New Mexico Acequia Association

NMAA leaders will participate in the US Social Forum in Atlanta, Georgia, the motto of which is “another world is possible, another United States is necessary.” The forum will be a space for networking, relationship-building, and inspiration for community leaders from throughout the US. Between June 27 and July 1, the forum will include events, panels, plenaries, and actions and will culminate in a People’s Assembly of social movements on the last day. NMAA will present on the following two panels:

Water for People, Not for Profit! Grassroots Activists tell their Victory Stories

3:30 PM in Mediterranean room at the Atlanta Marriott Downtown

Food & Water Watch

The global movement to protect water for people and nature—not for profit—is one of the most vibrant and inspiring social movements today. Here in the U.S., we have our fair share of success stories. This workshop will feature inspiring stories of victory from states like New Mexico, Wisconsin, and New Hampshire, while also equipping participants with the tools to win.

Defending Our Water and Protecting Our Food: Bringing Family Farmers and Water Rights Advocates Together

10:30 AM in Apollo room at the Atlanta Marriott Downtown

Peoples Health Movement & Alliance for Democracy

This panel, developed in collaboration with a national coalition of water rights advocates, will explore the interactions between food security and water security from several perspectives, and offer models for action to protect these public goods.

For a list of the rural issue panels, see USSF Rural Issue Panels.

For more information about the US Social Forum, click here.

On June 13, Martin Luther King III spent a day visiting Chimayo and Truchas as part of the Poverty Across America tour to raise awareness about poverty in the US.  In the link to the article from the New Mexican, he comments on the uniqueness of acequias and on the lack of potable water in villages near Chimayo.  For more info, click on the link.

http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/63119.html

The Water and Natural Resources Legislative Interim Committee met on Tuesday, June 12 at the State Capitol in Santa Fe.  Speaker of the House Ben Lujan, Senator Phil Griego, Committee Chairman, and Senator Carlos Cisneros all commented that acequias should be part of the committee work plan which defines the agenda items for the committee during the legislative interim. 

Senator Cisneros requested specifically that the issue of water transfers from Taos County to south of Otowi gage be an issue studied by the committee.  Several years ago, he passed a legislative memorial asking the State Engineer to formalize a policy of not allowing transfers from northern New Mexico across Otowi gage, which is the measuring point for determining compact deliveries to Texas.  The State Engineer historically has not allowed transfers from north to south of the gage because such transfers would complicate administration of the Rio Grande Compact.  The gage has acted as a de facto protection of northern New Mexico from demands from the most rapidly urbanizing part of the state in central New Mexico including Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and Rio Rancho.  Cisneros asked that the committee study the issues surrounding Otowi gage mentioning that large water right owners in Taos County were considering marketing their water rights out of Taos County to areas south of the gage. 

Cisneros also asked the committee to study the Active Water Management Regulations (AWRM) pointing out that District Court Judge Reynolds had ruled major portions of the regulations unconstitutional.  The AWRM sets forth administrative rules for administering stream systems through priority administration with or without a completed adjudication and allows for “expedited markets,” which allow expedite water transfers by circumventing due process.  The NMAA has opposed the provisions that provide for expedited markets and has raised concerns about the OSE making administrative determinations of water rights.

Senator Griego and Speaker Lujan asked several questions about the status of the Acequia Construction Program of the Interstate Stream Commission.  Lujan asked whether the Irrigation Works Construction Fund would have enough funds to meet the needs of the acequia program over the long term.  Senator Griego asked if there was a way for acequias to receive better services from the program.

State Engineer John D’Antonio and Estevan Lopez presented and responded to questions for nearly four hours.  The highlights of the presentation in relation to acequias were as follows:

• The OSE has seven priority basis for implementation of AWRM.  In those basins, the OSE has yet to promulgate basin-specific regulations or to complete a water master manual.
• The OSE received recurring funding to pay for ten (10) new water master positions and intends to appoint them shortly after July. 
• With regard to compacts, New Mexico has accumulated the maximum number of credits toward the state’s obligations to deliver water to Texas. 
• The OSE will establish a pre-adjudication bureau in the Middle Rio Grande where they plan to begin issuing licenses for water rights.  It is not clear how the OSE will deal with pre-1907 water rights in the Middle Rio Grande nor how he would proceed to license thousands of surface water rights. 
• The OSE reported that three major Indian Water Rights Settlements had been signed including the Navajo, Aamodt (Nambe, Pojoaque, San Ildefonso, and Tesuque), and Taos.  He reported the total cost of the settlements was $1.2 billion. 

The New Mexico Acequia Association in written and oral comments to the committee asked that the following topics be addressed during the interim:

• An Acequia Perspective on AWRM and Adjudication
• Implications of Indian Water Rights Settlements for Acequias
• Water Markets and Water Transfers
• Acequia-Domestic Water Working Group Recommendations

The next committee meeting in northern New Mexico will be in Taos on August 28th and 29th. 

Episode 20 of ¡Que Vivan las Acequias!

We continue listening to proceedings from the 2nd Annual Tierra, Agua, y Cultura conference, “Las Mujeres Hablan: Women, Seeds, and Agriculture,” on March 17, 2007. This conference was organized in collaboration with the New Mexico Acequia Association, the Traditional Native American Farmers’ Association, Tewa Women United, and Honor our Pueblo Existence. In this episode you will hear from a panel entitled, “Caring for the Human seed-raising children on the land,” with presenters:

- Michele Peixino of Chimayo.

- Teofista & Marisela Chavez of Taos area.

- and Margaret Campos of Embudo.
This month’s music is by El Chicano. Theme music by Cipriano Vigil.

Download episode: 20quevivan.mp3

Community invited to celebrate the Festival de San Isidro

Several of New Mexico’s water and land organizations have joined together to revive and preserve the traditional celebration of honoring San Isidro, the Patron Saint for those who work the land.  The entire community is invited to come together to bless the Acequia Waters, our lands and our seeds and join in this celebration of peace and of the many blessings of our culture and farming heritage.  The event will take place on Saturday, May 12^th from 10:00 AM –1:00 PM and will happen at St. Anne’s Parish located at 1400 Arenal SW in Albuquerque’s South Valley.

The celebration will begin with a Catholic Mass at St. Anne’s Pavilion behind the St. Anne’s church.  Immediately following the Mass there will be a procession from the Carrousel de San Isidro to Sanchez Farm where a blessing of the Armijo Acequia, seeds, gloves, tools & Sanchez Farm and a Ceremonial Danza by Circulo Solar Ollin Xochipilli will take place.  The festivities will continue back at the St. Anne’s Pavilion with a community meal provided free to the public sponsored by the New Mexico Acequia Association and Amigos Bravos and music by Los Jarraneros del Valle Norte.   There will also be a Seed Exchange and environmental and gardening information at the St. Anne’s Pavilion and a Tractor Show across the street at the Westside Community Center.  The community is invited to bring seeds for the Seed Exchange and gloves and farm tools which will be blessed.  All are encouraged to wear comfortable shoes, protection against the sun and to bring their favorite lawn chairs. 

For More Information regarding the event, call Lucy Sanchez at 452-9387, Joan Brown, OSF at 266-6966 or Michael Jensen at 362-1063.  

The Festival of San Isidro is supported by Amigos Bravos, the New Mexico Acequia Association, South Valley Association of Acequias, St. Anne’s Catholic Community, Partnership for Earth Spirituality, Rio Grande Community Development Corporation, South Valley Partners for Environmental Justice, La Plazita Institute, American Friends Service Committee, South West Organizing Project, La Plazita, and Kalpulli Izkalli.

Toribio Garcia, Peñasco High School sophomore and Sembrando Semillas member, produced a 4 minute video entitled, “How my family makes chicos,” as part of our Sembrando Semillas activities. The film was entered, along with 7 others from our project, for consideration for entrance into the ESE (Española Showing Excellence) film festival on April 20, 2007. Toribio’s video was not only selected for the film festival, but placed 2nd.

Congratulations Toribio!

Toribio is already thinking about how to expand his video with more cultural information as he continues to be a young champion for acequia agriculture and our traditional foods.

Las Mujeres Hablan: Women, Seeds, and Agriculture
Women’s Declaration for New Mexico 2007
LIVING DRAFT

Preamble (short version)
We believe that female and male energy is found within the other and that women are sacred beings, unique human beings of the Earth. We believe that all people belong to one earth community as a human family.
The earth community stands at a defining moment in time. Injustices, poverty, ignorance, corruption, crime and violence have deepened and our Earth Mother is suffering. These offenses have lead to values that have become hurtful and a destructive way of living.
Preamble (long version)

Women are sacred.

In our diverse yet increasingly interdependent homelands, it is imperative that we, the people of Earth, declare our responsibility to one another as in all relationships, to the greater community of life and to future generations. We are one human family with one earth community with a common destiny. Female and male energy is found within the other.

Humanity is part of a vast evolving multiverse. Earth is our home and our mother is alive with a unique community of life givers. The life givers are Women. The protection of Women, their vitality and their well-being is the sacred fluid of love.

The Earth community stands at a defining moment in time. Injustices, poverty, ignorance, corruption, crime and violence against women have deepened and our earth mother is suffering. Corrupt fundamental racism has made changes into our present attitudes and values have become ways of hurtful and destructive living. These need to be returned to the light of truth- colorful sounds of our Earth Mother.
The choice is ours: to care for our Mother Earth and one another or participate in the destruction of ourselves and all life givers.

We, therefore, declare the following:

1. Whereas, women are the nurturers of the human seed within their wombs are bearers of the blessing of creation through the process of giving birth,

2. Whereas, because of the profound role of women in creation, ancient cultures and civilization throughout human history and today have revered the earth as our Mother, the source of all life,

3. Whereas, women’s bodies are intimately connected to Mother Earth as reflected in our moon cycles that are the basis for procreation and birthing of children,

4. Whereas, mothers and grandmothers continue to be the primary caregivers of children through breastfeeding, feeding, and nurturing, from infancy to all the stages of our human lives,

5. Whereas, women have also nurtured other women historically and traditionally serving as midwives and helping one another raise their children along with their extended families,

6. Whereas, women are believed to have been the first seed savers and contributed to the cultivation of crops in a way that transformed human existence and, today, in our families and communities mothers and grandmothers have continued to be the primary caretakers of seeds,

7. Whereas, women have a special relationship with food in their role as farmers, nurturers, seed savers, and cooks and, therefore, they are the holders of culturally significant recipes and methods for storing and preparing food,

8. Whereas, many of the increasing numbers of small scale, independent farmers are women farmers from various backgrounds who are dedicated to growing clean, healthy, and fair food and to restoring harmony to the earth,

9. Whereas, women provide an important support system for all the activities of operating our ranchitos, the family farms and ranches, including serving as part of the labor essential to the process, providing meals for other laborers, and teaching children the values of land-based culture and way of life,

10. Whereas, women are often the teachers of life skills to their children and are therefore important to ensuring that traditional knowledge is passed of from generation to generation.

11. Whereas, women play important roles in our communities as spiritual leaders who offer blessings at important times in our lives and who offer guidance on important life decisions,

12. Whereas, women in traditional communities hold essential traditional knowledge including teachings about medicinal plants, where they can be harvested, and how they should be used,

13. Whereas, historically, women’s role as homemakers was broad and including helping one another to build, periodically plaster and replaster, and maintain their homes,

14. Whereas, for millennia, women have harvested foods such as piñon, quelites, tsimaja, asparagus, verdolagas, chocoyole, and many varieties of berries, which we regard as special gifts and blessings,

15. Whereas, historically and traditionally, women’s roles in families and communities were highly valued and the equally important role of men included providing the needed support system in order to raise healthy families,

16. Whereas, women today are often not respected as they were traditionally and are often subjected to violence in their own homes by those closest to them,

17. Whereas, women today and historically have, out of the love of their children and men in their families, have been at the forefront of resisting all forms of violence including war,

18. Whereas, because of the nature of women’s bodies related to procreation and our intimate relationship with the earth through farming, herb gathering, and earthwork, we are particularly sensitive to exposure to pollutants from various sources,

19. Whereas, the parts of our bodies meant to nurture and nourish our children are also most susceptible to disease and cancer considering that elevated levels of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and other deadly diseases result from exposure to toxins,

20. Whereas, mothers and grandmothers who feed and nurture their children are concerned about the existence of synthetic hormones and pesticide residues in foods resulting in unprecedented effects on boys and girls such as premature puberty, cancer, and other long-term effects that are unknown,

21. Whereas, our families are also threatened by the unknown health and ecological effects of genetically engineered seeds, plants, and animals, and we are gravely concerned about the patenting of human life which could have unintended consequences for our families and future generations,

22. Whereas, New Mexico is home to various polluting industries, mining operations, power plants, and nuclear facilities that, although serve as a source of financial income for some of our families, also are responsible for pollution that harms all of our families and are part of a pattern of economic development that displaces traditional peoples from the land,

23. Whereas, women are often low-wage workers in these same polluting industries exposed to certain toxins and women are often low-wage agricultural workers who are exposed to pesticides and herbicides in industrial agriculture,

24. Whereas, women have played a key role along with men in social movements to achieve social, economic, and environmental justice by voicing concerns about the threats of toxins to our families and by calling for livelihoods for ourselves and our families that are clean, healthy, and dignified,

25. Be it resolved that we are gathered to declare our reverence for our women ancestors that nurtured generation upon generation so that we could be given the blessing of life,

26. Be it further resolved that we will collectively and intentionally work to carry on the seed saving, farming, and ranching traditions of our ancestors and to pass these teachings on to the younger generations,

27. Be it further resolved that we will resist the genetic engineering and patenting of life so that we may maintain the integrity of our seeds, our right to grow our own food, and the sacredness of life itself,

28. Be it further resolved that we will raise our children to be conscious human beings mindful of the sacred gift of life we have been granted by the creator, to be reverent of our Mother Earth, and to be respectful in their relations,

29. Be it further resolved that we will work in solidarity with each other in our struggles to defend the air, land, and water from contamination, exploitation, and commodification,

30. Be it further resolved that we honor, respect, and recognize the dignity of women and their families throughout the world and here at home who are subjected to exposure to toxins through their work, their food, or their proximity to pollution and that we resolve to speak and act in solidarity with them in efforts to defend the health of their families and communities,

31. Be it further resolved that we will continue to play an important role in reshaping our communities to achieve a vision of safe, healthy, and joyful lives for our families and communities with good, healthy and locally grown food, good livelihoods that honor the dignity of every human person, and a meaningful and spiritual relationship with Mother Earth.

32. Be it further resolved that we will support the work of Tewa Women United …..(add language here)

33. Be it further resolved that we will support the work of Honor Our Pueblo Existence to address past, present and future issues arising from the Nuclear Industry that causes pollution and contamination to our land, air, and water; demand clean-up of these sites, and question the continued manufacturing of nuclear weapons within the Sacred Jemez
Mountains and other places in the world.

34. Be it further resolved that we will support the work of the Traditional Native American Farmers Association…. (add language here)

35. Be it further resolved that we will support the work of the New Mexico Acequia Association to sustain our way of life by protecting water as a communal resource and by strengthening the farming and ranching traditions of our families and communities,

36. Be it further resolved that we will honor and respect the women in our lives including our mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers by thanking them for giving us live and for nurturing us throughout our lives,

37. Be it further resolved that we will teach our children, both boys and girls, the importance of living close to the land, having good relations with one another, and acting with dignity and respect in our actions to protect Mother Earth.

38. May it be further resolved that we the undersigned, have read this document and are in support of Las Mujeres Hablan: Women, Seeds and Agriculture; Women’s Declaration for New Mexico 2007. We find it to be true and will assist wherever possible to learn and teach the children the importance of living close to the land, having respectful relations with one another and act with dignity and respect to protect Mother Earth, so she in turn can continue to care for us.

Over 450 Acequia Parciantes and supporters gathered in the State Capitol Rotunda on February 15^th, Día de las Acequias, to celebrate New Mexico’s acequias and acequia traditions.  Students from the Las Vegas, Mora and Taos school systems also joined in the celebration, representing the next generation of acequia farmers and ranchers. 

Día de las Acequias, sponsored by the New Mexico Acequia Association featured a blessing of New Mexico’s water wherein participants from throughout the state brought water which was collected in an earthen jug and blessed by Ernest Armijo, a Hermano Mayor with Los Hermanos Penitentes. 

Another highlight of the event was the reading of NMAA’s El Agua es la Vida Declaración.  The Declaración is a statement in which we declare that we recognize, honor and respect water as sacred and sustaining all life, and we resolve to challenge the political and economic forces that drive development resulting in the transfer of water rights out of agricultural use.  Click here to view the full text of NMAA’s El Agua es la Vida Declaración.

Senator Phil Griego, Senator John Grubesic, Senator Carlos Cisneros, Representative Bobby Gonzales and Speaker Ben Lujan were present at the event and all addressed the crowd, reiterating their support for preserving New Mexico’s acequias and for the work done by the New Mexico Acequia Association.  Speaker Lujan presented a certificate to NMAA officially recognizing the importance of Acequia Culture within the State of New Mexico.

The event closed with a singing of the Versos a la Acequia, a musical tribute to New Mexico’s acequias written by Cipriano Vigil and NMAA Concilio member Facundo Valdez and a dance performance by the Ballet Folklorico from Pecos Independent School and the Hip-Hop Dancers from Pecos Elementary.  The over 450 people participating in Día de las Acequias then shared a meal as we all broke bread in celebration of New Mexico’s acequias.
 

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The NMAA is closely following the legislative session. To see our bill tracking list or committee schedule for the week, click below:

NMAA Bill Tracker

Committee Schedule February 12-16

These are some of the highlights:

HB 230 (B. Lujan) Acequia Governance Education, Training, and Technical Assistance appropriates $500k to DFA Local Government Division. This has cleared its first committee and is on its way to the House Appropriations Committee. NMAA is working to get this funding in HB 2 which HAFC will review on February 19th and 20th.

HB 645 (B. Lujan) Acequia and Community Ditch Fund appropriates $575k to the ACDF. This will be heard in the House Agriculture and Water Resources Committee on Thursday, February 15th at 8:30am in Room 318.

HB 579 (Cervantes) Appointment of Water Masters by Majority changes language allowing the state engineer to appoint water masters for the public interest leaving only the language requiring a vote of the majority of water right owners in a district. This will be heard in House Agriculture and WAter Resources Committee on Tuesday, February 13th at 8:30am in Room 318.

SB 901 (Griego) Domestic Well Point of Diversion was introduced by Senator Phil Griego last week. This will clarify in state law that domestic well water rights are transferable to mutual domestic water consumer associations (MDWCAs).

Deadline for submitting Capital Outlay Request Forms is February 12, 2007.

Again, the steps are as follows:

1. Complete Capital Outlay Request Form (contact Janice 231-7749 if you need assistance with this). Print a blank form for each of the legislators you plan to ask for support.
2. Get signature of your legislators. Go to the Capitol and check in their office first thing in the morning. Otherwise, go to the 1^st floor where you have access to the chambers and ask the door attendant if you can speak with your legislator. Hand them a note or business card and maybe you can see your legislator. As a last resort, give us the paperwork and we will get the signatures.
3. Each legislator is different…. Make sure your form gets into the hands of your legislator and is signed well before the deadline. Try to make sure it gets introduced before the deadline. You can see what has been introduced on the capital outlay list on the legislative website. Let us know if you need help tracking.
4. We’ve heard from legislators that they have not gotten very requests from acequias.
5. You should receive a phone call from your sponsor on the House when you have a hearing. Janice is also helping get the notice out.