Upcoming Congreso de las Acequias
by Quita Ortiz
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The New Mexico
Acequia Association was founded in 1990 to build a voice for acequia
communities throughout the state. This year, the NMAA will celebrate its
20th Anniversary at the 11th annual Congreso de las Acequias at the
Santa Fe County Fair Building on Saturday, November 13th.
NMAA
staff is gearing up for the annual event and is looking forward to
seeing mayordomos, comisionados, and parciantes gathered together from
across the state for a day of learning, re-connecting, and carrying on
the voice of advocacy for New Mexico's acequias. The Congreso de las
Acequias is the state-wide governing body of the NMAA, comprised of
regional delegates across the state. The annual meeting is held to pass
resolutions and elect the eleven-member Concilio.
This year's
event will feature acequia workshops, with topics that include carrying
on acequia traditions; and information on record keeping/financial
management by a panel of acequia commissioners. In addition,
representatives from USDA agencies will conduct two workshops at the
Congreso. The first workshop will include an overview of Natural
Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) programs for acequias and
individual landowners. The other USDA workshop will feature information
about programs for farmers/ranchers and rural communities, presented by
the Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Rural Development.
The Acequia
Awards Ceremony will take place during the luncheon. The awards include
Mayordomo of the Year, Acequia of the Year, Farmer of the Year, and
Acequia Advocate of the Year. The Congreso will also include a silent
auction. Items sold during the auction will support the NMAA and its
programs. The NMAA is also looking for volunteers to assist staff with
Congreso activities throughout the day. If you are interested in
volunteering, please email Pilar Trujillo at pilar@lasacequias.org. If
you are interested in donating an item or service for the silent
auction, please email Janice Varela at organizer@lasacequias.org. You
can also reach us at our office at 505.995.9644. We appreciate the
support and look forward to seeing folks, accompanied by a youth in
November! |
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Acequia Cost-Share Program
by Kenny Salazar
| I
have been the Associate Director of the New Mexico Acequia Association
for almost two years now. I also wear another hat - I supervisor for the
East Rio Arriba Soil & Water Conservation District (ERASWCD) and I
have five years under my belt with this gig.
After about three
years as a supervisor and after helping with several annual plans for
the ERASWCD, I helped make acequias our number one priority. In 2009, I
helped convince the other supervisors that we needed to back up our
number one priority (acequias) with some
funding. Since the SWCD in
Taos had an acequia program operating at full speed, I requested their
assistance in helping us to set up an acequia cost-share program. Our
funding base is smaller than that of the Taos SWCD, as is our acequia
program; but we used theirs as a guide.
We wanted to keep the
program simple so we started with a budget of $30,000 and a maximum cost
share of $2,500 for each landowner or acequia. In two months the
$30,000 was gone and we had to add another $30,000. Once the second $30K
was spent we instituted a waiting list. This year, we have already
received applications totaling around $60,000. And next month we'll
start generating another waiting list.
The Acequia Cost-Share
Program is simple. The private landowner, or acequia, must first be in
the ERASWCD boundary. An application is then submitted which includes a
description of the work to be performed and a cost estimate. We then
assign each application to a
Supervisor who makes sure the job gets
done. Once the job is complete, ERASWCD will reimburse the private
landowner, or acequia, for materials only with an amount not to exceed
$2,500. Original materials receipts and pictures (before-during-after)
are submitted before payment is made.
The projects we have
approved are normally small in size, head-gate or culvert replacements,
valves, etc. However, at our September meeting we realized that it is
rapidly becoming a bit more complicated. For example, some acequia
laterals have banded together and have submitted individual applications
with the outcome being the piping of an entire lateral. A revision of
the rules and regulations and application procedure is being reviewed at
this time.
This small reimbursement acequia cost-share program
is quickly becoming very popular and it has been good to see the amount
of infrastructure improvements occuring on the acequias in our District.
Maybe you can approach your SWCD for a program similar to ours. |
Passing Down la Herencia in Chamisal
by Pilar Trujillo
| Edward
and Juliet Gonzales live in Chamisal on the Acequia del Medio, where
they have participated in the Sembrando Semillas project for the last
three years mentoring up to six youth. Edward grew up in a family of
eight, with a single mother.
Like so many families at the time, it
was a matter of survival for his family to plant every year in order to
eat. "By the time I was about 10 years old, I was watching sheep, cows
and chickens. I also had to help in the fields; we had about 6 acres for
farming" said Edward. Juliet was also raised in a large family. Her
family planted the land in order to maintain the traditions of planting;
and because they enjoyed eating good, homegrown food.
With
their backgrounds in planting, it is no surprise that Edward and Juliet
have made a conscious choice to try to work the land full-time and
generate a farming business. Their main inspiration comes from the youth
they work with. "Many youth these days don't have a clue where their
food comes from. We're making sure that our kids and other kids in the
community know the process of how to plant- how many seeds go in, how
far apart to plant the seeds, how to irrigate, and how you process the
food," said Juliet.
Farming does not come without its challenges,
and time is perhaps the biggest limiting factor. As Juliet says, "We
belong to other people right now, because we have to pay the bills. We
have to go to work." It is a fine balancing act to find the time to earn
wages and farm at the same time. Right now, Edward and Juliet are in
the process of developing a business plan for their farm in order to try
to reach their goal of self-sufficiency. In five years, their ultimate
goal is to have their own business from the farm to sustain their
family. "We want to make a living from this, and we want to mentor a lot
of youth and other people in the community on how to do it."
Despite
the challenges, the Gonzales' have been very successful in mentoring
youth. This is evident in very simple ways: many of the youth have now
started their own gardens at home, and they have learned new skills
relating to agriculture. Edward said, "I showed one of the youth how to
slaughter goats, and now he slaughters his own goats. He also took some
strawberries from us for his own garden." Last year the entire group in
Chamisal learned how to make an horno for the local community center,
and now many of the youth could easily teach a workshop on horno
construction.
When I ask why they have been so successful with
the youth, Edward and Juliet reply that a lot of it is because of the
support they receive from the NMAA, from the community, and from their
own family. When I suggest that perhaps they have also been successful
because of other factors, such as the way they relate to the youth, both
Juliet and Edward smile. "We treat the kids with respect and we really
try to encourage them, and their respect in return keeps us encouraged"
says Edward. "And we accommodate them and their schedules. If one of the
kids can't come to harvest because of a job, we wait for them because
we want to work as a group," added Juliet.
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Acequias Propose Change to Audit Rule
by Paula Garcia
| On September 8, NMAA hosted a Financial Reporting workshop to address growing questions about the requirements acequias
may face as political subdivisions of the state. State law requires
financial reporting for all political subdivisions of the state but
these requirements have not been enforced with acequias. However,
because of budget shortfalls and an increasing political climate that
demands transparency in the use of taxpayer dollars, any expenditure of state funds is under close examination.
The
workshop covered the audit rule and financial reporting as small, local
governments. Hector Balderas, State Auditor, and Evan Blackstone,
General Counsel for the State Auditor, gave an overview of reporting
requirements for acequias. Only entities with expenditures over $500,000
are required to do audits. Under this amount, entities, including
acequias, may need to submit some type
of financial report. At the
workshop, several attendees were concerned about the financial burden of
hiring a CPA to prepare such reports. Mr. Balderas expressed openness
to revisiting the audit rule to accommodate the unique situation of
acequias while also meeting the need for accountability for acequias who
receive state funding in the form of capital outlay.
John
Gallegos, Deputy Director of the Local Government Division of the
Department of Finance and Administration, reviewed the budgeting and
reporting requirements for local governments. He mentioned that
reporting requirements have been in state law for many years but have
not been enforced on acequias. He highly recommended that acequias
engage in budgeting and reporting as a practice of good governance.
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MEMBER CHALLENGE:
Bring a Youth! | |
Last year, Congreso de las Acequias attendees were posed with a challenge by Acequia de la Caņada Ancha Commissioner and NMAA delegate, Delbert Trujillo, to bring a youth to this year's event. This could mean bringing your high school aged (or older) son or daughter, nephew, grandchild or a friend of the family who might be interested in attending. We want them to learn about the acequia culture that runs through their blood! The survival of acequias rests upon those will continue to govern acequias and work the land. It will be the next generation of farmers and ranchers who will carry on our traditions. We will have an inter-generational workshop that youth could attend and the Congreso is an excellent opportunity for our youth and young adults to get involved. The NMAA supports this challenge and hopes to see many future parciantes at the Congreso in November.
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Acequias Featured in Children's Book
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Juan the Bear and the Water of Life: La Acequia del Juan del Oso
From the mountains of northern Spain to the Andes in South America, Spanish-speaking people have told ancient legends of Juan del Oso and his friends. In this children's tale, agriculturalist Juan Estevan Arellano and folklorist Enrique Lamadrid share a unique version of a celebrated story that has been told in northern New Mexico for centuries.
Enrique R. Lamadrid
Juan Estevan Arellano
Amy Cordova , Illustrator
NMAA wishes to extend a special thanks to the authors. Proceeds from the sale of the book go to the New Mexico Acequia Association. |
NMAA Staff...
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| Pictured,
from left: Janice Varela (Community Organizer), Pilar Trujillo (Youth
Coordinator), Lucille Trujillo (Membership Coordinator), Quita Ortiz
(Community Planner), Kenny Salazar (Associate Director), and Paula
Garcia (Executive Director)
NMAA is located at 805 Early St, Suite 203B, Santa Fe, NM (across from Tiny's Lounge).
Call
us at 505.995.9644 to schedule a meeting with us. We do one-on-one
consultations with acequia officials on water rights, water management,
bylaws, easements, infrastructure planning, and referrals to other
resources.
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Thank You!
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| The
New Mexico Acequia Association gratefully acknowledges the support of
the many acequia parciantes and supporters who are members and who have
made donations.
We also wish to thank our foundation supporters including (in
alphabetical order) the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the
Christensen Fund, the Jesse Smith Noyes Foundation, the Just Woke Up
Fund, the Marguerite Casey Foundation, the New Mexico Community
Foundation, the Panta Rhea Foundation, the Santa Fe Community
Foundation, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.
The NMAA is a not-for-profit, tax exempt organization organized as a
501c3 under the rules of the Internal Revenue Service. Donations to the
NMAA are tax deductible.
The NMAA also provides services for community education through
contracts with the State of New Mexico, Department of Finance and
Administration - Local Government Division and the New Mexico Department
of Agriculture.
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