A community advocacy newspaper for northern New Mexico

Box 6 El Valle Route, Chamisal, NM 87521


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Photo by Eric Shultz

Community Advocacy for Northern New Mexico

La Jicarita News, now in its thirteenth year of publication, is based in the Rio Pueblo/Rio Embudo watershed of northern New Mexico. First published under the auspices of the Rio Pueblo/Rio Embudo Watershed Protection Coalition, an association of farmers and ranchers, Picuris Pueblo, and community groups, the paper received its own 501(c)(3) status in 1999 in order to extend coverage to include all the communities of northern New Mexico.


Restored forest area near Truchas

La Jicarita News promotes and helps facilitate collaborative projects between public lands agencies and community groups that protect forest resources and provide land-based economic opportunity. Through these collaborations, traditional resource extraction such as small-scale logging and ranching can implement innovative methods which will allow them to be sustainable and profitable. Agriculture can remain an important part of the local economy with a new orientation towards diversified cash cropswith higher value in the market. And acequia parciantes can maintain their water rights and rehabilitate community acequias which are vital to a sustainable agricultural economy.

Connie Taylor and her churro sheep
at Cerro Mojino Ranch


Felicity Fonseca and friend
harvesting in Embudo CSA garden

La Jicarita News is an advocate for sustainable, community-based employment, much of which utilizes public land resources. The paper analyzes contentious issues involving the management of land and water resources: loss of agricultural lands to infill and development; transfer of water out of agricultural use; loss of grasslands to forest encroachment; loss of biodiversity due to fire suppression; lack of access to forest resources; and the continuing decline in community stability due to lack of economic opportunity and attendant social problems.

 


Clovis Romero in his Embudo orchard

La Jicarita News has been in business now for thirteen years. Other than occasionally soliciting subscriptions at cost (a deal at $5 a year), we've relied on the foundation world to financially support our efforts. As most of you know, funding for non-profits has been drastically reduced over the past few years. While we have pending grants for this year, we realize we cannot survive without you, our readers, making more of an investment in La Jicarita News, which is also an investment in the health of the communities and forests of northern New Mexico.

Please help support our efforts by clicking on this link to Subscribe as a Basic, Supporting, Sustaining or Committed subscriber to help pay our writers and for public distribution of the newspaper. Thanks!

Recent La Jicarita Articles:

Richard Cook Challenges State Statute That Protects Acequias By Kay Matthews  

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: After 150 Years The Federal Government Remains in Denial By Mark Schiller

Book Review: Understories: The Political Life of Forests in Northern New Mexico By Jake Kosek Reviewed by Kay Matthews and Mark Schiller (Part One)

San Miguel del Vado Adjudication: A Template for Injustice By Mark Schiller (The research for this article was underwritten by a stipend from the Office of the State Historian) 

La Jicarita Features:

  • Puntos de Vista, a community forum.

  • Oral Histories, which demonstrate that knowing our past can help determine our future.

  • Community-based sustainable businesses, which serve as models for economic development appropriate to rural/agricultural communities.

  • New Mexico Land Grants, which discusses the history and status of northern New Mexico land grants and advocacy groups that are involved in restitution efforts.

Tierra . . . Agua . . . Vida

Northern New Mexico is under siege. Because of its water, timber, and mineral resources, and its extreme pristine beauty, many developers are looking to exploit our area in ways that will impair and ultimately destroy the traditional ways of life which have flourished in this area for hundreds of years.

El Norte de Nuevo Mexico está actualmente con muchos problemas. Razones como su agua, bosques, recursos naturales y su belleza inigualable, han influido para que muchas firmas de constucción, estén buscando vias para explotar nuestra área, las cuales irán afectar de una forma negativa y ultimamente irán a destruir las modelos de vida tradicionales que han estado presentes en esta área por varios siglos.

Government agencies are now actively promoting the area as a recreational playground without regard to the impacts on local communities. Water quality and water quantity are threatened. We have seen how these same issues have divided communities in the past. The purpose of this newspaper is to provide a forum for these concerns, so that efforts to protect our watershed and cultural heritage can be coordinated. We invite members of the community to contribute articles, in either English or Spanish, expressing their views.

Las agencias gubernamentales están actualmente promoviendo esta área como un lugar recreacional, sin pensar en el impacto de ésto para las comunidades locales. La calidad y cantidad del agua están amenazados. Nosotros hemos visto como esos mismos problemas han dividido comunidades en el pasado. El propósito de este periódico es ofrecer un foro sobre estas problemáticas, de tal forma que se diseñen estrategias para proteger nuestra agua, cultura, herencia. Nosotros invitamos a los miembros de la comunidad para que escriban y contribuyan con artículos en Español o Inglés en los cuales expresen sus opiniones sobre estos problemas.


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Copyright 1996-2009 La Jicarita Box 6 El Valle Route, Chamisal, New Mexico 87521.