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A procession as the globe warms
CARNUEL, N.M. — The sun beats down on the high mountain church in a rural farming community folded into the crevices of the Sandia Mountains. Smoke rises from grills in the stands outside, as 2005-era Usher and Sean Paul dribble out from a PA system. Only a few people linger inside the cool sanctuary of […]
NM groups applauds Biden appointment of Xochitl Torres Small to Agriculture Dept. deputy position
New Mexico agriculture, conservation and water groups cheered President Joe Biden’s nomination of Xochitl Torres Small to a top cabinet position as deputy secretary in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Jeff Witte, the Secretary for the New Mexico Department of Agriculture, said Torres Small’s prior work in Congress and water law expertise brings a “new […]
Rescuing silvery minnows like ‘slapping a Band-Aid on a severed limb’
SOCORRO COUNTY, N.M. — Four people walk the streambed, combing the pools in Socorro County’s San Acacia Reach. Two wade thigh-deep in the bank crook, a seine net strung between them, and tug it through the water. Another calls out temperatures and measures the pool. The fourth jots it down in a notebook. At the […]
‘Not an object to be bartered,’ the Rio Grande is lifeblood for the land
SILE, N.M. — The river is something Phoebe Suina carries with her always. “I look at my hand, and you have all of these veins. They’re all blue, just like a river,” Suina (Cochiti Pueblo) said. “As blood flows through us, so do the rivers and streams across the land from the mountains.” The river […]
NM officials request $125M over five years to cut groundwater pumping below Elephant Butte
It’ll be months before a judge makes a decision on a deal that could end the fight over Rio Grande water between New Mexico and Texas before the U.S. Supreme Court, but the state still needs to spend millions of dollars to cut groundwater pumping in Southern New Mexico. State officials and the lead attorney […]
Watching the oxbow dry
The Rio Grande is a silver thread ribboning its way through New Mexico, enhanced by a brocade of greenery. It roars to life through the tall pines, curves through the canyons carved by its steadfast course. The river vertically bisects the entire state and touches 14 sovereign pueblos, sluicing into canals and creeping across fields. […]
The patron saint of farming
LAS MESITAS, Colo. — The husk of a church rises up, seemingly scraping the low, heavy clouds. The hollowed-out sanctuary is open to the whipping wind and a smattering of raindrops. Gutted by fire in 1975, the bones of the mission-style San Isidro Catholic Church remain, purple cowslip and grasses sprouting in the aisles. Empty […]
Rio Grande settlement proposal is in federal judge’s hand
A proposed deal that Texas and New Mexico say will bring an end to the states’ years-long, multi-million dollar dispute over Rio Grande water had its day in court Monday, facing objections from two irrigation districts and the federal government. And now, everyone waits. The next step lies in the hands of a federal judge. […]
A new mentality of collaboration in a river district
MANASSA, Colo. — Nathan Coombs, who manages the Conejos River District, used to hold beliefs that more water for conservation meant less for farmers. “I was raised on a production ag farm,” he said. “Water was for crops. That was the only use in my perspective.” The farmer from Manassa, Colorado, said his mind was changed […]
Moral questions on a standard San Luis Valley farm
MONTE VISTA, Colo. — A self-described Midwest import from Missouri, 39-year old Kyler Brown is a cowboy, farmer and philosopher. These days, he feels driven by questions of life and death. “Do people feel like they have morality in their occupation? I think people have moral moments, but probably most people don’t question the morality of […]
Drought, plague and fire: What one Colorado forest is up against
RIO GRANDE NATIONAL FOREST — The high alpine forests are a sickbed. Swathes of gray trees are bald on one side, with patches of russet needles fading into scraggly branches. Others show thick strips of bark sloughed off, revealing bleached trunks beneath. Much of the 1.86 million acres of Rio Grande National Forest is dead. […]
Living on the knife’s edge, even at the source of the Rio Grande
RIO GRANDE RESERVOIR, Colo — After 15 miles of pockmarked dirt road, the Rio Grande spreads wide in the shadows of the San Juan Mountains. It glitters, aqua, whitecaps whipped up by the wind. But even in the birthplace of the river lay the stark stains of climate change. Deep, bald scars pucker the mountaintops, […]