apache Nation.

CPLA’s Fire Ecology and Resiliency project is an on-the-ground example of the Alliance’s goals. The CPLA and the Nature Conservancy-New Mexico hope to build on the project with future investments and additional resiliency work, guided by the development of the Navajo-Blanco Resiliency Plan, which is building additional partnerships for future landscape-scale treatments. This work is also part of the effort in the Río Chama along with Río Grande Restoration and the other partners. i Monique DiGiorgio is executive director of the Chama Peak Land Alliance.

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New Mexico’s ReplaceMeNt wiNdow expeRt

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Happenings at the

April 9 6:00 Santa Fe Opera Performance April 10 2:00 Santa Fe Opera Performance April 11 6:00 Habitat for Humanity Fundraiser April 15 6:00 Auction Gala: Go Green!

Rio Grande School Fundraising Event April 22 7:00 Santa Fe Men’s Camerata Concert & Silent Auction April 23 7:00 Cervantes / Shakespeare Flamenco Event

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April 30-May 1 Santa Fe Sco ish Rite Spring Reunion View our new webpage santafesco ishrite.org for calendar and information.

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17

Op-Ed: Water in New Mexico

Sanders Moore

Clean water is essential to New Mexicans’ health, happiness and economic vitality.

Because clean water is so essential to our families’ health, recreational opportunities and way of life, GreenLatinos, Environment New Mexico and a host of allies celebrated the Obama administration’s new Clean Water Rule, which was announced last May and will restore federal protection to more than 88 percent of New Mexico’s streams, sources of drinking water to more than 280,000 New Mexicans.

For the past decade, these New Mexico streams, along with streams that feed drinking-water sources for one in three Americans, lacked clear protections under the nation’s Clean Water Act because of Supreme Court decisions issued in 2001 and 2006.

© Quita Ortiz

From the San Juan to the Río Grande, rivers provide us with drinking water.

When that water is polluted, even at relatively low levels, we increase our risk of liver disease, kidney disease and even cancer. All of us are affected by unhealthy water quality.

The Río Grande

Environmental Protection Agency had to drop 1,500 cases against polluters who were dumping into or otherwise harming these waters.

A broad coalition of clean-water advocates, farmers, mayors, health professionals and small businesses, such as brewers and outdoor outfitters, heralded the rule.

Americans across the country submitted more than 800,000 comments in support.

And a recent poll showed that 80 percent of Americans favored it. Particularly important in New Mexico, Latino support for the Clean Water Rule is especially high. The 2012 Sierra Club and National Council of La Raza poll found that 92 percent of Latino voters agree that we have “a moral responsibility to take care of God’s creations on this earth—the wilderness and forests, the oceans, lakes and rivers.”

The only opponents to the final Clean Water Rule are the same polluting interests that poked holes in the Clean Water Act in the first place. Agribusinesses, oil and gas companies, developers and other polluters have waged a bitter campaign in Congress and the courts to block restored protections to our streams and wetlands.

© Seth Roffman

For restored clean-water protections to make it across the finish line, we’ll need both of our senators, who’ve stood up against the polluters every single time, to continue to be forceful champions for clean water. The quantity and the quality of the water that sustains us is simply too precious to squander. i Looking down from the Río Grande Gorge Bridge in Taos, New Mexico

These polluter-driven court rulings meant that, all too often, developers could build over our wetlands, oil companies could dump into our streams, and the federal government couldn’t stop them. In fact, according to an analysis by The New York Times, over a four-year period following the court decisions, the U.S.

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Green Fire Times • April 2016

Sanders Moore is the state director of Environment New Mexico, a statewide, citizen-based environmental advocacy organization.

Together with its national federation, Environment America, Environment New Mexico has been working to restore Clean Water Act protections for a decade. Moore has a master’s degree in Environmental Law and Policy from the Vermont Law School and a bachelor’s degree in Government from Wesleyan University.

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Interior Department Report Underscores Impacts of Climate Change on Western Water Resources

Putting the national spotlight on the importance of water sustainability, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation has released a basin-by-basin report that characterizes the impacts of climate change and details adaptation strategies to better protect major river basins in the West that are fundamental to the health, economy, security and ecology of 17 Western states.

The SECURE Water Act Report identifies climate change as a growing risk to water management, citing warmer temperatures, changes to precipitation, snowpack and the timing and quality of streamflow runoff. Other ecological resources that remain at risk during the 21st century include water supply and quality; operations and hydropower; groundwater resources and flood control; recreation; and fish and wildlife.

Specific projections include a temperature increase of 5 to 7 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century, a precipitation decrease over the Southwestern and south-central areas, and a 7 to 27 percent decrease in April to July streamflow in river basins. In the Colorado River Basin, reductions in spring and early summer runoff could translate into a drop in water supply for meeting irrigation demands and adversely impact hydropower operations at reservoirs. In the Río Grande Basin, reduced snowpack and decreased runoff likely will result in less natural groundwater recharge. Additional decreases in groundwater levels are projected due to increased reliance on groundwater pumping.

The report, fact sheets on projected climate change impacts and a visualization tool are available at www.usbr.gov/climate/secure.

Lawsuit Seeks Accounting for Río Grande Water Use

Last month, the U.S. Interior Department warned that supplies in the upper Río Grande are expected to decrease by one-third in New Mexico over the course of the 21st century. That means even less water than previously predicted for municipalities, farmers and endangered species. A report from the department stated, “The reliability of the river to meet future needs is severely compromised by a growing gap between demand and availability and the potential for diminishing supplies due to climate change and competing uses.”

More than 6 million people depend on the Río Grande to irrigate more than 3,100 square miles of farmland in the U.S. and México. New Mexico and Texas are in a legal battle before the U.S. Supreme Court over management of the river and groundwater pumping.

The Middle Río Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) delivers water to 65,000 acres of croplands. Last month, WildEarth Guardians filed a lawsuit in New Mexico district court seeking an accounting for Río Grande water use. WEG claims that, “despite clear mandates,” the MRGCD has failed to prove that it is putting all the water it is permitted—since 1925—to beneficial use. WEG demands that the state engineer have MRGCD prove its use or cancel the district’s permits. WEG contends, “The state has given the district a blank water check, which is depriving the Río Grande, the bosque and their native fish, wildlife and plants the water they need to thrive.” WEG also filed applications to appropriate for storage in Abiquiú Reservoir any water not put to beneficial use by the conservancy district. That water would be reserved to protect and restore flows, habitat and ecosystems.

Santa Fe County Treasurer Patrick "Pat" Varela Announces:

PROPERTY TAX OUTREACH PROGRAM The Santa Fe County Treasurer's Office will be following the below schedule for Property Tax Payments Eldorado Ken & Patty Adam Senior Ctr.

Pojoaque Satellite Office

Edgewood Senior Center

Benny J. Chavez Center

16 Avenieda Torreon

5 West Gutierrez, Suite 9

114 Quail Trail (CR‐9)

354A Juan Medina Rd.

Monday April 11, 10:30am‐1pm

Tuesday April 12, 10:30am‐1pm

Wednesday April 13, 10:30am‐1pm

Thursday April 14, 10:30am‐1pm

Monday April 25, 10:30am‐1pm

Tuesday April 26, 10:30am‐1pm

Wednesday April 27, 10:30am‐1pm

Thursday April 28, 10:30am‐1pm

Mary Esther Gonzales Senior Center

La Cienega Community Center

Glorieta Fire Station

Nancy Rodriguez Comm. Center

1121 Alto Street

50‐A San Jose

#43 Fire Station Rd.

1 Prairie Dog Loop

Friday April 15, 10:30am‐1pm

Monday April 18, 10:30am‐1pm

Tuesday April 19, 10:30am‐1pm

Wednesday April 20, 10:30am‐1pm

Rancho Viejo Fire Station

Turquoise Trail/Lone Butte Fire Station

39 Rancho Viejo Blvd.

#03 Turquoise Court

Thursday April 21, 10:30am‐1pm

Friday April 22, 10:30am‐1pm

Friday April 29, 10:30am‐1pm

*Extended Hours at 102 Grant Ave. Location: 8am‐6pm, April 4 ‐ May13* The Treasurer's Office will only accept: Check, Money Order, Credit Card, and Cashier's Check. Due to Security Concerns, Cash will not be accepted.

The Treasurer's Office does not contact Tax‐Payers for payment over the phone. For additional information, Contact the County Treasurer's Office: (505) 986‐6245.

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Green Fire Times • April 2016

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From Survival and Sustainable Agriculture to Río Grande Diversion The History of Santa Fe’s Water Supply Hilario E. Romero and Michael Aune

T

he earliest residents of Santa Fe settled along a river corridor because of its riparian life, flowing river, cold springs and shallow aquifers that could bring fresh, clean water to the surface. For centuries, Pueblo people survived in the area until severe perennial droughts arrived in A.D. 1400 and forced them out. Over the next three-and-a-half centuries, the climate changed, gradually increasing the river flow and recharging the aquifers. Spanish settlers arrived, and soon the area became the capital of their new province. The needs of the Pueblo people and the settlers never outgrew the river’s capacity to provide.

The beginning of the water wars

In 1881, 33 years after the United States-México signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the river was dammed, and, with the support of a Board of County Commissioners, a private monopoly formed and attempted to take over the water rights that had been granted to Agua Fría and Santa Fe residents by the Spanish Crown and Mexican government. In 1914, the Hydrographic Survey of Santa Fe showed 38 acequias irrigated over 1,200 acres of farmland. Slowly but surely, however, those acequias were shut off, one by one, as water became a commodity instead of a human right.

It would become owned and managed by a private monopoly. This was the beginning of the water wars.

Early History of an Area Founded on Water

Pueblo people began to settle the area as early as A.D.1100, appreciating the cultivable soil and relatively long growing season. Centuries later, that hospitable place would become the village of Agua Fría. By A.D 1200, the Pueblo people moved upstream to what is now downtown Santa Fe. They probably relocated as a result of cosmic signs and drought. The new site gave them better access to water, firewood, hunting and security. However, they had to build a new pueblo, create river

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diversions and dig irrigation ditches. Their new location also presented challenges such as a slightly shorter growing season, which caused them to develop techniques to compensate for the rise in elevation and proximity to the mountains. They possessed drought-resistant seeds— corn, squash and beans.

Their extensive experience with the environment and ability to relocate made them adaptable to natural disasters.

Eventually they again moved on, to the Río Tesuque, and were living there when the Spanish arrived.

Avanyu (water serpent) petroglyph detail from the Río Grande Gorge © Curtis Schaafsma

The early Spanish expeditions journeyed near that area in 1540, with Coronado and followed by several others, until the original colonists arrived with Oñate in 1598, settling in the Pueblo of Okeh’ Owingeh and later moving across the Río Grande, where they built San Gabriel, New Mexico’s first Spanish settlement.

Some of those colonists moved south to settle near what is now Agua Fría for the same reasons as the early Pueblo people. The colonists encountered the remains of the pueblos from an earlier era, a flowing river, ciénegas and ojitos fríos and pastura, despite a severe drought that had gripped the area for 40 years. In 1610, Pedro de Peralta located a plaza near the river southeast of an abandoned pueblo. He chose that location because it was elevated and good for defense, near abundant springs, firewood, hunting grounds, pastures for horses, cattle and goat herds.

This new capital required the assistance of the Indian and Spanish farmers from the Tesuque Pueblo and Agua Fría areas, who provided food, shelter and knowledge of hunting, fishing and agriculture.

Green Fire Times • April 2016

Sketch of Santa Fe in 1846-1847 by Lt. Albert

The early Pueblo people knew from centuries of existence in northern New Mexico that water was life—that each precious drop was important and that the springs were sacred. They adapted to this environment and became one with it. Their knowledge of the flora and fauna gave them an advantage over

Wells were drilled deeper and deeper into aquifers. Natural springs and many individual wells dried up as the water table dropped.

their new neighbors, who eventually learned to survive in an unpredictable environment. Life in Santa Fe during the colonial period required work that took up most of the day and night.

Soldiers and Pueblo warriors were constantly on alert to protect pueblos and small Spanish communities from attacks by the Apachis, Nabaju and Yuta tribes. During droughts, the community had to work together to locate and share sources of water.

Some dug deeper wells or searched the mountains for springs.

Drought returned in the 1670s and 1680s, causing hunger and suffering.

The Spanish military forced the Pueblo people to share their food stores.

Franciscan missionaries continued their attempts to wipe out Pueblo religion.

Drought conditions contributed to the Pueblo Revolt. Once concessions were made and the encomienda— patronage or tribute—was abolished, the Pueblos were able to practice their religion freely. The Spanish and Pueblos then maintained a civil relationship throughout most of the remaining colonial period. The Spanish now understood that, especially in New Mexico, “agua es vida”—water is life. The river and perennial springs flowed in the plaza area. Further downstream, in Agua Fría, La Cieneguilla, Alamo, La Ciénega and La Bajada, the settlers watered their crops, more from the springs than from the more variable flow of the river.

Near the Parroquia de San Francisco de Asís—Santa Fe’s original church—there was a large spring that fed the Río Chiquito, which ran to a confluence with the Río Santa Fe a little south of the Santuario de Guadalupe. In the 1730s, there was a decade of drought, but it was not as severe as those in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Santa Fe grew to a small community of about 230 families and 1,500 people, according to the 1750 Provincial Census. Included in that count were the 100 or more soldiers and their families who were on alert at the presidio. There were approximately 1,000 to 1,200 horses, available for military expeditions that grazed in areas surrounding the town. Water was allocated for pasture and alfalfa fields for small herds of cattle, sheep and goats. By 1790, the population was 2,396, including the presidio and its families but not including the

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table dropped.The city of Santa Fe had reached its capacity to provide water to its residents. With the current drought that began in 1996, Santa Fe County and the city collaborated on getting 5,605 acre-feet of water from the San JuanChama Project through the Buckman Direct Diversion on the Río Grande.

Op-Ed: The Potential Impact of Wildfires

surrounding villages. This increased population still had not outgrown the area’s water capacity. For the following century, droughts were less frequent.

Spanish and Pueblo communities grew and generally prospered.

The arrival of the first caravans from Missouri, after the opening of trade between the United States and México, created substantial increases in the population and the use of water. More agriculture and ranching were necessary to sustain the new residents. Santa Fe’s population in 1850 was 4,846, but during the following decade it declined.

Still, the watershed was able to provide sufficient water. By 1880, when the population had grown to 6,635, the Board of County Commissioners tried to empower the Santa Fe Water and Improvement Company “…with the exclusive right and privilege of erecting dams and reservoirs for impounding water on the Santa Fe River,” according to documents cited in a 1996 report by Karen Lewis and Douglas Campbell.

The city then unilaterally granted itself the right to divert 1,540 acrefeet per year for a domestic water delivery system, without the consent of downstream parciantes, or irrigators, who had prior rights. In June 1881, a citizen’s committee was appointed to settle the matter with the Water Works Board. The company announced that it would not interfere with the flow of the river, day or night, and would remunerate all persons whose property was in any way injured by the laying of water mains. The Two-Mile Dam was erected in 1893 when the Stone Dam reservoir had become laden with silt.

According to the 1914 Hydrographic Survey of Santa Fe, there were over 30

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acequias delivering 5,701 acre-feet of water to over 1,250 acres of farmland in the city. Keeping the river running recharged the aquifer and kept city and community wells from drying up.

To provide for needs during the dry season, two reservoirs were built in the headwaters of the Santa Fe River. From 1925, until the end of World War II, when surviving parciantes, who had enlisted, returned to their lands along the river, the city, with the aid of the private water company, began to take their water away, at a time when the city was nearing its water capacity.

Residents began to dig wells near the river, the effect of which was to gradually dry out many natural springs downstream in Agua Fría, according to residents’ accounts. In 1951, it was estimated that 68 percent of the drinking water was coming from wells.

The river and perennial springs flowed in the plaza area.

Recent History

In 1962, the San Juan-Chama Project began to provide water for communities along the Río Grande by diverting water from the San Juan Mountains through tunnels to Willow Creek and on to Heron Lake. Since that time, the need for water has increased among many communities along the Río Grande.

When the Buckman well field was brought online for Santa Fe in 1972, it became the city’s major source of water.

As demand increased, these wells were drilled deeper and deeper into aquifers. Natural springs and many individual wells dried up as the water

In recent years, Santa Fe’s water supply, both city and county, has become dependent on three main sources: wells; the San JuanChama Project/Río Grande; and the Santa Fe River, which supplies the Nichols and McClure reservoirs.

The San Juan-Chama and those reservoirs have been in annual jeopardy due to the risk of wildfires in the watersheds’ headwaters, which could destroy water-delivery infrastructure.

Depending on water demand, if one of those sources is taken out, the other two may provide sufficient capacity for the short term. Both the city and county have taken admirable steps towards water conservation, but it is conceivable that even more stringent requirements could become necessary if there is an emergency situation.

Though water rights have been acquired by local governments to supplement these options, very little concerted action has taken place to safeguard the sources of Santa Fe’s water supply. Local and state elected officials avoid acknowledging the very real possibility of worst-case scenarios.

The San Juan-Chama and the reservoirs have been in annual jeopardy due to the risk of wildfires in the watersheds’ headwaters

This winter started out well for snowpack, but warmer temperatures and record heat, clear skies and winds during the second half of February and March melted and evaporated a large amount of snow. The Santa Fe Ski Basin's north facing slopes reported 100 to 103 inches, or an average of 8.4 feet on February 7, 2016, and, on continued on page 22

Op-Ed: Growth’s Impact on Water Supply

With over 67,000 inhabitants and an abundance of hotels and motels, apartment complexes, luxur y de velopments and other large water users, it is questionable as to whether Santa Fe can continue to guarantee enough water for the future. Recent annexations to the west and south, which added almost 14,000 residents,

© Seth Roffman

1882 Bird’s-eye map of Santa Fe published by J.J. Stoner

present new problems for water and inf rastructure. The city must now provide services to these areas, including water. Santa Fe County is building a pipeline and waterstorage tank to provide water from the Buckman Direct Diversion to Eldorado. Los Alamos has committed $27 million to build three access points to collect 1,200 more acre-feet per year from the San Juan-Chama Project. Nambé and Pojoaque also are slated to receive 4,500 acre-feet as a result of the Aamodt water suit.

The Middle Río Grande Conservancy District is allocated 20,900 acre-feet, Albuquerque already receives 48,200 acre-feet, and Santa Fe, 5,605 acre feet. That is a lot of straws drinking from a small cup.

Aftermath of the 2011 Las Conchas fire

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continued from page 21

© Anna C. Hansen

Santa Fe’s Water Supply

Heron Lake, part of the San Juan-Chama project, was at a record low level in 2015.

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March 23, it was at about 53 inches, or an average of 4.4 feet. This has also occurred in the San Juan Mountains that feed San Juan Diversion Project water into Heron Lake. Each fall from 2010 to 2015, Heron Lake has almost been empty. The latest photo shows that, on the north side of the lake, Willow Creek flows through a dry boat dock. A total of 80,405 acre-feet will be allocated to major users, including Albuquerque, Santa Fe, the Middle Río Grande Conservancy District, Los Alamos and the Pojoaque Valley, when they start receiving water. The snowpack at Wolf Creek Ski Area's north facing slopes was at 96 to 136 inches, or an average of 9.6 feet on February 7, 2016, but, on March 20, it was at 81 to 119 inches, or an average of 8.4 feet, and shrinking due to warm temperatures.

Santa Fe will probably continue to grow, but by how much will depend on the capacity of its watershed, wells, the flow of the Río Grande and additional users that draw from it. Looking to the future in this time of global warming, communities need to rely more on

long-range water management, local food production, reducing dependency on fossil fuels and developing longrange alternative energy plans. i Hilario E. Romero, a New Mexican mestizo (Spanish/Basque/Jicarilla Apache/Ute), is a former New Mexico state historian. He has spent the past 40 years in higher education, as an administrator and professor of history, education and Spanish a t No r t h e r n Ne w Mexico College, and adjunct at New Mexico Highlands University and University of New Mexico.

Michael Aune has explored the headwaters of Western watersheds for over 40 years and studied wildfire’s destructive impact on watersheds. He has testif ied before legislative committees and served on the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission Wildfire Task Force.

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The Aamodt Settlement Conundrum A complex situation involving water and property rights in the Pojoaque Valley Seth Roffman

Non-pueblo residents, who own about 2,600 private wells in the Pojoaque Basin, have to make a choice before Sept. 17, 2017: give up their wells and connect to a pipeline; keep their wells but significantly reduce their usage; or reduce their use and agree that when the well is eventually transferred—such as through inheritance or sale—the new owner will be obligated to connect to the pipeline.

L-R: U.S. Congressman Ben Ray Luján, A. Blair Dunn of Western Agriculture, Resource and Business Advocates, LLP (attorney for Northern New Mexico Protects), State Rep. Carl Trujillo, County Commissioner Henry Roybal, Santa Fe County Assessor Gus Martínez and others made up a panel that took questions about road easements, property rights and water rights at a community forum hosted by Northern New Mexico Protects on March 19.

Otowi Bridge. The pipeline would end at Bishop’s Lodge. Some of the water diverted would come from the Upper Colorado River Basin, made possible by the San Juan-Chama Project, which now provides about half of Santa Fe’s water supply.

The project has alienated Pueblo and non-Pueblo people and governing entities that have largely cooperated for generations.

The settlement agreement hands over 6,100 acre-feet of water to the four pueblos, who would control the pipeline by holding four of the five

© Seth Roffman

The $245 million Bureau of Reclamation-built project could be completed by 2024. Sixty percent of the cost is to be covered by the feds; of the remaining 40 percent, New Mexico would pay 28 percent and Santa Fe County, 12 percent. The Río Grande diversion, treatment and pumping facilities would be built on Pueblo of San Ildefonso land, about three-quarters of a mile east of the

© Anna C. Hansen

T

he Aamodt water-rights case, named after a party in the original litigation, was filed 50 years ago to settle “Aboriginal” claims of four pueblos that are vying for water with hundreds of non-pueblo farmers and well owners in the NambéPojoaque-Tesuque stream basin. If the final settlement agreement, signed in 2013, withstands the challenges that have been filed in District Court, a Pojoaque Valley Regional Water System (RWS) will be built to replace the pumping of existing wells in the valley north of Santa Fe.

The Río Grande near where Regional Water System infrastructure may be installed

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seats on the regional water authority board. The pueblos have agreed not to make priority calls against non-pueblo users in most circumstances. Nonpueblo well owners, who account for 85 percent of the basin’s population, will have access to between 1,500 and 2,300 acre-feet per year of a reliable water supply. Families who lose water rights will not have the same amount of water to irrigate their land.

In order to make the system financially viable, at least 1,500 well owners must agree to give up their wells. So far, only about 120 non-pueblo residents have agreed to do that and connect to the pipeline. About 800 have refused, and 30 to 40 percent of well owners have not responded.

In dividing non-pueblo people from the pueblos, the project has alienated friends and governing entities that had largely cooperated for generations. The Pueblo of San Ildefonso, citing the Pueblos Lands Act (1924) and plans for future expansion, has asserted sovereignty over [and thus ability to charge for] Santa Fe County easements that the pipeline would use.

Some non-pueblo residents, in accessing homes in the area via county-maintained roads they have traversed for years, have encountered “no trespassing” signs. The uncertain legal status of those roads has made lenders unwilling to fund mortgages and construction

and reportedly has driven down property values. Property owners from El Rancho who have been unable to get titles from insurance companies and thus obtain loans, have filed a federal lawsuit.

A Pojoaque Valley communit y advocacy organization, Northern New Mexicans Protecting Land, Water and Rights (“Northern New Mexico Protects”) picketed Santa Fe County administrative offices and last month held a panel discussion to discuss these issues with local and national leaders.

The group has appealed a federal judge’s dismissal of their lawsuit over the right-of-way roads dispute. The judge said the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the complaint and that the group had not fulfilled requirements to sue under the federal Quiet Title Act, which protects the U.S. government from lawsuits when Indian lands are involved.

In August 2015, Santa Fe County commissioners, fearful of high easement and litigation costs, voted to not approve payments toward the water system unless the disputes over the roads are resolved. The county, in federal court, defended its resolution, linking the public roads right-of-way dispute with the Aamodt water-rights litigation.

Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), who had tried to work with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to resolve the tribal roads easement dispute, has asked Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to intervene.i

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Linking Santa Fe’s Local Food Demand to Urban Water Demand Management

Article and Photos by Quita Ortiz

D

espite an increase in population, the city of Santa Fe has reduced its annual water consumption by more than half since the mid-1990s, when it purchased the water utility from Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM). Nationally, Santa Fe has become a model among cities for water conservation. Its utility is charged with delivering a safe and reliable water supply to its customers.

Many of those customers support a vibrant local-food economy, as evidenced by the success of the S anta Fe Farmers’ Market and local CSAs (community supported agriculture). The Santa Fe Farmers’ Market is the state’s oldest and largest outlet for the sale of locally produced food. Many restaurants in Santa Fe cater to locals and tourists alike who enjoy participating in the farm-to-table experience.

The city and county of Santa Fe have worked to acquire senior water rights to ensure their ability to have an adequate supply in times of drought. But in a

state whose water rights have been fully appropriated—meaning there are no new water rights available—Santa Fe must acquire the right to use water by purchasing and transferring rights from existing senior water users. This can result in water conflicts between cities and rural communities. The water rights Santa Fe and other cities seek to acquire belong to many of the same farmers who are attempting to maintain their traditional culture and meet increasing local food demands.

This means that water conservation has an important role to play in the demand for local food. If Santa Fe wishes to build and maintain a strong local-food scene, residents need to continue decreasing their water use so that the city will not have to obtain additional, expensive agricultural water rights. This will allow more area farms to stay in production.

The city of Santa Fe’s current annual water demand is about 10,000 acrefeet. In a normal year, the city is able to meet most of that demand with its two surface-water sources, the Santa Fe

Snowpack from Lake Peak in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains feeds Santa Fe Lake at the headwaters of the Santa Fe River.

River and the Río Grande. In drought years or when demand is very high, the city also has two groundwater well fields. Due to the hydrologic connection between surface water and

groundwater, the Office of the State Engineer requires that the city purchase “offset” water rights to ensure that any adverse impacts to senior surface-water users due to groundwater pumping

Water for Nature or Economic Development?

David Groenfeldt

Conserving water can relieve pressure on water ecosystems, which is an environmental benefit, but this is not necessarily the case. Household waterconservation programs in my city of Santa Fe, New Mexico, for example, have been pursued as a way of providing “new” water to support the construction of more houses and businesses in the water-scarce city. Economically, the community is better off because the same amount of water is providing more net benefit, at the same cost, but the river and aquifer from which the water is taken have not benefited from the increased efficiency.

Benefiting the river through urban water conservation would require a deliberate shift in priorities away from economic values to environmental ethics. For example, the community could adopt a policy of reducing the amount of water diverted from the river by 10 percent. A soft path of water conservation would then be pursued with the aim of meeting the present—and perhaps future—water demand from houses and businesses plus a 10 percent water rebate to the river.

The Santa Fe River flowing through La Cienega. Downstream from the city, the river is dependent on effluent from the water treatment plant.

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Economics is a tool for management that can be usefully applied to finding efficient solutions to the challenge of meeting nature’s own water demands. But the questions of how saved water should be allocated and whether the river deserves some or all of that water are fundamentally ethical decisions.

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Linking Local Food continued from page 24 by junior users is accounted for, i.e., offset, by the purchase and retirement of senior surface-water rights.

It’s important to note that, although Santa Fe has done commendably well in its water-conservation efforts, there is always room for improvement— particularly as it relates to the local food system. The city’s Water Division has the responsibility to meet customer water demand, but residents and businesses that advocate for local food would be remiss in overlooking the connection between their urban water footprint and simultaneous desire for local and regional food.

The Santa Fe Food Policy Council’s food plan calls for implementation of strategies that help offset residential water use such as installing graywater and rainwater-harvesting systems, which collect rainfall to reduce demand and reduce the severity of stormwater flows. The SFFPC also advocates working with the city and county on land-use plans that support agricultural activities. Additionally, the city’s long-range water-supply plan calls for a substantial reduction

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in groundwater pumping, utilizing that resource as a last priority during critical drought periods. This means that water conservation and reuse of treated wastewater effluent will inevitably take on larger roles with respect to future water demand.

In a state with a limited water supply, greater understanding of the relationship between regional agriculture and urban water needs can provide a foundation from which to foster dialogue among stakeholders.

Santa Fe is one of the most waterconscious cities in the arid Southwest.

If city residents are willing to perpetuate rigorous conservation efforts and support the use of new technology, pressure to acquire expensive senior agricultural water rights will be reduced, minimizing the impact to surrounding rural communities that are the breadbaskets of our farmers’ markets and the basis of New Mexico’s cultural heritage. i

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Quita Ortiz is a water resources analyst for the city of Santa Fe Water Division.

Acequia NEWSBITEs Federal Funding Awarded for Acequias

Governor Vetoes Acequia Funding

Last month, without warning, among the $8.2 million in capital outlay Gov. Susana Martínez vetoed was nearly $1 million for acequia maintenance and repairs. The 25 projects around New Mexico for which legislators had appropriated funding included $100,000 for a new diversion dam on the Santa Cruz River that the

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© Seth Roffman

The new funding marks the third consecutive year the Corps has included acequia funding in its work plan. The 2015 work plan included $3.35 million for the Llano acequia’s construction costs and other projects. In 2014, the work plan included $530,000 for the Crops drip-irrigated with water from a Villanueva acequia in San Miguel County. Chimayo, New Mexico acequia

The governor called many of the vetoed projects “local pork” that “often don’t create jobs or develop the economy.”

She suggested that the parciantes seek money from the Interstate Stream Commission or the Water Trust Board.

The commission requires a 10 percent match, which small, rural farmers would have trouble paying. The trust board generally funds large projects such as municipal water systems.

© Alejandro López

traditional irrigators consider essential and $68,522 to dredge and collect sediment from a small reservoir that is clogging the outlet to the Acequia de la Ciénega and threatening to flood a county road. Many of the designated projects have never received capital outlay funding.

The federal government is providing funding for projects to improve traditional, community irrigation ditch systems in New Mexico. In February, Senate Appropriations Committee member Sen. Tom Udall, Sen. Martin Heinrich and Rep. Ben Ray Luján announced that the U.S. Corps of Engineers has awarded more than $2.5 million for the state’s acequias. The first project to be funded is the design of the Chamisol y Ojito acequia, near Peñasco, in northern New Mexico.

A waterless acequia landscape

The acequias are the lifeblood of New Mexico’s centuries-old agricultural traditions, one of the oldest forms of government in existence and key to the identity, health and well-being of communities. Though strong, especially in the northern part of the state, the mostly volunteer organizations lack resources to be self-sufficient. Rep. Stephanie García Richard (D-Los Alamos) called the governor’s veto “a near fatal blow” to the affected acequias. If small farmers don’t irrigate, they can lose their water rights.

Green Fire Times • April 2016

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Op-Ed: El Agua Bendita / Sacred Water

Article and photos by Alejandro López

“Water, rain were the greatest of blessings, and all was asked in their name, and in their image, gesture and sound by the Pueblo peoples who invoked them…for upon their coming, the lives of plant and person and animal alike depended.”

— Paul Horgan, Great River

T

he state of New Mexico has relatively little water compared to states further east, north and northwest. It may be partly because of this that the founding Native American and Indo-Hispano cultures, to this day, hold significantly different attitudes and understandings about water than contemporary mainstream culture, which originally made its way here from the water-drenched East Coast and northern Europe. Having arrived equipped with the technologies of drilling, dredging, pumping and water storage, mainstream culture has largely relegated water to the role of a commodity with utilitarian and commercial purposes. However, at this time of growing water scarcity, we New Mexicans find ourselves facing the urgent challenge and opportunity to develop a different and deeper consciousness regarding this vital substance, one closer to that of the original peoples, who did not take it for granted.

New Mexicans are facing an urgent challenge to develop a deeper consciousness regarding water.

The dominant culture’s reliance on buying and selling water from aquifers, rivers and streams is reflected in their progressive depletion. In recent years, it has not been at all uncommon for the legendary Río Grande to be totally dried up by the time it reaches Las Cruces, where only a wide swath of sand serves to remind us of the formerly robust río. Elephant Butte and Caballo lakes in southern New Mexico are today only a fraction of the size they were just 15 years ago. This is due to less snow and rainfall, the diversion of water in service to increasing urban sprawl, and the highly water-consumptive industries such as coal and uranium mining and the production of beef and pecans, chiefly for export.

In some areas, such as parts of the Pajarito Plateau downstream from Los Alamos National Laboratory, the exposure of water

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to radioactive substances has contaminated nearby watersheds, rendering it dangerous for human and animal consumption. In other areas of the state, such as in Cebolla and Dulce, fracking presents us with yet another set of problems relative to water use and quality.

Because the natural resources of the vast North American continent seemed limitless and inexhaustible at the time of westward expansion by American settlers and businessmen, little regard was given to coexisting with nature. People sought to conquer nature to exploit and harness her many resources.The decimation of the vast herds of buffalo on the Great Plains is a case in point. Such attitudes and strategies made life easier for the multitudes arriving from Europe and their descendants and richer for a select few industrial barons.

Dams were built, rivers redirected, artificial lakes created, wells dug and precious resources accessed to serve the growing population. Even clouds were artificially seeded to provoke the release of moisture in response to drought. The desert was made to bloom with monocrops, and whole cities were plunked down on the desert floor. The worldview that drove these initiatives, with its radical reengineering of the physical world, has now resulted in the United States becoming the biggest contributor in the world to global warming. Another consequence of our country’s insatiable

Acequia-irrigated chile plants in Santa Cruz, New Mexico

consumption of water is our current vulnerability to a host of unprecedented natural disasters. In recent years, these have ranged from freak snowstorms on the East Coast to increasingly more powerful hurricanes and tornadoes in the South and Midwest, earthquakes in Oklahoma, increasing numbers of forest fires and prolonged droughts in the West, as well as the sinking of the ground upon which California sits.

Unless we adopt wiser and more sustainable approaches to water use for a statewide population that now numbers well over two million people, together with a radically different understanding and appreciation for this vital liquid, we in New Mexico may be forced to abandon our current mode of living. We may perhaps even be forced to migrate elsewhere, as many sub-Saharan peoples have had to do in the wake of the loss of their traditional water sources. Global warming and the expected rise in mean

temperatures and increased rates of evaporation will only exacerbate the growing scarcity of water.

Both Native American and Indo-Hispano people possess a much humbler and more reverential relationship to water because, aside from historically having had access to only springs and streams, water jars and buckets, as well as gravity-fed acequias for crop irrigation, these communities used relatively little water for their daily needs and used it judiciously. Indigenous

Global warming and increased rates of evaporation will only exacerbate the growing scarcity. communities devised ways of sharing water supplies, both in times of plenty and scarcity. Otherwise, they would not have survived. They also adapted to droughts and deluges as best as they could and incorporated into their culture reverence and thanksgiving for this miraculous substance.

Before the advent of deep wells, water pumps, dams and piped water, the peoples of Nuevo México had honed a keen sense of all of the places where water could be found, in all its states and throughout every season. By looking up at the snowpack high in the Sangre de Cristos in the springtime, the people of Taos Pueblo and Las Truchas could predict how much runoff they might have in the summertime for watering continued on page 28

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El Agua Bendita continued from page 27 fields and livestock, as well as for domestic purposes that included driving wooden water wheels submerged in the acequias, which caused shafts to turn and rotate hefty grinding stones of the ever-present gristmill located in nearly every village.

Villagers customarily took their wheat and chile pods for grinding there and, after a few hours, retrieved whole-wheat flour for bread baking or red chile powder for the concoction of fiery sauces.

with folded arms for the person to drink it. Only after having shown this form of respect to both the water and the elder would the young person exit the room.

In many families, when people drew water from wells in buckets, instead of pouring all of its contents out into containers, some was given back to the well, to reciprocate with its source. Another tradition, observed until quite recently,was for the bearer of bad news to a household to ask the person to whom it was about to be disclosed to take a seat,while offering him or her a glass of water to drink.

Aside from this being an act of kindness, it was thought to lessen the likelihood of trauma and shock, and perhaps it did.

Before the advent of modern medicine, the majority of the remedies the people of this cultural community employed were in the forms of baths, herbal teas, infusions and the inhalation of vapor, all of which utilized the healing and restorative agent of water. Now that we know that the body is primarily water, these approaches to helping people regain health make all the more sense.

The native people consistently aligned themselves with the great powers of the universe, especially the clouds for rain, through offerings and prayers to Mother Earth and Father Sky, as well as through concentrated forms of dance in which every movement and detail of dress bespoke the life-giving ways of water. In the Spanish-speaking Catholic villages, people observed the release of water into the acequia system through the recitation of special prayers or songs.

They ritually observed a date close to the summer solstice—around June 21—by taking a statue of San Juan Bautista out in a procession, oftentimes to a site along an acequia, to shower praise and agua bendita, or water blessing. On this day, many people also immersed themselves in the flow of the acequia or river, recalling the ritual of baptism.

In the Catholic rite, the belief that water blessed by priests could become holy and curative allowed people to conceive of the possibility that water in and of itself might also be sacred. Consequently, it was treated as such. One of the most timehonored customs among Nuevo México’s Mexicano people was for a young person to offer a glass of water to an elder and wait

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Before crises precipitated by shortages of water across our cherished land worsen, we may perhaps want to work toward the creation of a different collective consciousness around water that includes the profoundly social, metaphysical and poetic, as well as the ecological and practical. To be sure, some of this is already taking place.Annual water-blessing ceremonies are held along Agua Fría Street in conjunction with the revivification of the Santa Fe River. More scientifically minded people have been developing a variety of water-conserving technologies.

Each of us could start directing conscious thoughts of gratitude toward water every time we use it and by using it more judiciously and consciously offering it to other living beings—plants, animals and other people—as the sacred gift it is. By effecting such changes, we might not only succeed in warding off conflict and be able to better quench our thirst; we also might, for all time, plant in our minds the conviction that agua is more precious than any other substance, for it provides us with life. i Alejandro López is a northern New Mexican educator, writer and photographer.

Alej@cybermesa.com

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Self-Healing and the Water Pathways of the Body

Japa K. Khalsa

T

he heart of self-healing is awakened when we perceive the body as more than just scientific functions. In indigenous healing traditions, like Chinese Medicine, the internal organs are jewels of consciousness; they affect not only our physical health but also our emotions and how we perceive reality.

The organs are considered energetic in nature, with energy-sensing pathways— meridians—that stretch out over the entire body and even sometimes beyond the body. The organs do not exist in isolation inside the torso. They are part of a vast meridian network on the body that works in harmony. We can understand the body’s metabolism and needs in a new way when we take into account the emotional and spiritual component of a particular organ and its meridian network.

In this article, the name of the Chinese organ is capitalized and in italics to show that we are discussing the Chinese organ, not merely the physical organ.

Water Metabolism in Chinese Medicine

The two main organs in Chinese medicine that metabolize water are the Kidneys and the Urinary Bladder. These two organs have energy pathways that stretch all over the entire body. The Urinary Bladder meridian, which is the largest and longest meridian in the body, stretches from the eyes all the way to the back of the body. The Kidney meridian begins on the feet and flows up the inner leg and up the torso. All meridians are bilateral, so the body mirrors itself. These two meridians can be seen as a parallel to how water pathways stretch all around the Earth, encircling the Earth with ocean and waterways.

Kidney Energy: Bank Account and Trust Fund

The Kidneys, in Chinese Medicine, are known as the energy bank account or energy reserves in our body. This is a connected function to the adrenal glands that rest on top of the kidneys and are responsible for our flight-orfight response. Perhaps this explains why the Kidneys are responsible for the emotion of fear.

The Eastern interpretation of the Kidneys is that they act as both a trust fund and checking account for your daily energy. The left Kidney stores all of the accumulated Qi, or energy, that you brought in with you from your ancestors and parents. This is the life force that comes from your genetics and DNA. It is our deep reserve of energy, stretching back through generations.

The left Kidney is responsible for all of the liquid substances in the body. It is responsible The Kidneys and the Urinary for the nourishing secretions such as mucus, Bladder meridian sweat, urine, sexual fluids and saliva. If we keep ourselves healthy with good food choices, plenty of exercise, water and rest, then we can avoid taxing this trust fund, and the interest accumulates and builds up, which gives us a healthier life. To maintain healthy function, it is ideal to avoid dipping into the energy of the left Kidney but instead live from the collected energy in the bank account, or right Kidney. This organ helps the bladder to move and discharge urine and supports digestion and the movement of breath into the Lungs. The right Kidney is nourished by the daily effort of healthy living.

The Joy of Guzzling Water

Plenty of water is needed to keep our bodies from being dehydrated, but more water may be needed to create a fluid sense of consciousness. It’s possible that being even slightly dehydrated can affect mood and create a sense of overwhelm and even depression. Too many toxins in the bloodstream can lead to disjointed thinking, and it’s essential to drink enough water not just for health but to keep an elevated state of mind. If we are sensitive to this, sometimes we can feel the

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subtle sensation of fear, the emotion of the Kidneys, when we are dehydrated.

Have you ever felt an undercurrent of worry or fear in your mind that vanishes after you drink a glass of water? If yes, you are lucky it was that easy, perhaps simply being dehydrated. Some people are more sensitive to this than others. For example, when visitors to New Mexico first arrive, the level of dehydration they experience can be shocking to them. We do have to remind ourselves constantly to drink water and teas here. It’s so important to have a water bottle with you everywhere because it’s so easy to slip into dehydration due to the desert climate and high altitude.

It’s essential to drink enough water not just for health but to keep an elevated state of mind.

A Beautiful Bottle Makes All the Difference

Here are ways to make water taste better and help you stay on top of your water consumption. First of all, buy yourself a water bottle that you really like and appreciate. This is important because, in New Mexico, you really should carry a bottle with you everywhere so you stay hydrated. I have a nonplastic water-bottle collection including a blue one and a purple one, and I always like to mix water in clear mason jars with peppermint leaves and orange or lemon slices. Think of your water bottle as an accessory item, like a scarf or a purse. Also, avoid being part of the industrialization of water where gobs of plastic bottles are piling up in landfills.

The plastic itself is toxic, does not decompose and pollutes the earth. You avoid contributing to this by carrying your own water with you in a safe and stylish bottle.

Another fun flavoring for water is adding a little Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar and Honey drink (available premixed) to your daily water for the health benefit. Apple cider vinegar is known for multiple health benefits including weight loss, digestive support and more. At first, it may taste somewhat strong, so the premixed drink with honey is delicious and makes it easy and even enjoyable to drink.

How Much Water Is Enough?

The standard maxim is eight glasses of water a day, or divide your weight in half and that number is the amount of ounces you should drink daily. All clear liquids that you drink, other than caffeinated beverages, count towards your total. Tea, broth, liquid soups, juices and water all help you stay hydrated, but caffeine is a diuretic and amplifies dehydration. See if you can determine the right amount of water for you to feel elevated, content and grounded. In other words, do you recognize a connection between your mood and state of mind and how much water you drink? Even basic health problems like constipation or menstrual cramps can be eased with more water, so try drinking more for yourself as a general pick-me-up.

And when you drink water, remember the depth of the organs in your body and how water influences consciousness flowing through all of us and connecting us to the Earth and its waterways. i Japa K. Khalsa, Doctor of Oriental Medicine (DOM), is co-author of Enlightened Bodies: Exploring Physical and Subtle Human Anatomy (enlightenedbodies. com). She teaches a weekly yoga class for people with chronic pain at Sacred Kundalini, in Santa Fe. She completed her Master of Oriental Medicine degree at the Midwest College of Oriental Medicine in Chicago. She combines traditional acupuncture with herbal and nutritional medicine, injection therapy and energy healing. Her work with patients and students emphasizes optimal health and personal transformation through self-care and awareness of the interconnectedness of all life. www. drjapa.com.

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Could Rainwater Harvesting Solve Flint’s Water Crisis?

Nate Downey

T

wenty-something years ago, when my wife started her c areer in landsc ape architecture, she was sent to a prebid meeting in Los Alamos Canyon.

At one point during the site tour, the laboratory representative stopped the group of contractors to make sure everyone was listening.

“This might be the most important thing I’ll tell you today. Of course, it’s highly unlikely, but, if you or any of your workers are digging or just walking around and by chance…” the guide slowed his upbeat to an adagio, “you notice any debris, such as pieces of metal or odd-looking containers, please evacuate the area, and let me know as soon as possible.”

We could get ample potable water to any house in Flint much quicker than the “years” that officials are talking about.

Wise idea. You never know what a disgruntled nuclear scientist might toss in an arroyo. I can’t say it’s refreshing to consider that my hometown’s own Buckman Direct Diversion Facility is located downstream from those

Manhattan Project canyons. But for now, all eyes are on Flint—myself included.

Unless you’ve been floating, bloated, in a cistern for the last couple of months, you should be aware that 100,000 people—the entire city of Flint, Michigan—were poisoned when Governor Snyder wanted to save some money by creating an emergencymanagement task force that would take over Flint’s water supply. The scheme that Snyder’s appointees cooked up was that the city would abandon its contract with Detroit Water. They’d connect up with a different pipeline from Lake Huron and, while that pipe was getting built, they’d pump water from the Flint River.

Unfortunately, all of the chemicals in the river corroded the lead pipes in the city’s infrastructure. Now, you turn on the tap, and you might get Legionnaires’ disease. If you’re a child, your fate is permanent brain damage.

What would I do if I had a presidential candidate’s ear, if I controlled the emails of the mayor of Flint, or if I had the pen of Governor Snyder’s replacement (at press time, he had not resigned)? I’d strongly consider rainwater harvesting as a good option for many parts of that battered city.

I don’t know if Flint’s main focus should be rainwater harvesting. Replacing all of its lead pipes with plastic ones would likely be priority number one. But I do wonder. What about all of those people who are last on the list for new pipes?

Authorities say it could take years to get potable water to every Flintonian.

Did you catch that? Years.

That’s a long time to drink bottled water. That’s a long time without a shower in your house. That’s a lot of takeout—and it’s probably not takeout from the restaurant down the street with the same water problem as yours.

We owe the innocent victims of this atrocity something better. Don’t we?

The good news is, we could get ample potable water to any house in Flint much quicker than the “years” that officials are talking about. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are 50,000 households in Flint. Given an average household size of 1,200 square feet, approximately 25,000 gallons of precipitation hits the roofs of Flint residents in an average year. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), that’s more than twice as much water needed per person for drinking and general household needs.

The problem isn’t water. Is the problem money?

It rains and snows relatively regularly across the Great Lakes region, so an

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extremely cautious general rule for sizing a cistern in F lint would be 25 percent of a roof ’s t o t a l average annual har vest. This means that cistern systems would average in the 6,000-gallon range. At an estimated installation cost of $3 per gallon, you get an approximate cost of $18,000 per household. Finally, if you multiply $18,000 by 40,000 households, you get $720 million.

According to Mayor Karen Weaver, the pipe-replacement project could cost as much as $1.5 billion—more than twice as much as my cistern plan, so the answer is no. The problem isn’t money.

What, then, is holding us back from solving Flint’s water crisis with harvested precipitation? For one thing, few people ever think of it. Although cisternsystem technology is over 5,000 years old, it hasn’t been a mainstream concept for about a century. Ever since deep groundwater pumping became relatively cheap, people have just stuck their big straws in the ground and sucked. continued on page 33

Green Fire Times • April 2016

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Green Fire Times • April 2016

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Water Harvesting continued from page 31

Water harvesting is in a stage of evolution similar to that of solar panels in the 1970s.

Another challenge is that Americans use an average of 127.3 gallons of water per day—8.5 times more water than the WHO average of 13.2 gallons.

A third issue relates to a concept called “natural monopoly.” The reason that cities usually have one water system with no competition is that it would be more expensive to have more than one system of reservoirs, pumps, pipes and mind-boggling billing systems. It’s simply too expensive to have competition when it comes to community water systems.

But in a place like Flint where it would be good to create some decent jobs, people should realize that a rainwaterharvesting job is a local job. It’s a reasonably good career as well. There’s skill involved, as well as the potential for creativity. And there is the knowledge that your job is providing nothing less than what’s necessary for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Water-harvesting jobs also support local manufacturing. Because it can be expensive to ship empty water tanks from China or even México, it’s often best to build cisterns onsite or nearby.

4

Speaking of nearby water systems, most water harvesting occurs on private land, so these systems turn out to be much less disruptive to commerce than projects that require digging up and rebuilding almost every street in a city.

W hen the Buckman Diversion Project was installed, some wise souls demanded that the intakes be shut off whenever a lot of runoff was storming off of the canyons around Los Alamos.

That’s nice—as long as you don’t have the level of water-systems oversight similar to that which the people of Michigan have suffered. i Nate Downey is the author of Harvest the Rain and has been a local permaculture landscape designer since 1992. Visit www.permadesign.com.

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Uranium Tainting Drinking Water Systems throughout the West

Groundwater provides much of the water used to irrigate crops in major farming regions. With ongoing drought, underground reserves are being overpumped.

Uranium is increasingly showing up in drinking-water systems of the U.S. West. In California’s Central Valley farmland, up to one in ten public water systems have untreated drinking water with uranium levels that exceed safety standards, the U.S. Geological Survey has found. Nearly 2 million people in that region, as well as in the U.S. Midwest, live within a half-mile of groundwater containing uranium exceeding health limits, according to a study by University of Nebraska researchers.

State agencies and schools in California are attempting to deal with tainted public wells by installing on-site uranium-removal systems or by diluting the tainted water to safe levels. The price of uraniumremoval equipment can range from $65,000 to millions of dollars. Uranium removed from local water systems is taken away by workers in protective clothing and processed into nuclear fuel for power plants.

The main danger of uranium in water comes from the metal’s toxic chemical effects, not radioactivity.

Uranium can adhere to root vegetables if they’re not properly washed. Studies have confirmed that livestock and people can ingest high levels of uranium by eating contaminated vegetation. Scientists know that long-term exposure—over a year or more—can damage the kidneys, raise cancer risks, and cause reproductive and genetic damage. The potential dangers of exposure to uranium through drinking water are still being researched.

Over 74 percent of the public water supply in New Mexico comes from groundwater resources, according to a 2010 report from the State Engineer’s Office. Levels of uranium, some occurring naturally, can be found in the state’s groundwater. Last month, the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, representing residents of Church Rock, New Mexico, joined the Natural Resources Defense Council and two other organizations in petitioning the EPA to repeal its aquifer pollution exemptions nationwide. With the federal exemption, along with a state permit, a mining company has, for more than 20 years, been discharging chemicals into an aquifer, contaminating a Navajo Nation drinking-water source with uranium. New Mexico has 182 aquifer exemptions from the EPA, mostly for oil and gas operations.

Federal Funding for Eastern NM Water Pipeline

The Bureau of Reclamation is funding a pipeline that, to ease the strain on the Ogallala aquifer, will bring billions of gallons of water from the Ute Reservoir to Cannon Air Force Base, Clovis, Portales and other communities along the New Mexico-Texas border. It is projected to serve 70,000 people. The project’s cost has been projected to be $550 million, but the Bureau has said it could be as much as $750 million.

Approval Hearings for Santolina Master Plan Continue

The planned Santolina Development, on more than 14,000 acres of Albuquerque’s West Mesa, is symbolic of a larger battle that pits small farming communities against large corporate interests.

Concerns have focused on an allegedly inadequate water supply, possible dewatering of wells used for small farming, potential health problems for valley residents, unneeded development due to low population growth, and a greater economic burden on taxpayers.

It was recently announced that the developers are seeking both Tax Increment Development Districts (TIDDs) and Property Improvement Districts (PIDs), contradicting statements made during previous hearings that TIDDs and PIDs would not be sought.

Two lawsuits are pending against the developers (Western Albuquerque Land Holdings and Bernalillo County)—one filed by a small South Valley farming family and the other by the New Mexico Environmental Law Center on behalf of organizations including the Southwest Organizing Project, South Valley Regional Association of Acequias and the New Mexico Health Equity Working Group.

Despite the lawsuits, the approval process is underway at the Bernalillo County Planning Commission (CPC). The next public hearings will be on April 27, May 26 and July 21.

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Green Fire Times • April 2016

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Wa t e r N E W S B I T E s Gold King Mine Spill Study

More than three million gallons of wastewater discharged on Aug. 5, 2015, from the Gold King Mine, north of Silverton, Colo., spilled into the Ánimas River. The toxic metals flowed into the San Juan River, which runs through the northern region of the Navajo Nation. Spring snowmelt is expected to increase water flow into those rivers. That could stir up lead, arsenic and other contaminants.

The project’s catchment basins, boulders and other features were also designed to slow down stormwater rushing through an arroyo and to make the area more like a park, where residents can hike or bike. Reclaimed water from the nearby city of Río Rancho now irrigates native vegetation throughout the area. The project’s funding came from a federal loan and a grant and is the first time clean-water funds had been used for such a project in New Mexico.

A study being conducted by researchers from the University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University is focusing on three Navajo communities affected by the spill: Shiprock, in New Mexico, and Aneth and Upper Fruitland, in Utah. The study will assess changes in sediment, agriculture, soil, river and well water. In partnership with the Navajo Community Health Representatives program, the researchers are recruiting 30 households in each community to determine differences in toxic exposure among the communities. Blood and urine samples will be tested for lead and arsenic. The researchers will also evaluate the association between the perception of risk from the mine spill and the actual risk.

This year, the Army Corps of Engineers will provide $7 million to continue building the initial five miles of structural levee in the Río Grande Floodway’s Socorro segment. The floodway will eventually replace 43 miles of existing levee along the Río Grande’s western bank in order to prevent flooding and protect a Bureau of Reclamation channel. In addition, Corps funding will be used for watershed assessment in the Río Grande Basin, including $200,000 for a Río Grande environmental management program to create a basin-wide database.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to return to the mine this spring or early summer to resume preliminary cleanup work. Last month, EPA Regional Administrator Ron Curry wrote to New Mexico’s congressional delegation that the agency is providing $2 million for the states and tribes to apply to long-term monitoring and planning. The agency is also reviewing the state’s and the Navajo Nation’s millions of dollars in reimbursement claims.

In March, southern New Mexico farmers learned that, this year, they will be receiving less than a third of their normal allotment of water. They were told by the Elephant Butte Irrigation District (EBID) that they are scheduled to get about 10 inches per acre of farmland, with a possible increase to 12 to 14 inches before the season ends.

That’s significantly higher than the 3.5 inches in 2013 but much less than the 3 feet of water that’s considered a full allotment. The wet cycle was particularly generous in the 1980s and ’90s.

Farmington Drinking Water

The Ánimas River supplies most of the drinking water for Farmington, New Mexico.

The city has safeguards in place to make sure the river water does not have heavy metals in it when it enters the water treatment plant. This involves not pumping water during times of high turbidity and using Farmington Lake to settle metals out of the water.

As part of an investigation by the USA Network, the Farmington Daily Times examined drinking water in the New Mexico cities of Farmington, Aztec and Bloomfield. Every year, those cities release water quality reports that include test results for lead and copper contamination. Recent reports have not had any samples test above action levels.

Unlike Flint, Mich., waterlines in the area are not made of lead. However, during the 1970s and ’80s, lead solder was commonly used in plumbing. Farmington has been testing the water at 90 residences built during that time period. Only one sample has come back above the action level. That may be because, over time, deposited minerals have created protective coatings on the pipes’ interiors. Because Farmington’s water is not acidic, it has not eaten away at those mineral deposits.

The Clean Water Act

In January, President Obama vetoed legislation that would have nullified a new federal rule designed to clarify the scope of the 40-year-old Clean Water Act and protect smaller streams, tributaries and wetlands. Obama defended the rule, saying that pollution from upstream sources ends up in the rivers, lakes and coastal waters near where most Americans live and that the rule would protect those resources.

Many alarmed businesses and farmers had called on Congress to intervene, alleging that expanding the scope of the waters subject to the act’s jurisdiction was a power grab that would lead to additional permitting requirements, expenses and increased legal liability for landowners. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy denied the rule would expand the act’s jurisdiction but said—given drought pressures in the West and the effects of climate change—it is time to clarify some of the act’s provisions to establish regulatory certainty in regard to drinking water supplies.

Almost 94 percent of New Mexico’s waters are intermittent or ephemeral, flowing only during rainstorms. Small tributaries that often go dry feed rivers such as the Río Grande or the Pecos. Before the rule change, industrial activity near those streams could discharge chemical runoff from a work site and did not have to comply with federal regulations.

Río Grande Flood Control Projects

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy visited New Mexico in September 2014, when she helped mark the start of a $2 million flood-control project to keep sediment out of the Río Grande and alleviate flooding concerns for the village of Corrales.

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Southern New Mexico Irrigation Allotments

A hydrologist credits the wetter winter—the fifth wettest in New Mexico history— for the increase this year but says the watershed hasn’t reached its full potential, in part due to a warm and dry February and March. Río Grande reservoirs are all well below half-full.

Water began to be released to southern New Mexico, and—to comply with the Río Grande Compact—to El Paso, Texas, from the Elephant Butte and Caballo reservoirs in late March, two months earlier than last year. Water for EBID users will be released in mid-April for the Hatch area and mid- to late-May for the Mesilla Valley, where many vegetables are grown.

Elephant Butte, which is near Truth or Consequences, had 427,500 acre-feet of water, up from 345,000 acre-feet last year. Caballo, 15 miles south of Elephant Butte, had 31,253 acre-feet, down from 35,798 a year ago. An acre-foot of water is the amount needed to cover an acre at the depth of a foot.

Water Groups Ask State Supreme Court to Invalidate Amended Pit Rule

On March 24, the New Mexico Environmental Law Center filed a petition with the state Supreme Court asking the court to review a decision handed down by the state Court of Appeals upholding the amended Pit Rule. The rule governs the storage and disposal of liquid and solid wastes at oil and gas drilling pits. It is intended to protect soil and groundwater from toxic contaminants.

In 2013, the Oil Conservation Commission, appointed by Gov. Susana Martínez, eliminated most of the substantive provisions of the rule, allegedly at the behest of the oil and gas industry. In their petition, public interest groups represented by the NMELC say that, as amended, the rule does little to protect the state’s water, public health or wildlife and that commission violated the Separation of Powers Doctrine when it amended the rule while it was under appeal in state District Court.

Copper Rule Update

The Copper Rule regulates the discharge of pollutants into groundwater. Freeport McMoRan, the world’s largest publicly owned copper-mining company, allegedly worked closely with the New Mexico Environment Department to draft the Copper Rule, which was adopted in 2013. In 2015, the Court of Appeals upheld the state’s adoption of the rule.

The state attorney general and a former state Groundwater Bureau chief filed briefs with the New Mexico Supreme Court requesting that the rule be thrown out. On March 7, the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, on behalf of Amigos Bravos, the Gila Resources Information Project and Turner Ranch Properties, filed a Reply Brief before the court regarding the rule. It was one of the NMELC’s last steps before the court hands down a ruling that could decide how groundwater is protected—or sacrificed—at industrial sites in New Mexico for years to come.

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What's Going On! Events / Announcements April 16, 4-6 pm ABQ Hours Community Potluck ABQ Center for Peace & Justice, 202 Harvard Dr. SE

ALBUQUERQUE April 2, 9 am-12 pm Backyard Farming Series Gutiérrez-Hubbell House 6029 Isleta SW

Successful Water Practices and the Role of Plants. Learn the basics needed to plan and design your home garden landscape guided by sustainability, permaculture and wise use of our limited natural resources. Info/registration: 505.314.0398, www.berncom.gov/ openspace

April 2 New Museum Opening Indian Pueblo Cultural Center 2401 12th St. NW

The IPCC’s first new permanent exhibit in 40 years: We Are of This Place: The Pueblo Story. Indianpueblo.org

April 7 start Herbal Intensive Red Root Acupuncture Clinic

Six-week intensive with Tomás Enos covering health and herbs using local plants, medicine-making, etc. 505.242.2032

April 8-9 Water Quality Testing McGrane Safety Complex 48 Public School Rd., Tijeras

The NM Dept. of Health and the NM Environment Dept are offering free testing of water from domestic wells. 4/8: 12–6 pm; 4/9: 9 am–12 pm. Bring a 1-liter sample to be tested for common water concerns plus arsenic. 4/8, 5:30–7:30 pm and 4/9, 9:30–11:30 am: short course on private wells. 505.224.1614, https://nmtracking.org/en/environ_exposure/ water-qual/private-wells/water-test-fairs/

April 13, 8–10 am NM Incentive Programs for Small Businesses Sandoval Economic Alliance 1201 Río Rancho Blvd., Río Rancho

Fee: $39. 505.238.3004, http://sandoval economicalliance.org/category/events/

April 15 Registration Deadline Raft the Río Meet in Bernalillo

Tamarisk Coalition’s interpretive 9.5 mile float trip on the Río Grande on April 30, 9am–3 pm. $95/$80.Proceeds fund riparian restoration. 970.256.7400, www.tamarisk coalition.org/about-us/events/raft-the-rio

April 16, 9 am-12 pm Backyard Farming Series Gutiérrez-Hubbell House 6029 Isleta SW

Successful Plant Practices and Selecting Materials. Learn the basics needed to plan and design your home garden landscape guided by sustainability, permaculture and wise use of our limited natural resources.

Info/registration: 505.314.0398, www.bern com.gov/openspace

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Community service exchange based on a Time Banking model where members trade services without money. abqhours@gmail. com, www.facebook.com/abqhours

April 21, 12–1 pm Building a Straw Bale Garden ReStore, 4900 Menaul NE

Free class covering conditioning, planting and watering straw bales. Snacks provided.

Sponsors: State Farm and Bank of the West.

505.359.2423, beth@habitatabq.org

April 22-23, 9 am–5 pm NM Leaders in Mindfulness Conference FatPipe ABQ and Tamaya Resort Santa Ana Pueblo

4/22: FatPipe ABQ Business Incubator, 200 Broadway NE: Application of mindful business practices. 4/23: Tamaya: An exploration of what it means to cross boundaries for inclusion and diversity in purposeful ways. Focus areas include “Mindful Goverance,” “From Mindful Self-Compassion to Mindful Community Compassion” and “Mindfulness and Social Action.” www.newmexicomindfulness.com.

April 24 La Montañita Co-op Earthfest Silver St. behind Nob Hill Co-op 3500 Central SE

Free community celebration. Environmental, economic and social justice, farming & gardening booths, education, information, juried local artists, music, dance, plants and food. 877.775.2667

April 26, 8 am–4:30 pm Native Youth Empowerment Symposium Isleta Convention Center 11000 Broadway SE

Conference for tribal leaders and staff, Native youth and advocates for financial literacy.

Free. Presented by the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians in partnership with the Pueblo of Isleta. https://www. eventbrite.com/e/native-youth-empowerment-symposium-tickets-21433141102

May 9-11 Native American Economic Summit Hotel ABQ at Old Town

10th annual conference, small business awards, trade fair. American Indian Chamber of Commerce of NM. Info/registration: 505.766.9545, www.nmnaec.com

Through 2016 Las Huertas Farming Training Courses Bernalillo County Ext. Office 1510 Menaul NW

Intro to Horticulture in Aridlands covers basics of farming in NM’s varied climate and seasons. Other classes offered include Growing Techniques, Summer Growing Season (farm visits), Business management and planning. sean@riograndefarm.org, http://riograndefarm.org/farmer-trainingfarm-incubator/

Green Fire Times • April 2016

SANTA FE

April 1, June 3, Aug. 5, 10 am–1 pm Free Legal Clinics First Judicial Court 225 Montezuma Ave.

For low-income New Mexicans. First Friday every other month. Attorneys provide free legal advice on civil matters only (no family law, no criminal law) on a first come, first served basis limited to the first 25 people. Bring relevant paperwork for attorney to review. NM Legal Aid’s Volunteer Attorney Program.

505.814.5033, ajab@nmlegalaid.org

April 4, 6 pm Dr. Kurt Anschuetz Hotel Santa Fe

A Contested Landscape: Tewa, Keres, Tano & Spanish Homelands of Las Bocas Canyon. Lecture presented by SW Seminars. $12. southwestseminar@aol.com, South westSeminars.org

April 5, 10 am–12 pm Words that Work!

501 Halona St.

A nonprofit communications workshop by the SF Community Foundation with Hollis Walker. Sliding scale: $75, $135, 195.

505.988.9715, www.santafecf.org/what-wedo/event-calendar

April 5, 6–7:30 pm Culture Connects Neighborhood Meeting SF Public Library–Southside 6599 Jaguar Dr.

Community-wide effort to shape the culture future of SF. Residents, cultural organizations and community groups are invited to share ideas and input. 505.955.6707, www.

CultureConnectsSantaFe.org

April 6, 11:30 am–1 pm Green Lunch SFAHBA, 2520-B Camino Entrada

How can we best showcase NM’s wonders of nature, culture and conservation? Presentation by Mike Friedman of Adventure Partners, LLC, designer of recreation and learning programs for resorts and destinations.

Presented by the SF Green Chamber of Commerce. $20/$15. Reservations: 505.982.1774

April 6, 4–11 pm Earth Consciousness & the Lore of the Amazon Synergia Ranch

Symposium/salon. Conversations with Ralph Metzner, Dennis McKenna, Rick Doblin and others. Symposium 4–6:30, followed by dinner and evening salon with visionary art, poetry, music & dance. www. synergeticpress.com

April 6, 7:30 pm Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor St. John’s College Student Activities Center

Talk and question and answer session. Free.

505.984.6050

April 7, 10 am–4 pm SF Chamber of Commerce Business Expo/Job Fair DeVargas Center, 564 Guadalupe St.

April 8-9 NM Mission of Mercy SF Convention Center

The convention center will be transformed into a 120-chair free dental clinic to provide first-come, first-served care to anyone with oral health issues. Community volunteers will work alongside 400 dental professionals.

Presented by the NM Dental Association Foundation. To volunteer, provide a donation or for more info: nmmom2@nmdental. org or visit www.nmdentalfoundation.org

April 9, 9 am–12 pm Simple Graywater Systems SF Community College

Household wastewater is a resource that can be used safely for creating gardens and wildlife habitats in our dry climate. This class, taught by Amanda Bramble, covers NM graywater code, appropriate soaps and basic gravity-fed systems. Fee: $35. Course #HG321 01/CRN 30952

April 9, 10 am–2 pm Storm Water Harvesting, Rooftop to Riverbed SF Community College

Course #HG306 01/CRN 31456, taught by Aaron Kauffman, introduces local rainwater resource harvesting opportunities, followed by visiting projects implemented by Rainwater Resource Partnership members. Fee: $45.

April 9, 10 am–12 pm Citizen’s Climate Lobby La Montañita Co-op, 913 W. Alameda

Monthly meeting to focus climate activism and enact politically palatable and effective solutions. rdcramer3@gmail.com, newmexi coclimateaction.org

April 10, 11 am Journey Santa Fe Morning Conversation Collected Works Bookstore 202 Galisteo

A presentation on the 100th anniversary of the National Parks System with Sandy Buffet and Denise Fort. Free. 505.988.4226, www.journeysantafe.com

April 11, 8:30 am Start PRC PNM Rate Case Hearing PERA Building, 1120 Paseo de Peralta

NM Public Regulation Commission hearing on Public Service Company of NM’s application. For a detailed review, download the PNM 2015 Rate Case Summary.pdf. New Energy Economy protest: 8:30–9:30 am. #EyeOnPNM, NewEnergyEconomy.org

April 11, 6 pm Dr. Eric Blinman lecture Hotel Santa Fe

A Contested Landscape: Galisteo Basin Archaeology, Archaeologists’ Migration Models.

Presented by SW Seminars. $12. southwest seminar@aol.com, SouthwestSeminars.org

April 12, 7–9 pm Gardening Good Enough to Eat SF Community College

Bob Pennington will talk about how to raise a successful vegetable garden. Learn how to grow your own food at this altitude with our soil. $25. Course #HG353 01/CRN 30947

505.988.3279, info@santafechamber.com

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April 13–May 18, 6–7:30 pm Revisiting Charlotte’s Web

Grownups, Grief and Grace. A six-week book club for those who have lost a loved one. An Ambercare bereavement support program facilitated by Hollis Walker, CC/ SCP and Kasia McRoberts, MA, LPCC Free. 505.982.4098, ext. 13215

April 14, 9 am–3:30 pm 2016 Planned Giving Mini-Conference 501 Halona St.

Presented by the SF Community Foundation with Richard Lamport and Nancy Baker. Sliding scale: $15, $25, $45. 505.988.9715, www. santafecf.org/what-we-do/event-calendar

April 15, 5:30–8 pm Adelante Benefit Hilton SF, 100 Sandoval St.

An evening to benefit the SFPS Adelante program, which serves homeless children and families. Youth performers, monologues, silent & live auctions. $50. RSVP by 4/4. 505.467.2559, www.adelantesantafe.org

April 15, 7 pm 16th Annual Nuestra Musica The Lensic

Songs and stories celebrating NM’s diverse musical heritage. $10. Seniors no charge.

505.988.1234, ticketssantafe.org

April 16, 9:30 am opening Japanese Cultural Festival SF Convention Center, 201 W. Marcy

Martial arts and Kabuki-dance demos. Food & tea. $5, 12 & under free. Santafejin.org

April 17, 11 am Journey Santa Fe Morning Conversation Collected Works Bookstore 202 Galisteo

A presentation by local author Bruce Berlin on his book “Breaking Big Money’s Grip on America.”

Free. 505.988.4226, www.journeysantafe.com

April 21, 5-7 pm Opening The Art of Change: Indigenous Peoples and Climate Justice IAIA Campus

Opening reception for students and others on campus who have created works in diverse mediums.

April 22, 1 pm Composting as a Climate Change Solution 3 school gardens

Free hands-on workshops. Learn home composting and the important role it plays in restoring carbon balance and soil fertility. Hosted by SFPS and Earth Care. 505.983.6896, angele@ earthcarenm.org, Registration: www.earth carenm.org/earth-day-composting-sign-2016/

April 22, 2:30 pm Earth Day and Solar Panel Ribbon Cutting Acequia Madre Elementary School

Join students, staff, the Global Warming Express and many others to celebrate the new solar panel shade structure at the school. The ribbon cutting will follow the school’s annual Fund Run and a barbecue in the school garden.

April 22–23, 12-6 pm Water Quality Testing Genoveva Chávez Center

The NM Dept. of Health and the NM Environment Dept are offering free testing of water from domestic wells. Bring a 1-liter sample to be tested for common water concerns plus arsenic. https://nmtracking.org/ en/environ_exposure/water-qual/privatewells/water-test-fairs/

April 23, 9 am–3 pm Indoor Flea Market SF County Fairgrounds Exhibit Hall 3229 Rodeo Rd.

Table reservation deadline is April 8. Presented by the SF County Extension Homemakers. 505.471.4711, http://santafeexten sion.nmsu.edu/homeec.html

April 18, 6 pm Dr. Timothy Maxwell lecture Hotel Santa Fe

April 28, 10 am NM Acequia Commission Meeting Bataan Memorial Bldg., Red Room, 407 Galisteo St.

April 20, 6–7:30 pm NM Solar Energy Assn. Meeting Amenergy Office, 1201 Parkway Dr.

April 28, 9 am–2 pm Paving a Smooth Path from Proposals to Reporting 501 Halona St.

The Lower Río Chama Valley: Its Unique Prehistoric Farming Techniques. Presented

by SW Seminars. $12. southwestseminar@ aol.com, SouthwestSeminars.org

Meets the third Wednesday of each month.

Sustainable Everything Advocates, a NMSEA Chapter, seeks to make living sustainably the accepted norm. Claudia@solarlogic.com

April 20, 7 pm School for Advanced Research Benefit CCA, 1050 Old Pecos Tr.

Steve Feld’s documentary J.C. Abbey, Ghana’s Puppeteer screens, followed by discussion with the filmmaker. $25. 505.982.1338

April 21 Angel’s Night Out 29 Restaurants

Participating restaurants will contribute 25% of their revenue to Kitchen Angels, an agency that provides home-delivered meals to people living with life-challenging health conditions. 505.471.7780, tmccarty@kitch enangels.org, KitchenAngels.org

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Agendas: 505.827.4983 or www.nmacequiacommission.state.nm.us, Info: 505.603.2879, molinodelaisla@gmail.com

A nonprofit technical assistance workshop by the SF Community Foundation with Nadine Stafford and Jerry Nelson. Sliding scale: $25, $45., $55. 505.988.9715, www.santafecf. org/what-we-do/event-calendar

April 29, 8:45–10:45 2016 Outdoor Vision Fest SFUA&D Campus, 1600 St. Michael’s Dr.

SF University of Art & Design and Currents New Media present student/faculty/staff-created video projections, interactive multimedia and art installations and animation. Free.

April 30, 7-9 am Registration; Cleanup through noon Great American Spring Clean Up 1142 Siler Rd.

Volunteers needed. Picnic after cleanup.

505.955.2215, sfbeautiful@santafenm.gov, www.keepsantafebeautiful.org

April 30, 9 am–12 pm Plants for Santa Fe SF Community College

Horticulturalist/landscape designer Tracy Neal will discuss traditional and new trees, shrubs, perennials and grasses that will work in our changing climate. Course #HG320 01/CRN 30946

May 1, 12–4 pm Opening Lowriders, Hoppers and Hot Rods NM History Museum, 113 Lincoln Ave.

Car Culture of Northern NM. Exhibit’s opening events include 2 pm lecture by Travis Ruiz. Through March 5, 2017. 505.476.5019, www.nmhistorymuseum.org

May 7, 8:30 am–4:30 pm NM’s Opioid and Overdose Epidemic Conference SF Convention Center

Third Weds. Monthly Taos Entrepreneurial Network Taos County Courthouse Mural Room, Taos Plaza

Networking, presentations and discussion. Free.

HERE & THERE

Conference for clinical and behavioral health providers. Hosted by the SF Prevention Alliance. Info: 505.470.9072, SantaFePre ventionAlliance@gmail.com, Registration: https://southwestcare.ejoinmen.org/SOS

May 14, 8 am–3 pm Santa Fe Green Festival El Museo at the SF Railyard

Green building design & home technology.

Electric plug-in vehicles, renewable energy technologies, green products & services, water conservation & harvesting, exhibits for kids, organic foods, fair-trade art. Presentations on all things green and sustainable. SF Green Chamber of Commerce: 505.428.9123, glenn@nmgreen chambero.com, santafegreenchamber.org

May 14, 11 am–5 pm 1st Annual Yogathon Railyard Park

Kundalini yoga, music, dance, food, educational activities, children’s class. 7–8:30 pm: concert by DJ Liquid Bloom at the Railyard Performance Center. $25. Fundraiser for Community Meditation Garden at Yoga Santa Fe. 432.270.3431, purestpotentialfundraiser.com

Saturdays, 8 am-1 pm Santa Fe Farmers’ Market 1607 Paseo de Peralta (& Guadalupe)

Northern NM farmers & ranchers offer fresh greenhouse tomatoes, greens, root veggies, cheese, teas, herbs, spices, honey, baked goods, body care products and much more. www.santafefarmersmarket.com

May 4 start Herbal Medicine Intensive Milagro School of Herbal Medicine

Six-week intensive offers hands-on learning about local plants,taught byTomás Enos and Stefan Link.

Registration: 505.820.6321, info@milagroherbs. com, wwwmilagroschoolofherbalmedicine.com

TAOS

Through April 24 Art Speaks: Works by Renowned Taos Pueblo Artists Encore Gallery, TCA 145 Paseo del Pueblo Norte

Works created by a group of the pueblo’s premier arts in stone, clay, India ink and oils.

Free admission. 575.758.2052, tcataos.org

April 20, 5:30-8 pm Taos Entrepreneurial Network Old County Courthouse, 121 N. Plaza

Monthly meeting (every 3rd Weds.). Keynote and presentations by local speakers, exhibits of products and services. 575.921.8234, Melissa@taosten.org

July 11-14 Integrative Medicine Professionals Symposium Sagebrush Inn

7th Biennial symposium on integrative health featuring many distinguished speakers and local practitioners. Presented by the UNM School of Medicine’s Section of Integrative Medicine, Continuing Medical Education & Professional Development, Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine and Gaples Institute for Integrative Cardiology.

505.272.3942, http://som.unm.edu/cme

April 1–May 20 Etsy Craft Entrepreneurship Workshops Taos, Las Vegas, Mora

Workshop series for northern NM residents to help creative entrepreneurs start an online shop on Etsy to sell handmade products and create supplemental income. All workshops 10 am–4 pm. April 1, 8, 15, 22: Las Vegas; April 7, 14, 21, 28: Taos; April 29, May 6, 13, 20: Mora. Presented by WESST. 505.474.6556, rperea@wesst.org

April 14, 6-8 pm NM Solar Energy Assn. Meeting Little Toad Pub backroom Silver City, New Mexico

Monthly meeting of the NMSEA-Silver City chapter. Held every second Thursday.

575.538.1137, SCGreenChamber@gmail.com

April 15 Application Deadline Agricultural EQIP Conservation Grants

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service supports restoration and protection of habitat, reduction of soil erosion, improvement of water quality, on-farm energy, etc. 505.761.4406, www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/ portal/nrcs/site/nm/home/

Through April 15 Seedling Sale for Spring

The NM State Forestry Division seedling program has more than 65,000 seedlings in 50 different species available for purchase. Containerized and bare-root stock. Info: carol.bada@ state.nm.us, To order: www.nmforestry.com

April 15-17 Ecological Restoration Volunteer Project Near Grants, New Mexico

Join the Albuquerque Wildlife Federation for a weekend at Cebolla Canyon in the El Malpais National Conservation Area. Volunteers will help build riparian restoration structures to restore a wetland area as part of a comprehensive ecosystem restoration effort. rios cial@gmail.com, http://abq.nmwildlife.org/

April 17, 1:30 pm Place Names of New Mexico Pecos Natl. Historical Park, Pecos, NM

Bob Julyan will give an insightful tour into the history and values of the state.

505.757.7241, nps.gov/peco/

April 27, 2:30–6:30 pm Río Arriba Business & Workforce Expo Ohkay Owingeh Conference Center near Española, New Mexico

Job fair, resources from service providers and member businesses from the Espanola Chamber of Commerce. Presented by Regional Development Corp., Rio Arriba County Economic Development and others. val@rdcnm.or

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Green Fire Times â&#x20AC;˘ April 2016

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