Rio New Mexico
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]