Research and Education Activities
2016
- March – Project participants traveled to Chile, South America to visit the Water for Agriculture and Mining Resource Center (CRHIAM); attend the 18th Biennial Seminar on Water Resources and Environmental Management; toured the Chillán and Bío Bío rivers; visited the Dam of Bocatoma Asociacion de Canalistas del Laja; and toured a watershed starting at the headwater in the Andes Mountains.
2013
- January – Project researchers attended the annual meeting of the Northern New Mexico Stockman’s Association (NNMSA) in Taos and distributed questionnaires among attendees. The questionnaire was comprised of 32 questions focusing on irrigated farming operations, livestock operations, and family traditions and heritage. Seventy four community members from all three study areas completed the questionnaire.
2012
- Summer – Continued development of the watershed model for Rio Hondo and began development for model of El Rito
- August – Alcalde Field Day
- July – Ad hoc interviews with community leaders to gain insights into Northern NM livestock production systems
- June/July/August – Coordinated and facilitated Alcalde and, Rio Hondo, and El Rito Socio-Cultural focus groups
- June – Interdisciplinary Modeling Summer Short Course
- April – Attended and displayed posters about ongoing reseach at the Annual Meeting of the TVAA
- February – NM EPSCoR funded Inovative Working Group (IWG)involving participants, students, and NM Stakeholders
- January – Research study held in Costa Rica and Chile
2011
- January – Hurd, Brian H., “Estimates of the Economic Impact of Changes in Climate and Water Availability,” Invited presentation given to the Workshop on Improving the Assessment and Valuation of Climate Change Impacts for Policy and Regulatory Analysis, Session on Research on Climate Change Impacts and Associated Economic Damages, Sponsored by the U.S. EPA and USDOE
- April – Research study held in Rosario, Argentina
- April/May/June – Various training and research activities were conducted throughout the site areas
- Spring/Summer – Ongoing site visits with NMSU Professors and students to obtain water flow measurements, equipment installation, and maintenance
- May/June – Travel occured to the Chilean Sister Site to conduct study and research
- August – Youth Group guided tour of the Alcalde Science Center
- October – Kepner, W.G., E.A. Samson, A.K. Leimer, R.K. Guy, K.G. Boykin, B.G. Bierwagen, and D.F. Bradford. 2011. Evaluating Biodiversity Response to Forecasted Land-use Change: A Case Study in the South Platte River, CO. Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment (AGWA) Tool Software Demonstration, Training Workshop, South Platte Spatial Database and Biodiversity Metrics Overview, Denver, CO
- Fall – Survey conducted of acequia members resulting in 60 completed observations
2010
- September 16th – Official start date for the project
- August/October/December – Organizational meetings were held in Socorro, Albuquerque, and Alcalde to plan project execution strategies and refine overall conceptual model
- September – Project startup for “Water availability in a stressed Andean watershed in Chile: Vulnerability under climate variability”
- September – Creation of a new Water Center by the Chilean Partners, inspirited in the research and extension centers that exist in the USA like Alcalde
Outreach Activities
2015
- Spring – The University of New Mexico (UNM) hosted two different sessions regarding the “El Agua es Vida: The Acequias in New Mexico” museum exhibit. The sessions involved a panel of speakers discussing acequia activism.
- October – Three graduate students from New Mexico State University (NMSU) presented information about flow measurement instrumentation, water flow, and soil moisture flow monitoring on acequia land. The presentation took place during a tour as part of the New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute’s (NM WRRI’s) 60th annual New Mexico Water Conference.
- November – “Acequia Hydrology,” authored by A. Fernald, C. Ochoa, S. Guldan, and V. Tidwell was presented via a guest lecture to an undergraduate student class at the UNM Los Alamos campus.
2014
- Summer – Two students from New Mexico Tech in Socorro, NM gave a public outreach presentation in El Rito, NM. Their presentation provided information about their project research to-date and they answered questions from the public.
2011
- January – Informational meeting and answer session held at NMSU’s 2nd Research Rally
- January – Invited talk titled “Climate Changes and Forest Management for Water” given during a Forest Service Meeting in Abuquiu, NM
- January – “Estimates of the Economic Impact of Changes in Climate and Water Availability”
- April – Meetings for officers and members of acequia associations in the Rio Hondo and El Rito Valleys were held
- April/May/June – Various outreach activities were conducted throughout the site areas
- June – 4th Annual Celebrando las Acequias was held in Dixon, NM, free and open to the public. Dr. Riveral spoke on “The Culture of Ayuda Mutua in the Rio Arriba” and Dr.’s Guldan, Fernald, Tidwell, and Ochoa spoke on “Hydrologic Connection between Traditional Acequia Communities and their Watersheds: Three Cases from Northern New Mexico”
- June – Ongoing training on Socio-economic Survey Sample and Survey Design
- June – Guided tours of the Alcalde Science Center
- August – “Water Scarcity in New Mexico” by Jared Anderson from KRWG was posted on youtube.com, KRWG.org, and broadcast on KRWG TV (Channel 22 in Las Cruces)
- September – Seed producer tour group held at the ASC
- September – Invited Speaker, “Acequia Culture International: From al-Andalus to the Americas”, La Resolana Series at the National Hispanic Cultural Center
- October – Tour of the ASC for academic visitors
- November – Invited Speaker, “Acequias International: Comparative Irrigation Systems Around the World”, Earth Science Seminar, Hydrology Program Lecture, Earth and Environmental Science Department, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM
2010
- September – Ongoing preparation is in effect to establish an acequia exhibit with the UNM Maxwell Museum of Anthropology
- September – Progress continues for the Global Communities Workshop and International Conference in 2013
Publications
2016
- April – Details of the project participant travel to Chile, South America was featured in the April 2016 New Mexico Water eNews published by the New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute (NM WRRI).
- September – The project museum exhibit was featured in the September/October issue of AramcoWorld. The article delivered the meaning and importance of the exhibit by describing some of the featured artworks along with their background and relation to this CNH project. The article was written by Gerald Zarr and photos were provided by Donatella Davanzo.
- September – A feature of the AramcoWorld article was included in the September 2016 New Mexico Water eNews published by the New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute (NM WRRI).
2014
- June – The “El Agua es Vida: Acequias in New Mexico” exhibit was featured in the June 2014 issue, Vol.6 No.6, pg. 26 of Green Fire Times. The article was written by Alejandra Lopez.
2012
- November – *Modeling Sustainability of Water, Environment, Livelihood, and Culture in Traditional Irrigation Communities and Their Linked Watersheds, Alexander Fernald1, Vincent Tidwell2, José Rivera3, Sylvia Rodríguez4, Steven Guldan5, Caitriana Steele1, Carlos Ochoa1, Brian Hurd1, Marquita Ortiz6, Kenneth Boykin1 and Andres Cibils1, Sustainability 2012, 4(11), 2998-3022; doi:10.3390/su4112998, http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/4/11/2998
- July – NSF Annual Report for Year 2 was submitted and approved
- Spring – “Rural Community Persprectives on Preparednes and Adaptation to Climate-Change and Demographic Pressure”, Mayagoitia, L., B. Hurd, J. Rivera, S. Guldan, Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education
- Fall/Spring – Jose Rivera, The Historical Role of Acequias and Agriculture in New Mexico”, Book, Chappter 6 of Water Policy in New Mexico: Addressing the Challenge of an Uncertain Future, David S. Brookshire, Hoshin V. Gupta, and Olen Paul Matthews, eds.,
2011
- April – “Research within the Center for Applied Spatial Ecology, Kenneth Boykin
- July – “Coupled Natural and Human Systems: Changes In Biodiversity Metrics Based on Climate And Land Use Changes At Watershed And Basin Landscape Scales”, Elizabeth Samson and Kenneth Boykin
- July – NSF Annual Report for Year 1 was submitted and approved
- September – Samson, E.A., W.G. Kepner, K.G. Boykin, D.F. Bradford, B.G. Bierwagen, A.K.K. Leimer, R.K. Guy. 2011. Evaluating Biodiversity Response to Forecasted Land-use Change: A Case Study in the South Platte River, CO. USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5169; Pp. 56-62
- September/October – McCarl, Bruce A., Brian H. Hurd, Siyi J. Feng, Amy D. Hagerman, Jian H. Mu, and Wei W. Wang. 2011. “Climate Change and Its Impact on Agriculture: Challenges for the 21st Century, “ÂÂChapter 1 in (ed.) Cossia, Juliann M., Global Warming in the 21st Century, ISBN 978-1-61728-980-4, Nova Science Publishers, Inc. pp: 1-40
- September/October – Hurd, Brian, and Mani Rouhi-Rad (in review). “Estimating Economic Impacts of Changes in Climate and Water Availability, “Climatic Change
- October – Ochoa, C.G., A.G. Fernald, and S.J. Guldan. 2011. Caracterizacion del balance hidrico y la recarga por retorno de riego en un valle agriÂÂcola de una region semiarida de los Estados Unidos de America. In: Jose Martinez Fernandez and Nilda Sanchez Martin (Eds.). Estudios en la Zona no Saturada del Suelo. Vol. X ZNS 11. Salamanca, Spain
2010
- September – Collaboration is ongoing toward publication for a sustainabilty paper
Conferences and Meetings
2013
- March – “Acequias and the Future of Resilience in Global Perspective” was a free public international symposium held in Las Cruces, NM, that included the project team with invited scholars of autonomous irrigation systems in Spain, U.S.A., Chile, Bali, Peru, Mexico, Morocco, and the Mediterranean. A combined workshop included acequia researchers, activists and community members. Approximately 100 registered participants and students attended the conference and workshop where oral and poster presentations were given.
2012
- December – AGU Fall Meeting was held in San Francisco, CA
- July – The UCOWR/NIWR Annual Conference was held in Santa Fe, NM
- July – Sevilleta LTER Summer Seminar
- April – 4th Annual NSF EPSCoR Western Consortium Tri-State Meeting was held in Sun Valley, ID
- April – World Heritage Symposium
2011
- April – IX International Rangeland Congress-IRC 2011 was held in Rosario, Argentina
- April – EPSCoR Western Consortium Tri-State Meeting held in Santa Ana Pueblo, NM
- July – The UCOWR Conference was held in Boulder, CO
- August – Bi-annual CNH Acequia meeting was held in Las Cruces, NM
- September – NM EPSCoR All Hands Meeting in Albuquerque, NM
- September – Acequia Culture International: From al-Andalus to the Americas held in Albuquerque, NM
- October – 22nd Annual EPSCoR Conference in Coeur d’Alene, ID
- November – The AWRA Conference was held in Albuquerque, NM
- November – The 12th Annual Congresso de las Acequias was held in Santa Fe, NM
Products
2016
- October – The System Dynamics (SD) model that was developed will provide a platform to engage stakeholders and enhance communication to explore alternative adaptive measures for acequia communities in northern New Mexico. This effort links social, economic, hydrologic, and ecologic dynamics to study natural and social stressors on CNH systems.
- December – Land cover maps for three acequia-irrigated valleys for eight points in time between 1935 and 2014 were created.
- December – Finalized the six year-long project with a final report to the National Science Foundation (NSF).
2014
- May – “El Agua es Vida: Acequias in New Mexico,” the project museum exhibit, opened and was free to the public. The opening had an attendance of approximately 275 people while the exhibit had an attendance of approximately 25,000 over the span of one year.
2012
- Fall – *Abstracts for poster presentations reporting preliminary data documenting grazing history of watersheds surrounding acequia communities submitted to the 66th Annual Meeting of the Society for Range Management and the 45th Annual Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union.
- Winter – CNH Acequia Winter Newsletter
2011
- September – “Manual and Automated Measurements of an Acequia System: Undergraduate research” (poster)
- November – “Acequia Water Systems Linking Culture and Nature: Integrated Analysis of Community Resilience to Climate and Land Use Changes” (poster)
- November –“Hydro-Meteorological Network to Characterize Community Water Sustainability” (poster)
- Fall – CNH Acequia Fall Newsletter
2010
- September – “Acequia Water Systems Linking Culture and Nature: Integrated Analysis of Community Resilience to Climate and Land Use Changes” (poster)
- September – “Temporal and Spatial Variability of Surface Water and Groundwater Interations in a Semi-Arid Agricultural Vally” (poster)
- September – “Field Studies and Modeling of Water Movement through the Vadose Zone” (poster)
- September – Creation of 3 Geo-databases containing relevant spatial data for acequia study
- September – Maps of acequia valleys and of snowmelt dominated basins above the acequias are being created and updated
- September – Integrated Decision Model will evaluate stress and mitigation options for acequia operation when complete
- September – Beginning creation of Land Cover Tables for the region and the Rio Hondo, El Rito, and Alcalde sites
Proposals
2016
- September – The CNH project group along with other researchers submitted a pre-proposal to the National Science Foundation (NSF) entitled: PIRE-CONECT: Social and hydrologic CONnections to promote Ecosystem and Community Thrivability along irrigated river systems.
2011
- November – NM EPSCoR approved funding proposal for 2012 Interdisciplinary Summer Short Course
2010
- October – NMSU receives $1.4 million in funding from NSF to support their project, entitled “CNH: Acequia Water Systems Linking Culture and Nature: Integrated Analysis of Communty Resilence to Climate and Land-Use Changes.”