Cultural Values

New Mexico is blessed with many cultures, some present for millennia and others established over the last several centuries. All of these cultures have values and customs concerning water. These are valuable assets toward water planning and management and should be identified, by consultation with those cultures, and incorporated into all dialogue and actions taken by the Advocates.

Posts - Any technical papers, data, opinions, announcements, etc. that relate to this Cultural Values issue appear just below.

Rainwater Catchment: a Path Back to Traditional Farming

By Ann McCartney | May 30, 2024

The recently articulated vision of the Honoring Water Group, an informal citizen’s group meeting at Zuni, Vanderwagen and Gallup is: “Abundant water, respected and treated ethically. When water is honored as sacred, mutual flourishing is possible.” This citizen’s group, with much organizational support from James and Joyce Skeet of Vanderwagen, seeks to honor and protect water in…

NM Court Stops Augustin Plains Ranch Water Grab

By Ann McCartney | May 1, 2024

At a momentous hearing on April 5, 2024, more than 100 community members from Catron County crowded the court room and hallways of the Seventh Judicial District court in Reserve to hear oral argument on the Augustin Plains Ranch LLC’s continuing and relentless requests to mine and hoard 54,000 acre-feet of water a year from…

From the President’s Desk: State Government Neglect of Water Must Stop Now

By Norm Gaume | January 31, 2024

To prevent population evaporation, it is vital that the state fund serious adaptation measures to cope with reduced water availability. This is not a temporary drought but a permanent increase in aridity. The State of New Mexico has the power and resources to initiate required strategic changes. We know the path forward. We urge you to communicate this to the Governor and the Legislature. Do what Water requires. Do it Now.

Water: An Urgent Community Problem Requiring A Community-Driven Solution

By Norm Gaume | July 31, 2023

Water problems in New Mexico are community problems. The only way to generate sustainable solutions is to understand water as a collective action problem and empower the people to take action.

New Mexico Water Governance Reform is Essential to Increase Water Sustainability and Reduce Future Water Insecurity

By Executive Council | August 1, 2022

New Mexico’s existing water governance is not working and is wrong for the 21st century.

A Small Farm Future III: Seeds-Sharing-Enough

By Lynn Montgomery | June 13, 2021

When I first proposed the idea of A Small Farm Future it got a strong reaction. Some thought I was out of line to propose such an outlandish idea. Any large new idea usually has this reaction. It is not my idea, but author and farmer Chris Smage’s. I wished to convey it to the…

Small Farm Future II – A Meeting of Worlds

By Lynn Montgomery | April 9, 2021

On June 9, 2007, a meeting of two worlds happened at the Annual Middle Rio Grande Water Assembly. The Assembly had been grappling with water shortages due to growth of overuse and where we could mitigate the deficits. The Assembly, titled “Growth, Ecology and Traditions”, hoped to find solutions by reductions in use in all…

Pursuing Water Equity for Underserved Communities

By Theresa Cardenas | February 10, 2021

Pursuing water equity is a moral project. Addressing water equity is often absent from conversations about the sustainability of our water resources. It is unfortunate not all of the important issues facing water challenges revolve around water quality. There is broad consensus that equity refers to just and fair inclusion–a condition in which everyone has the opportunity to participate and prosper.

A Small Farm Future

By Lynn Montgomery | February 8, 2021

Introduction As the din of calls to deal with all the profound crises—social, cultural, economic, and environmental—finally start to dominate the political discourse it might serve us well to start to build a coherent vision of where this is going to end up. Author and farmer Chris Smaje has given us a comprehensive guide to…

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