Mary Humphrey, President

Mary is an attorney specializing in water law and was a founding member of Amigos Bravos’ Board in 1988, serving as President in 1991-1992. Together with her law partner Connie Odé, Mary represents acequias and northern New Mexico communities on contentious water and land use law issues and has been instrumental in legal opposition to planned diversions from the Río Costilla and the Río Grande. Prior to her career in law, Mary was an outfitter and river guide for 20 years and remains committed to the health of rivers and the people who live along their banks. She holds a juris doctorate degree from UNM.

Michael Coca, Vice President

Michael is an affordable housing consultant and the architect/contractor for Tapetes de Lana, a nonprofit wool processing facility in Mora County. He joined the Board in 1997 and has served as President for the past two years. Michael also serves on the board of the Northern New Mexico Educational Opportunity Center (Española), is a past board member of the New Mexico Acequia Association, is past chairman of the Acequia Madre de Las Vegas, and is affiliated with the Gallinas Watershed Partnership, the Acequia de los Cuarteles de Santo Domingo de Cundiyo Land Grant, the Río Gallinas Acequia Association, and the New Mexico Solar Energy Association. Through his work in and around Las Vegas, he has been instrumental in raising water quality standards for the Río Gallinas. Michael’s partner Diane is a nurse practitioner in Santa Fe.

Jon Klingel, Treasurer

For many years, Jon worked as a biologist with the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish where he received an “Award of Excellence” for development of the Biota Information System of New Mexico. In addition to his volunteer efforts with Amigos Bravos – including extensive work on our river otter reintroduction and Valle Vidal projects – Jon has been involved in radio tracking of reintroduced wolves, a rattlesnake hibernaculum study and bighorn sheep surveys. Among his many adventures, Jon has experienced nine seasons of fire control/smoke-jumping in Alaska and the western states and, together with his wife Marlene, designed and built a cabin using hand tools in the northern New Mexico mountains. He holds degrees in Zoology and Wildlife Biology.

Tom Griego, Secretary

Tom is an attorney concentrating on employment and labor law with Bill Gordon and Associates and frequently represents workers on discrimination and workers’ compensation claim issues. He joined the Board in 2004. Though born in St. Louis, Missouri, Tom’s family traces its New Mexico heritage back to the arrival of the Oñate expedition and his father – whose family is from Pecos and Santa Fe – grew up working in the mining and logging industries. Returning to New Mexico in 1976, Tom worked for both the City of Santa Fe and New Mexico State Parks in administering federal conservation grants. He holds both a master’s degree in Public Administration and a juris doctorate degree from UNM.

Don Bustos

Don Bustos has been farming at Santa Cruz Farm and Greenhouses in the Española Valley in northern New Mexico. Santa Cruz Farm is a family-owned and operated certified organic farm. The farm has been in his family for generations, and has been organically certified by the New Mexico Organic Commodities Commission for three years, though they have been farming organically since 1993. Santa Cruz Farm grows traditional and regional crops, according to the weather and seasons. The farm combines traditional farming methods with more modern techniques such as hoop houses and greenhouses, which extend the growing season. The farm has been running a successful CSA for the last 7 years, both summer and winter. Don also works for American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) NM Program on land and water issues

He also sits on several NGO boards including New Mexico Acequica Association, Rio Arribba County Extension Service Advisory Committee, and The Santa Cruz de la Cañada Land Grant board.

Rupert Chambers

Rupert Chambers has spent a good part of his life close to the Rio Grande.  Moving upstream from the Gulf of Mexico: he was born in Brownsville, sailed his own boat out of Port Isabel, birded between Port Isabel and Laredo, camped and hiked in Big Bend, did basic training in El Paso, rode the bus every summer of his youth to Albuquerque to be with his grandparents, lived and worked in Taos, and climbed and camped the headwaters terrain. Along the way, he earned a Masters in Latin American Studies and taught environmental policy for five years at the University of Texas. He has served as a professional fundraiser for the past 25 years, in earlier years as Senior Director of Development and Alumni Affairs at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and most recently for The Harwood Museum of Art and UNM-Taos.

Peggy Nelson

Peggy Nelson completed eighteen years of service as New Mexico's 8th Judicial District Judge (Division I) in 2008. In addition to having served as District Judge, Nelson brings a lengthy background in hands-on non-profit experience to her new role on the board of Amigos Bravos. She began her career in Taos in her early ­twenties, working for Northern New Mexico Legal Services. She served there for five years, the last two as the Executive Director. For the next half-decade, she performed low-cost and free legal services while employed by the Community Law Center, and for the five years that followed she had a private practice and contracted with the state as Public Defender. Nelson has served on a lengthy list of non-profit boards and commissions, including the early Rape Crisis Center and Battered Women’s Shelter (two organizations which have since merged to become Community Against Violence) as well as the Taos County School board. She was appointed District Judge in February of 1988.

In addition to hiking and cross-country skiing in northern New Mexico on a weekly basis, in 2005, Nelson made the famous night-trek up Kilimanjaro in Africa. She plays the fiddle for the Taos Contra Band and is currently teaching herself to play the Kora, a 21-string African harp. When asked about her relationship to the natural world, Nelson said the following. "Our connectedness to other people is a reflection of our relationship to nature, to all other living beings. Nature is not just a back-drop for our existence. I’m always reluctant to speak of my personal sense of the spiritual, but I will say that nature is the basis of it. At the age of 15, I declared myself to be a pantheist and it hasn’t changed much since.”