Rio Grande Valley Broadband • Entered by Susan Ostlie on September 30, 2019
Sandia Collab. field trip and meeting
July 16, 2019
Participants and Hours
| Pre Planning hours | |
| Post Admin hours | |
| Activity Hours | 5.5 |
| Participants | 2 |
| Total Hours | 11 |
Key Issue: Water-related Conservation
Activity Type: Stewardship (monitoring, sampling, planting, etc.)
Key Partners: Collaborative stakeholders, Land grant members, Nature Conservancy, Placitas Acequia members, etc.
Landscape/area: Cibola National Forest (1616435 acres)
Short Description of Activity
We met to learn the history and needs of the Placitas Acequia group. Guest speaker was Kay Matthews, who has written a book on NM Acequias, and who has been an acquaintance and friend of our friends since the mid 70’s. So it was great to catch up with her. We also hiked to an earthen dam in need of restoration that feeds Las Huertas creek acequias. This creek is the primary water source for the community of Placitas, and is in dire need of better management. The area along the creek is dangerously overgrown and in need of thinning and restoration, but the slopes are so steep that most of it will need to be done by hand.
Reflection/Evaluation
This was one of the most informative field trips we have had this summer. I had little idea how complicated water law and land ownership issues were in that small area. The opinion of the locals is that the Cibola NF has ignored management of that area for many years, and it has left it in dire conditions. Also it was ungodly hot, with no shade (95+degrees). I thought I might pass out, just standing in the shade and discussing the condition of the dam.