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Spring 2000 Bulletin
Somos Vecinos: A Consensus-Building Project in the Making
Initial discussions and meetings with potential participants have taken place over the past year. These meetings have identified many topics and problems that could be addressed through this project, including: transfer of water rights from rural to urban communities; protecting acequias and rivers from sediment caused by poor upstream land management; ecological health and diversity of acequia systems; ecosystem restoration; tribal water quality standards; sustainable agriculture projects; water banking; leasing and forbearance of water rights; water rights adjudication; water conservation; protection of endangered species; interstate river compacts; and TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) development. Any research, projects, or policy initiatives developed by the group will be examined though a variety of perspectives to ensure that initiatives reflect a diversity of values and a collaborative vision, and to ensure that potential effects are holistically considered. Every initiative will be examined through some combination of the following perspectives: bioregionalism, ecosystem/watershed health, historic/cultural preservation, Indian trust responsibilities, land grants and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, legal constraints, and worst-case scenario (e.g., in a dry year). In addition, special consideration will be given to potential benefits to and impacts on economic development, ecosystem health, native and endangered species, rural communities, stream flow, sustainable local agriculture, urban populations, and water quality. Once collaborative policy recommendations are drafted, ensuring that they protect water quality, stream flows, and acequia and tribal values, they will be distributed for comments and endorsements from the affected state and federal agencies, acequia associations, environmental organizations, Indian tribes, social justice organizations, and the public. Throughout the process the group's efforts will be publicized through the periodic dissemination of press releases and op-ed commentaries to the media and constituency publications. In addition, a strategic plan will be developed to lobby the statelegislature, regulatory agencies, local governments, and other decision-makers on behalf of the policy recommendations. These collaborative policy recommendations, endorsed by such a wide spectrum of river and water interests, will have substantial credibility in the state legislature and state agencies. Amigos Bravos believes that the goals of the Somos Vecinos project are critical for the health and sustainable development of the communities of northern New Mexico. There are powerful forces, in the form of sprawling cities and thirsty industries, threatening both river ecosystems and the sustainable viability of agrarian communities. Unless countered by an equally strong, unified political voice, the future use of water will be dictated by the urban interests. The process we propose was developed to produce policy initiatives with broad and diverse cultural and political support.
The goal of the Somos Vecinos project is three-fold: 1) to develop a broad-based vision for the sustainable use of water in the upper Río Grande basin; 2) to establish a collaborative working relationship among acequias, Pueblos, and environmental groups in northern New Mexico; and 3) to identify common values, build consensus, and develop policy recommendations to protect rivers and water resources.
Please return to the Spring 2000 Bulletin Index.