New Mexico Acequias Receive $1 Million in Stimulus Funds

WHITHER COLORADO'S ACEQUIAS?

EL RITO, CO. We received this highly significant news item from the New Mexico Acequia Association (NMAA) yesterday. Apparently, on Wednesday, August 18th, on the Taos Plaza, Governor Richardson announced a major award of New Mexico's share of federal stimulus funds for acequias.  According to the NMAA, six acequias will receive about $900,000 for restoration projects that will help sustain agricultural traditions in Northern New Mexico.  The report quotes Governor Richardson: "This community irrigation system has been the foundation for our families, villages, agricultural economy for generations. Investing in the acequias supports the lifeblood of our communities," said Richardson.  "I am honored that these acequias will be part of the stimulus funds."

The award comes from discretionary funds that Richardson awarded as part of the federal stimulus package.  Richardson also acknowledged Congressman Ben Ray Lujan and Speaker Ben Lujan, who both spoke at the announcement, for their strong support of acequias.  Paula Garcia, Director of the New Mexico Acequia Association (NMAA) remarked, "Agriculture is our past but it is also our future.  These investments are also part of a cultural renewal in our communities.  Our acequias are getting stronger over time because of our return to the land." 

Frankie Romero, Commissioner for Acequia del Medio in Cordova said he was very grateful for the assistance he received from Kenny Salazar of the NMAA, the staff of the Interstate Stream Commission, and Portage Engineering.  "The older generation has taken care of our acequia.  Five years ago, my brother, my compadre and I took over to see if we could make a difference - and we did."

The six acequias receiving funding:
·        Acequias de Chamisal y Ojito, Taos County: $82,500
·        Acequia del Cano, Santa Fe County: $125,000
·        Acequia de Encinal y Canoncito:  $143,000
·        Acequia de los Gallegos, Rio Arriba and Taos: $143,000
·        Acequia del Medio, Rio Arriba County:  $165,000
·        Acequia de San Francisco, Taos County: $165,000

"The acequias are so rich with history and culture.  Their names reflect our patron saints, our families, and our connection to the land," added Garcia who spoke about the significance of acequias to the cultural heritage of New Mexico.  "We want to build on the success of these six projects to secure more resources for acequia restoration around the state." 

The acequia projects were selected through the Acequia Construction Program of the Interstate Stream Commission on the basis of being able to complete the projects in the next few months.  The remainder of the stimulus funds was for the New Mexico Land Grant Council to distribute to the thirty plus land grants for community projects such as mapping.
 
Colorado's Acequias Deserve Similar Help

This is a significant, visionary, and courageous policy decision on Governor Richardson's part and it also demonstrates how exceptionally well-organized and motivated the New Mexico acequias have become over the last two decades of organizing.

Colorado acequias are less well known than their sister ditches in New Mexico. In Costilla County, Colorado, which used to be part of Taos County until Colorado became a Territory in 1861. The 72 acequias in Costilla County irrigate more than 23,000 acres of prime bottom lands. This amount appears to exceed the acreage of the farm lands irrigated by all six of the New Mexico acequias that received this vital funding from Governor Richardson.

Located less than sixty miles north of Taos, the Costilla County acequia farms are the oldest family farms in Colorado. This is evidenced by the fact that their decrees are the first 37 adjudicated water rights in the entire State and the area hosts 5 Colorado Centennial Farms (which have to be continuously operated by the same families for at least 100 years to qualify for this designation).

The Colorado acequia farms have been previously recognized (scroll down to Chapter 9), in a study published in 2003, for the exceptional ecosystem and economic base services that they provide. These include some 10,000 acres of wetlands, wetland meadows, and riparian corridors that provide critical habitat and movement corridors for many native species including endangered fauna such as the Southwestern willow flycatcher and the Yellow throated warbler.

The historic, economic, cultural, and ecological values of the acequias of south central Colorado were actually extensively documented by a study I directed (1995-98) with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Ford Foundation. The results have been published rather widely, but the Colorado acequias have not received the same legal standing or economic support their sister ditches enjoy in New Mexico.

Laws sympathetic to acequia interests in New Mexico date back over a decade. In contrast, it was only in 2009 that the Colorado State Legislature addressed and recognized acequia systems as unique and distinct from the more modern and certainly more dominant law based on the Principle of Prior Appropriation. As was reported in this blog last year, the State Legislature passed the law in February and Governor Bill Ritter signed HB1233-09, The Colorado Acequia Recognition Law, in April 2009. Recognition of the ecological and economic values of Colorado acequias has been much more late in coming.

The Colorado acequia communities are vital to the regional economy not just of the San Luis Valley and south central Colorado but of northern New Mexico as well. This goes beyond the direct familial ties which are deeply rooted and extensive. Every year, many New Mexico acequia farmers come north to our county to purchase alfalfa, native grass hay, roasted chicos corn, posol corn, habas (Fava beans), and bolitas (beige creamy beans) from their fellow acequia parciantes in San Luis, Chama, San Acacio, and other local Hispana/o villages. In return, they bring us the famed New Mexico red and green chiles, peaches, and other fruits that we cannot produce here due to the higher altitude and colder clime.

In an event last year (2009) that marked the significance of the Colorado acequias, The Acequia Institute and the Rio Culebra Agricultural Cooperative (RCAC) hosted a visit from the Organic Seed Alliance (OSA) at Rancho Dos Acequias in San Acacio. The seed savers, exchange, research, training, and activist network visited the Colorado acequia communities after stops in New Mexico. The OSA recognizes and values the unique qualities and significance of the heirloom corn, bean, and squash varieties that we cultivate in Colorado and that are distinct from the lower elevation crops sown by our New Mexico colleagues. During the visit they also acknowledged the significance of our agropastoral system and agroecological, ethnobotanical, and horticultural adaptations to our uniquely high altitude and an under 90-day growing season.

Here's hoping that our Governor, Bill Ritter (D), and our State Legislators, in particular Senator Gail Schwartz (D-Vail) and Representative Edward Vigil (D-Ft. Garland) who are proven friends and supporters of acequia farmers, notice this bit of news and work to provide help to the economic vitality of acequia communities. As a farmer and a citizen with direct knowledge of the significance of Colorado's acequias, I call on elected officials to work with the acequia farmers to seek similar funding and to preserve and promote these cultural ecological treasures that have been too often overlooked and devalued.

Colorado's acequias are the bedrock foundation of the entire regional economy since they produce and maintain the landscapes, architecture, cultural traditions, folklore, and open spaces that every one values and appreciates.

An investment of economic stimulus monies in Colorado acequias would be a prudent, just, and sustainable infusion of needed help to boost our regional and local economies. This seems especially fair and timely now since there are new discussions taking place in Colorado on the establishment of a "Payment for Ecosystem Services" (PES) program to reward ecologically sustainable farmers that have a record of stewardship by farming in nature's image. Our acequias have been producing such ecosystem services (open space, wildlife habitat, maintenance of water quality, etc.) for over six generations.