By Monique DiGiorgio
Special to The SUN
On Saturday, Aug. 24, an alliance of conservation-minded landowners in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico will host their first annual community event in Los Ojos, N.M., at the Ganados del Valle farm.
The goal of the event is to celebrate and support the lands, headwaters and communities in this unique region.
A tour of the Ganados del Valle organic farm will take place in the morning, followed by a panel of speakers from the region as well as the northern Rockies.
Speakers include Arturo Sandoval and Estevan Arellano from northern New Mexico and Gary Burnett of the Blackfoot Challenge in Ovando, Montana. Speakers will share lessons learned from their work and how to weave the best of culture, land use, learning and technology into a vibrant future.
A locally produced lunch will be available, followed by an afternoon festival that will include a community mapping exercise of valued landscapes and community resources, as well as information booths, music and refreshments.
The Chama Peak Land Alliance is a community-based organization of landowners working collaboratively to practice and promote ecologically and economically sound land management in the southern San Juan Mountains of Colorado and New Mexico. The region is a vitally important headwaters landscape for both Colorado and New Mexico.
“The tapestry of land, history and culture in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado is unparalleled. Large-scale political, economic and environmental forces are unraveling this tapestry, undermining our land-based communities and the ecological environments upon which we all depend. Initiatives like Ganados del Valle and the Chama Peak Land Alliance represent essential place-based answers to those forces,” said Lesli Allison, executive director for the Chama Peak Land Alliance.
