Negative stressors on watersheds, forests, and our communities needing secure water are profoundly impacting the Southwest US, the very place where so much water originates in the mountains and forests. The coupling of climate change with megadrought is wreaking havoc across urban and rural communities in New Mexico and communities are struggling with the impacts of diminished and degraded water sources. Now add the federal layoffs of critical workers (which may be temporarily reversed as of today!) in forest-dependent communities during the start of fire season when there is hardly much snow and a windy/dry spring in the forecast.
People are searching to resolve water problems that involve unique and new issues and a lack of information, often leading to an impasse or delay of discussions or making important plans towards resolving water concerns. During a time when people are interacting more through phones, and distancing themselves from the outdoors, water and sharing water practices, the knowledge and needed conversations about water are no longer happening at the kitchen table or through community dialogues. At the same time, there are few job pathways that are well resourced to engage youth in exploring career pathways in watershed restoration and in operating water systems both in rural and municipal settings.
We need to tell an entirely different story about how we locally and regionally address this, breaking down silos and traditionally-held views that keep us from working together.
We need a new story that breaks down silos and fosters collaboration as the only way we can scale up and closely align or efforts to survive and even thrive. When water supplies are expected to decrease 25% in the next 25 years, we need to new tools and investment in collaboration.
River Source proposes a regional pilot project using a collaborative and community-centered approach focused in northern New Mexico. River Source aims to work with local community groups, schools, non-profit organizations and government agencies to:
- Lead a community-based design for data gathering, training and mobilization for turning the data into information that will lead to developing a data sharing and visualization of watershed restoration opportunities.
- Provide the distribution, training, and use of data-to-information processing of off-the-shelf monitoring tools such as iNaturalist, repeat photography tools, Survey 123/Field maps, drone video and map imaging with the support of youth helping monitor baseline conditions, outcomes from stewardship activities, and integrating storytelling with modelling of possibilities from doing community-based restoration work. Youth will learn to read the cultural and ecological landscape and conduct structured interviews and conduct strategic surveys to answer questions about water infrastructure including with elders and other community sparkplugs.
- Coding tools will be developed for landscape visualization of river floodplains that are restored using input from Bill Zeedyk (to be invited) and other river floodplain experts. Scenarios for watershed and river restoration, the outcomes of desertification, and reconnected/hydrated floodplains using SIMTables will be developed in collaboration with Stephen Guerin of SIM Table.
- Map the location of and collect information on river restoration projects, reforestation, non-native vegetation and water management practices. Collect data and display information on the effectiveness of river restoration projects.
- Offer school-based programming and learn-work job pathways that expose youth to service learning and paid internships in rural water systems and watershed restoration.
- Pay for the fall-spring 2025-2026 intern wages for River Source-hired individual placements with recent graduate & college-age interns (River Source with local group partners want to hire 7-10 of them).
In the past week, River Source has been hit by the prospect of federal and even state funding losses with one federal contract not paying 5 months after work was done and the possibility of losing our entire YCC funding for summer youth crews. At the same time we know we need support & funding to initiate a collaborative community-centered project in the Santa Fe region and with partners in rural northern New Mexico. Our partners include national groups like American Rivers, Environmental Policy Innovation Center and our partners in regional and watershed groups including Forest Stewards Guild, Santa Fe Watershed Association, Upper Pecos Watershed Association, local governments like Santa Fe County, City of Santa Fe and tribal government staff downstream of Santa Fe including Cochiti, and Santa Clara and Santo Domingo Pueblos, schools like Santa Fe Indian School, Native American Community Academy, and many, many others.
Please invest in these efforts in your own watershed, and keep in mind all of the relations you have with water and the key leverage points you can make a difference. Here are some immediate suggestions for how to help now:
1. Contact your New Mexico Legislators and governor on key bills before them such as
- Funding $7 million special appropriation for river restoration to (hopefully!) be kept in HB2, the state budget bill. Asking your legislator to keep funding creates local jobs that repair our degraded and diminished watersheds.
- Giving New Mexico control of the Clean Water Act and primacy to regulate our own waters and protect the 95% of rivers which are not protected now because of the Sackett vs EPA decision (SB 21-Pollution Discharge Elimination Act)
2. Help educate your neighbors and find leverage points to protect water quality and secure water quantity. Here is a short video we recorded this week for Santa Fe Indian School Chemistry students that can show you how to protect water from pollution.
3. Please contribute to River Source with a donation to enable us to continue our mission to support people living as good tenders and caretakers of their watersheds. Every drop in the bucket counts when it comes to water.
There are many ways to plug in and make a difference!!! Create a new story of reciprocity in your relations to water, keep water in mind in all your relations!
