Celebrando las Acequias_2010: Past, Present, and Future
Dear Friends of ALI:
The Celebrando, a free two-day symposium held in Dixon, New Mexico in June 2010, was organized by acequia mayordomo, farmer, writer, historian, and community leader Juan Estevan Arellano.
The Celebrando brought together a wide array of perspectives on the role of water, land, and food in shaping cultural identity.
The Celebrando also honored leaders in the local acequia community and featured native cuisine and music of the Embudo Valley.
In a region where water crosses all jurisdictional and disciplinary boundaries, the Celebrando offered historical, cultural, ecological, political and design perspectives on the challenges facing a changing acequia landscape.
Among the highlights:
Oral/aural historian
physiographic and cultural imperatives of watershed-based thinking, linking lore to logics of place.
explored the sacred role of water in Northern New Mexico's arid landscapes and traditional societies.
Ethnobotanist
looked at the biology of adaption and native foods as a basis of cultural and ecological resilience.
,
, and
debated food policy in a panel moderated by
and
explored the principles of induced meandering and the physics of stream restoration and erosion control.
, Senior Planner for Santa Fe County, shared new directions in acequia landscape planning and management and
, Director of the Interstate Stream Commission, placed acequia culture in the context of state policy.
Along with Event Director, Estevan Arellano, the Arid Lands Institute will host the 2011 Celebrando las Acequias, June 2011, in Dixon, New Mexico.
Both the 2010 and 2011 Celebrando las Acequias are funded from a grant provided by:
Additional in-kind support from regional and local community partners include:
Acequia de la Apodaca, Dixon, NM;
Acequia del Bosque, Dixon, NM;
Acequia Junta y Ciénaga, Embudo, NM;
Acequia del Llano, Dixon, NM;
Acequia de la Plaza, Dixon, NM;
Acequia del Medio, Dixon, NM;
Acequia de la Sancochada, Dixon, NM;
and
Bleakly Botantical and Biological, LLC, Albuquerque, NM.
The Arid Lands Institute thanks the following additional co-sponsors of the 2010 Celebrando las Acequias:
Thank you and all the best for the new year!
Peter and Hadley Arnold
Co-Directors, Arid Lands Institute
Estevan Arellano
Event Director