By: Patrick Lohmann
​Source NM

As Albuquerque and the rest of the state gear up for another wildfire season, a 22,000-square-foot building housing a wildfire dispatch center is on the list of lease terminations announced by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
​
The building at 2113 Osuna Road Northeast in Albuquerque is the office for the Cibola National Forest Supervisor and also the headquarters of the Albuquerque Interagency Dispatch Center, which coordinates fire response among dozens or potentially hundreds of people from different agencies responding to a wildfire. 

According to the local broker for the lease between California-based EKF Properties LLC and the United States Forest Service, the property is the same one mentioned in the DOGE lease termination list. Property tax records also show the building has the same square footage as the one on the DOGE list. 

Emails and calls to the dispatch center or the National Interagency Fire Center, which oversees the dispatch center, were not returned or were returned undeliverable Tuesday. Several federal agencies, including the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, cooperate with the dispatch center, but did not respond to a request for comment. 

New Mexico State Forestry is also a partner. Forestry Spokesperson George Ducker declined to comment on the potential closure of the dispatch center but, in an emailed statement, called its work “critical” and “paramount” for  successful wildfire suppression. 

Dispatch centers coordinate fire suppression efforts between federal, state and tribal agencies, including monitoring radio traffic between hand crews, and air support. They also facilitate communications between incident command during larger and more complex wildfires, Ducker said. 

​“This kind of coordination is critical during emergencies where homes, lives and natural resources are at risk from wildfire,” Ducker said. “Because each wildfire requires an all-hands response, and that response can include from 100-1,000 people, maintaining good communication between all the different resources is paramount.”

The Albuquerque dispatch center, one of six in the state, covers the state’s biggest city, as well as hundreds of square miles in Central New Mexico, stretching south toward Truth or Consequences, west to Zuni Pueblo and east to Encino. Communications about wildfires that spark in that area, regardless of agency, flow through the dispatch center, as well as communications about ongoing prescribed burns. 

PEH

A new general surgeon has joined Presbyterian Española Hospital (PEH), expanding the care options close to home in northern New Mexico.

Dr. Antonio Brecevich will provide surgical treatment for a variety of conditions. He earned his Doctor of Medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and completed his general surgery residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, Texas.
​
"I am excited and honored to join the general surgery team at Presbyterian Española Hospital and to serve this community,” said Dr. Brecevich. “I am committed to providing high quality care and I look forward to the opportunity to serve my patients for all of their surgical needs."
Brecevich will join surgeons Dr. Blair Hough and Dr. Miguel Iturregui at PEH in providing inpatient and outpatient surgical care, as well as emergency surgeries. Surgeries offered include minimally invasive surgery of the gallbladder and colon, hernia surgery, colorectal and gastrointestinal surgery, anorectal surgery, hemorrhoid surgery, colonoscopy, gastrointestinal endoscopy, surgery for skin cancer, and wound management. Our general surgeons and healthcare team members will care for you before, during and after your surgery. For more information, visit phs.org.

Stanford University's a cappella group, Talisman, is headed to New Mexico for their 2025 Spring Break Tour.  They will be visiting Santa Fe on March 24 & 25; and they will be at Ghost Ranch and in Abiquiú on March 26 & 27.  
 
Stanford Talisman shares stories and songs from around the world.  
 
Talisman will perform at the Agape Center at Ghost Ranch on Wednesday, March 26 at 7pm.  The show is free,  and donations are always appreciated.  They will be visiting Abiquiú Elementary on the 27th , as well as exploring the local area.  Casa Manz (David, Andie & Maxmiño Manzanares) are their New Mexico host family. 
 
Stanford Talisman just celebrated their 35th Anniversary. Last year, they traveled to Thailand, and when Maximiño  Manzanares was a member from 2018-2019, they traveled to Mumbai and Udaipur, India.  Generations of members have had the opportunity to perform locally, nationally (including at the White House and the 1996 Olympics), and internationally (multiple times in South Africa). Further, they have performed with such artists as Bobby McFerrin and Joan Baez.  
 
http://www.stanfordtalisman.com/about.html 
 
 We truly believe that they will leave all of us here in New Mexico with something very special.   Their voices will uplift all of our hearts and spirits!
 
Just a couple of their songs:
 
Prayer Song (Blackfoot & Cheyenne): 
https://youtu.be/-TXk28YUZxQ?si=PcpGJkRysMJpJoBI&t=2184
Amazing Grace: 
https://youtu.be/-TXk28YUZxQ?si=LV2-Ic6yWb-SIFPc&t=5929
 
Questions?  Call 505-469-2015 or [email protected]

By Felicia Fredd
Images Courtesy of Felicia Fredd

While it’s still winter, I’d like to share a few garden photos that illustrate great ‘winter interest’ in a minimalist natural garden. In this case, it’s all about magical lichen covered boulders that happen to perfectly compliment a small aspen grove in a shady entry area - the sight of which gave me a good jolt of inspiration. I think one could actually make a career as a garden rock specialist, as a kind of Japanese master of form, placement, texture, light effects, color, etc. Of course you’d probably end up killed by a giant boulder, but it could be an otherwise beautiful life.

The unprofessional photos below (mine) were taken in the garden of Krista Elrick, a professional photographer and environmental activist who lives on the northwest edge of Santa Fe, NM. Her project began 20+ years ago with some large expanses of what I call scorched earth. She started with placement of very large boulders (via crane) to begin developing a sense of here vs. there - of garden space, or garden islands. It was a great instinct, and we have since been finding more and more transformative uses for even common grades of “crushed rock” to cool and protect soil, retain moisture, slow sheet flow of intense stormwater events, and shelter plants - many of which are native volunteers. We aren’t done, and there will be more documentation of the project in my Xtreme Design SW BLOG files.

AKA New Mexico for second-graders.
By Zach Hively

More than once, I’ve been accused—to my face!—of coming from a fake, made-up, incomprehensible place called New Mexico.

“You live in a not-real part of the world,” someone has told me.

This was rich, considering the circumstances: we stood on a platform in a train station in Cologne, a very few steps from both a monstrously tall dark and handsome medieval cathedral and a Lego store. If any place belongs in a fantasy novel, it is this one. (Especially once you spell the city the proper local way, Köln; only fantasy realms have little eyes above their vowels.)

The accusations have truth to them, though.

I do come from New Mexico. It is incomprehensible. And a limited number of people have at least heard of it. This is usually enough to make a New Mexican like me feel a bit of validation.

So imagine my delight when a friend of a friend asked me if I, as a New Mexican, would write a letter to her friend’s friend’s second-grade classroom in New Jersey. The letter needed to be about—what else?—Arizona.

Kidding! That would be like me calling New Jersey “New York,” which no one can get away with unless one is an NFL team.

The class project, simply enough, is to collect interesting facts from different places around the world, thereby saving the teacher from a bit of lesson planning.

Now, you might think that writing to a roomful of eight-year-olds is easy for me, a professional writer. You might be wrong.

This classroom is not, in professional writer parlance, my target audience. Most of the students do not themselves have the purchasing power to make book-buying decisions for their households.

Also, they live in New Jersey, a place I have never been and thus is fake, made-up, and incomprehensible. I need them to write me a letter about New Jersey first, so that I know what will best stun them about New Mexico.

However, they—being students in the USA—may not yet know their alphabet well enough to draft such a letter. So I am left unguided to compile a set of Interesting Facts about my home state.

These Interesting Facts are based on my actual responses to actual accusations I have received from possibly well-meaning ignoramuses around the world but especially around the country:

• Green chile is one of our state vegetables. It is a delicious member of the pepper family and not, in fact, a Dr. Seuss/St. Patrick lovechild chili stew that is colored green. You can put green chile in a bowl of chili, though, because you can put green chile in literally anything here. Green chile is our pumpkin spice.
• Red chile is green chile that grew up. You can also put this in literally anything. But not in any of the same ways as green chile. Like, at all. Except to put it in chili. (This makes it less Texan.)
• Our identity extends far beyond chile, I swear.
• For instance, we also have water. Not much of it, after we irrigate our chile crops! But yes, it is safe to drink.
• I mean, the ground water at my house specifically should not be used for drinking or cooking. But this is not because it’s New Mexican water! Even though it is New Mexican water. Generally speaking, though, you have less to fear from the water than from the chile.
• Not kidding about that. Green chile put my brother-in-law in the hospital.
• Granted, he comes from another made-up place named “Tennessee” after the famous playwright. Tennessee has an average humidity of 98%, an average elevation of five feet, and the cumulative spice level of Wonder Bread.
• New Mexico is none of those things.
• Our English is very good, thank you—almost as good as our Tiwa, Tewa, Keres, Towa, Zuni, Navajo, Mescalero Apache, Jicarilla Apache, and Spanish, all of which have been spoken here since long before New Jersey was even a colony.
• Yes, you can mail us packages at domestic rates from anywhere in the United States, no matter what your local postal employee says.
• In fact, we quite enjoy getting mail, ever since we began receiving postal service around 2011 or so.
• You can get on our good side if you send us products from IKEA or In-N-Out Burger, which we do not have here despite being, ostensibly, a United State.
• Nor will we ever get them, in case this influences your decision to attempt relocating here.
• But we will ship you some green chile in exchange.

A mild green chile sunset.

In summation, you second-graders and other people: we New Mexicans live in a very real, very non-made-up place, as actual and verifiable as roadrunners and jackalopes.
And no—as much as I wish I did, I don’t have a New Mexico passport to prove it.

More than once, I’ve been accused—to my face!—of coming from a fake, made-up, incomprehensible place called New Mexico.

“You live in a not-real part of the world,” someone has told me.

This was rich, considering the circumstances: we stood on a platform in a train station in Cologne, a very few steps from both a monstrously tall dark and handsome medieval cathedral and a Lego store. If any place belongs in a fantasy novel, it is this one. (Especially once you spell the city the proper local way, Köln; only fantasy realms have little eyes above their vowels.)​

By Peter Nagle
 
The Market volatility continues! Markets are about 7% off their highs. Which is not a tremendous amount. But many popular stocks - think Magnificent 7 - are off a good deal more. 
 
Nvidia is down 24% from its high. Even Meta and Tesla (couldn’t happen to a nicer guy) are way off their highs. And I would say, absent a Market meltdown which I don’t think is happening, this volatility is a good thing. It creates buying opportunities and resets things. 
 
Many analysts attribute this ongoing volatility to the misguided tariff policies the current administration is promoting. When you do things that hurt your friends, you have to wonder what’s behind it. 
 
Nonetheless, most Analysts I listen to think we’re still solidly in a Bull Market and that this is temporary volatility. Time will tell. But for the equities in your portfolio, assuming they are part of your portfolio and not all of it, looking out to the long term, they should be ok. 
 
At the same time, not all of any portfolio should be in equities, unless you’re 25. There should be some fixed and guaranteed investments in there too. A balanced portfolio is always best, especially as we age. 
 
I provide financial advice to individuals in our Abiquiu community at no charge as a way of giving back. If you have questions in that area feel free to contact me. I’ll do the best I can to help you sort through the issues. 
 
Peter J Nagle
Thoughtful Income Advisory
Abiquiu, NM
505-423-5378 (mobile)
[email protected]

By Karima Alavi
 
My last article, The Search for a New Home, recounted the quest for just the right place to build a mosque, and the purchase of Abiquiu land that had previously been used for cattle ranching. Having obtained the land, a small group of American Muslims were determined to situate the mosque at the center of the mesa overlooking the Chama River and Abiquiu pueblo. Once the center was marked, the next step was the actual construction of the mosque which was the first building to go up as part of a plan to eventually create a school, a retreat center, homes, and businesses on the site. The designer hired for this project was Hassan Fathy, the Egyptian architect revered for his dedication to bringing back traditional mud construction as opposed to the use of western architectural designs and materials.

To facilitate the construction of the Dar al Islam mosque two men, Nooruddeen Durkee and Omar Cashmere traveled to Egypt to study ancient adobe-brick construction with several Egyptian masons. Accompanying them was Nooruddeen’s wife, Noora Issa. They returned to New Mexico with a treasure—Mr. Fathy’s architectural drawings.

The next item that needed attention was to gather a crew of Muslims and non-Muslims to begin the first step of construction: laying the foundation. Local workers were hired, with Dexter Trujillo being the first non-Muslim to join this remarkable enterprise.

The most critical part of building a new structure is laying the foundation. A seemingly small miscalculation can prove disastrous later on. These young builders, many of them with construction experience, some of them learning as they went along, were ready to start.

There was, however, a significant issue to consider. Something that could be seen as a challenge, or as a blessing, depending upon the level of one’s determination and religious fervor.

Construction was set to begin during one of the holiest months of the year for Muslims, Ramadan. (Which will be the focus of my next article.) This time of fasting, extra prayers, and religious reflection follows the Islamic lunar calendar of 354 days and hence, makes an annual shift of 11 days. In 1980, Ramadan stretched from mid-July to mid-August, the hottest time of the year in New Mexico.

Undeterred, even spurred on by what was seen as an auspicious time to bore the first shovel into the ground, the young, excited Muslims moved ahead with digging the foundation.
By hand.
​
No backhoes for these folks. They were determined to work with traditional construction methods, using picks and shovels the way mosques had been built for centuries. 

Fasting during Ramadan meant that the Muslim workers could have nothing to eat, or drink, during daylight hours. In those long thirsty summer days, beneath the unforgiving New Mexico sun, one discovery offered these people relief: a large metal water trough left over from the days when this property served as a cattle ranch.

They rigged up a long black pipe that sourced water from a wind-driven pump on the land, and filled the trough. When the heat became unbearable, the workers submerged themselves in the water to cool off. In this way, they were able to make it to the evening prayers and the breaking of the fast, which moved from 8:20 pm at the beginning of Ramadan to 8:03 on the last night of the month. 

The crew faced an additional challenge at this time. Where would they sleep? Local people went home each night, but many workers, especially the Muslim converts from other towns, had no where to live while pursuing their desert dream. As Rahmah Lutz told me during an interview, this project appealed to those who had a strong sense of religious purpose as well as a leaning toward an alternative lifestyle. Pretty soon the obvious solution to the housing problem arose. Spend the nights outside in sleeping bags, build a small roofed ramada for shade, and cook outdoors. They even rigged up a solar-heated shower.

Khadija Cashmere, wife of Omar who had traveled to Egypt to study adobe masonry, told me she alternated between staying in their Santa Fe home, and sleeping and eating on site. Pregnant, and caring for their three-year-old son, she managed to assist with cooking on a gas camp stove.  When locals told her to burn cow paddies to ward off bugs she thought, at first, that they were kidding. Then she tried it. Life in the ramada became more pleasant. 

Another couple, Abdur Rahim and Rahmah Lutz, lived “in luxury” at the time. They had a house on County Road 155, the place they still call home. With electricity, a functional bathroom, and a telephone, the Lutzes found themselves hosting and feeding lots of wet visitors when rainstorms made the ramada and outdoor campsites uninhabitable. According to Rahmah, “We were all in a special spiritual place. This whole thing was fueled by Islam.” And food. Lots of food.
​
It was that sort of energy and commitment that inspired workers to gather, pray, and start digging once the mesa had been leveled and the foundation was staked out. In the words of Abdur Rahim Lutz, “Building the Mosque was fun!” 

All was right with the world. Then…it wasn’t.

An inspector from the New Mexico Construction Regulation and Licensing Department made a surprise visit. Out came the red flag.
​
Construction of the Dar al Islam mosque came to an immediate halt. 

By Daria Roithmayr

​On December 9th of last year, Tres Semillas sold the land across from Bode’s to the Merced del Pueblo Abiquiu and Town of Abiquiu Land Grant. During the summer and fall of last year, Northern Youth Project had already been hard at work preparing a transitional interim plan for the coming season, even as community members protested the sale and tried to persuade Tres Semillas not to sell. Three short months later, NYP is in the midst of transition, as it navigates its next chapter.
 
As the website proudly declares, the Northern Youth Project is a regional youth-centered project focused on arts, agriculture and leadership, started and run by teens for teens. NYP was created in 2009 to serve as a platform to develop in local youth those skills that will foster their personal well-being and encourage them to invest in their communities and the environment. Programming towards that end has included hands-on art, agriculture and leadership projects that honor the past and look to the future. NYP’s long and wonderful history has been the subject of many an Abiquiu News story chronicling the project’s early beginnings and important role in the community.
 
Up until last spring, NYP had been headquartered at the Tres Semillas location and operated two youth projects: the Bridge program, which hosted 20 children ages 5 to 12, and the Internship program, which typically engaged from six to ten interns aged 13 to 21. The long-standing Internship program was home to a mix of interns, some returning and some new, coming from as far away as Nambé.
 
These two programs were dissolved in anticipation of the sale. But new and exciting internship programs, offering new possibilities for the young adults in the program, soon came into view. In a recent interview, Executive Director Ru Stempien talked excitedly about the new internship program that NYP has put into place even as the organization explores and plans for the longer-term future.
 
“This past summer and fall, NYP created a partner-based internship program that shared resources and responsibilities with two regional partners who have extensive experience working with youth.  One intern has been placed in Chimayo with Pilar Trujillo at her farm Viva Vida Botánica. This farm integrates traditional and modern regenerative stewardship practices to provide remedios (Botánical remedies), nourishment, and educational experiences for the surrounding community.” 
 
Stempien explained that the Viva Vida Botánica internship is training youth in traditional farming methods that produce botanical remedios, like elderberry syrup. Interns are trained in acequia-based flood irrigation, the planting and growing of perennial herbs, and in the running of a small farm business that is also deeply connected to and engaged with the surrounding community.

​Stempien went on to describe the second partner-based internship. “Two other interns were placed in Ojo Caliente with Don Medina and Valerie Archuleta at their small farm called OnePea Pod Farm. At this location, interns were trained in the running of an animal husbandry and farming operation: they participated in animal care and husbandry, learning how to butcher sheep and chicken and how to process hundreds of pounds of fruits and vegetables for subsistence and for sale.”
 
Partner Don Medina is thrilled with the progress that interns have made. “They seemed to enjoy being fully immersed. All the decisions made have had their input and I believe that has made them more confident and comfortable. They have watched every plant start, seeing how long it takes in different methods, for example in cups or in seed trays or in the dirt or in a greenhouse setting and figuring which ways they prefer to do it. They were the ones who convinced us to milk again this year.”

Don and Valerie have recently moved back to family land in Chimayo and are doing subsistence farming; they will be selling with the interns’ help at a local farmers market in the north this season.
 
I asked whether the program’s partners had experience working with youth and young adults. “Yes, they have so much experience and are lifelong partners of the program,” Stempien told me. “In addition to NYP, Pilar Trujillo has worked with the New Mexico Acequia Association’s amazing youth program. Like Pilar, Don Medina and Valerie Archuleta also have extensive experience with youth, having worked previously with the Pojoaque Boys and Girls Club.” 

Stempien took great pains to highlight the new and exciting opportunities made possible by a partner-based internship. “With both OnePea Pod and Viva Vida Botánica, interns have been trained and mentored and participate in the actual running of a small business. Interns help farmers make the decisions that connect to marketing, planning, and strategic engagement of consumers. For example, the interns had helped with OnePea Pod farm’s farm-to-table partnership during the period that the farm was partnered with Dolina Café and Bakery in Santa Fe. The opportunity to work alongside mentors and elders on a real working farm is what makes this opportunity so special and unique.”
 
She also noted that all three of the interns working with partners are aged 17 and older, and are long-time interns with NYP who have gone to college. “These partner-based internships are essential for the 17-21 age range, providing support and training to these young adults as they transition from the teen program to make longer-term decisions about their futures. The partner-based internships provide them with much more integrated and direct mentorship and training on a full-time working farm and small business. This is a win-win for mentor and mentee. Young adults need mentoring and training and farmers need the help of the next generation to keep their businesses going!”

I asked whether NYP saw the partner-based internship program as something NYP would continue even if it went back to a place-based operation. “Yes,” she answered. “NYP plans to work with these partners to explore the possibility of developing a more formal pilot program for partner-based internships, figuring out how to choose new partners and how to pair them with interns in a way that ensures a meaningful and successful experience for both intern and partner. This model could really work well in a lot of different communities!”

On the arts front, NYP is in early discussions with a range of potential partners to develop programming for teens. For example, NYP has been in contact with Pueblo de Abiquiu Library and Cultural Center’s Andi Manzanares to begin to explore possibilities for collaboration.

What is the longer-term dream for NYP? Stempien explained that the organization has its eye on the horizon, aware that it must navigate under new circumstances, not just with regard to the sale of the propoerty but also in terms of uncertainty regarding funding connected to the change of administrations in the White House.
 
“This coming year will be an intensive strategic planning year. NYP board, staff and participants will explore whether and how the program could be ‘place-based’ again. NYP is well aware that particularly in terms of programming on leadership, there is great value in bringing together interns to create community with each other and with the community around them. At the same time, board members and staff are also aware for the need for sound infrastructure and stability to sustain a place-based operation.”

Through it all, the young people themselves are leading the way, asking the important questions about the project’s future. Stempien is bursting with enthusiasm at their leadership. “Matias Coronado, this wonderful young person on our board, has centered our thinking about the future on what our participants think. We have been asking them, ‘What about this matters to you? Why do you keep coming back? What do you want to see for the next generation? What do we need to build for your younger siblings and cousins and community members to be able to come back into this work?’”

For the moment, NYP is focused on community outreach and on fundraising, as it develops these exciting new opportunities that the partner-based internships present, and as the project explores the possibility of being place-based once again. Board member Patty Shure is excited about the project’s new directions and hopeful for the future. “We spent fifteen years building a project that we can be proud of. We are excited about the partner-based internship program and the board, staff and membership will be giving much thought and careful planning to what comes next for NYP!”

By Karima Alavi
In my last Abiquiu News article, In Search of a Different Path, I indicated that I’ll be writing a series of pieces about Dar al Islam, the mosque and madressah (retreat and educational facility) in Abiquiu, New Mexico. As we all know, a project of that scope has to begin with an idea and a dream. It also helps when different parts of a puzzle fall into place to create a finished picture of what was meant to be.

That takes us to a hot, sunny day in Saudi Arabia in 1979. Two men prayed next to each other at the holy mosque of Makkah before striking up a conversation. Stephen Durkee, who had taken the Islamic name, Nooruddeen, was in Makkah to study Islamic faith and practice. Accompanying him was his fellow student and wife, Noora Issa.

As it turned out, the man praying next to Nooruddeen was a Saudi industrialist by the name of Sahl Kabbani. Nooruddeen mentioned the American Muslims in Santa Fe who held a strong desire to have a mosque to pray in. At the time, local Muslims were holding their Friday prayers in a carpet store near the plaza. Kabbani wanted to offer something back to America in recognition of two things he had received here: a graduate degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and his American wife, a woman to whom he sent a bouquet of flowers every morning since their wedding day.

The conversation moved to the critical subjects of finding a site, and funding the purchase of land, at which point Mr. Kabbani offered to donate the down-payment for whatever property was selected. He would eventually succeed at obtaining enough donations to pay off the land of the first of two purchases, creating the beginning of a debt-free foundation for the many young, enthusiastic Muslims who saw the seeds of their dream taking hold in northern New Mexico. There would be a second purchase of land at a later date.

Nooruddeen was quite familiar with this area. He and his first wife, Barbara, co-founded and lived at the Lama Foundation, an educational and religious retreat center north of Taos, New Mexico. During that time, their friend, Ram Das, returned from his first journey to India where he studied eastern spiritual traditions with a Hindu guru. It was at Lama, that Ram Das wrote his book, eventually titled, Be Here Now. The book was published and distributed with the help of the Durkees, until it was picked up by Random House Publishing who turned it into a classic icon of 1970’s spiritual writing in America.
The Lama Foundation attracted seekers of many faiths. With time it also became a gathering place of newly converted American Muslims who traveled to the center to meet fellow Muslims and study their faith together. Several couples who spent time living at Lama were destined to be part of the force behind the founding and building of Dar al Islam.

By 1980, the time had come for Nooruddeen and his second wife, Noora Issa, to return from their studies in Saudi Arabia and find a site for the Dar al Islam mosque, along with input from other New Mexico Muslims. A realtor led the group to a cattle ranch called Rancho de Abiquiu. When the Muslims from Santa Fe and neighboring towns stood on the mesa overlooking the Chama River and Abiquiu Pueblo, they decided to look no further.  

It was important to the early group of Muslims that the mosque be built at the exact center of the ranch’s mesa. To that end, they divided into two small groups. One remained on the mesa. The other climbed to a ridge that overlooked the site. Through hand signals, flag waving and very loud voices, the sweet spot that seemed to mark the center was selected.

Amidst a gentle wind that carried the scents of chamisa and juniper, one of the men planted a green flag into the ground. Written against the green background were the white lines and curves of Arabic letters proclaiming the Islamic declaration of faith: There is no god but Allah (the One God,) and Muhammad is his prophet.

​The group lined up in a row before prostrating with their foreheads to the ground in gratitude to their Lord. Finally, they had found a new home for their prayers.
 

​Interview with filmmaker Renea Roberts
​By Jessica Rath

Maybe you saw the announcement: On Friday, 2/28, at 7 pm, Episode I of the docuseries Thinking Like Water will be offered at Ghost Ranch as part of the San Juan-Chama Watershed Partnership’s 2025 Annual Congreso. Filmmaker Renea Roberts (who will be present to answer questions)  is an old friend of mine, and she re-shuffled her schedule to find some time to talk to me – thank you!
 
I love the title. Usually, thinking is understood to be a human prerogative, but the title implies that water and streams and rivers have their own wise ways, that their flow isn’t arbitrary and accidental but follows some inherent intelligence. Plus, the title seems to suggest, when humans listen and open up to the wisdom of the water, the result is positive; beneficial to all.

The focus of the documentary is Bill Zeedyk, a naturalist and “River Re-Creator” who uses his concept of Induced Meandering to restore streams and waterways to their original and natural way of flowing. Often they are downcut, a result of  straightening the flow/path, to make cattle grazing or crop irrigation easier – which invariably causes wetlands to vanish and vegetation and wildlife diversity to shrink. What inspired Renea to make a film about Bill, how had they met?
 
As usual, I like to start an interview with a bit of background about the person I’m talking to, and as usual, I learned many new things about a person I’ve known for many years!

​Renea grew up in Georgia, and moved to New Mexico about 20 years ago. She had done some traveling in the Southwest and fell in love with the landscape; she ended up on top of a mesa southwest of Santa Fe,  with a solar powered, off-the-grid house. Living in New Mexico, she quickly realized how valuable water was! But it took a while before she started this documentary.  How did she get into filmmaking, I wondered.
 
Actually, Renea got a Master’s Degree in Community Psychology, a field that interested her because it had the potential for activism: helping groups of people who had been disenfranchised. She learned to think differently about problem solving: to realize that people know the answers to their issues, to be a catalyst for these solutions to come forth. Making documentaries seemed to be a useful way to be an advocate.

​​“I wound up taking a few documentary and film classes. And then when I traveled somewhere I just started to shoot different stories. And things moved along in that direction.” I had already experienced  Renea’s dedication to give a voice to disenfranchised communities, to help protect their physical and cultural landscapes, and film them in a captivating manner. She had produced the documentary Rooted Lands about the village of Mora, in New Mexico’s southeast, and their battle against big oil and gas speculators who threatened to bring fracking to the area. It became the first county in the nation to ban hydraulic fracturing. 
​
“The project with Bill Zeedyk began after I met a rancher up in the four corners area,” Renea continued. “He told me about Bill and that they were planning a workshop with him, and he asked me if I wanted to join and film the event. So that’s what I did, I followed Bill around for three days while he taught road maintenance crews how to do all kinds of different landscape treatments on roads. I could see what a big impact he would have on the landscape, especially in an area with so much oil and gas extraction.”

​​“I think I started shooting in 2017, but it wasn’t a continuous process. I did other things inbetween, and then in 2018 and 2019 I shot a lot, but then came Covid and actual filming was on hold. I was able to watch a lot of the footage I already had and do some transcriptions.”

Renea explained the methodology: “One hour of shot film can easily take 10 hours of ingesting, watching, coding, and editing. It takes a while before you know what  you want to do with it, until you  see a pattern and it all comes  together. It was good that the filming stretched over a long period of time. I could revisit places where restoration work had been done, it allowed me to go  back to those places and see how the landscape was responding and try and capture that feeling on film too.”
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Bill was in his mid- 70s when the filming started, and Renea followed him and his projects. They went to several areas in New Mexico, like the Valles Caldera National Preserve,  Fort Union Ranch, and the Valle Vidal – which is featured in Episode 1.   Filming also occurred in Colorado and Arizona and  includes stories from Texas.   For Bill’s formative time in Mexico she used a lot of photographs, also for the earlier time of his career when he lived on the East Coast and worked from Maine all the way down to North Carolina.

How did he develop his technique of stream repair, I wanted to know.
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Renea explained: “He had that interest even as a kid; in high school he spent a lot of time outside, it might have been hunting muskrats, things like that. Over time he developed this deep relationship with nature and  that became his  approach. I think he is  trying to lessen the damage we’ve done and let nature take  over using the process she already has. And so his approach is:  first observing, and then finding something incremental, not trying to fix it all at once but just doing a little something and coming back to observe again, learn from it, and keep going. And this approach is more available for more people,  I think. It's as much an art as it is a science.”
 
“Bill's approach inspires   people to have a relationship with nature that many have lost,” Renea continued. “It can be hard work, moving the rocks, or some  big branches,  and  it requires patience and takes time. It means to be on nature's timing. That's part of what  I like about his work.”

“Bill Zeedyk was a biologist, and he focuses on habitats for all kinds of creatures. He worked with different groups, for example people who are concerned about the Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout along Comanche Creek  in the Valle Vidal.  And there is a large partnership of public groups and private landowners concerned about the threatened Gunnison Sage Grouse up in Colorado, that’s the focus of  Episode Two. And if you help one creature, you're usually helping all of them!”

 Renea added: “Bill’s work kind of connects all the elements. It is about water,  but it's also about the soil, the earth, and the air. The heat evaporates water. All the elements are intertwined.”

​“Some  people think that Bill’s work  helps to mitigate climate change. Other people may be resistant to talk about the climate, but they'll talk about drought, or they'll talk about extremes.  Bill is always good about talking  to people with different viewpoints or beliefs, he helps them  to come together at the common element. If you don't want to talk climate change, well, let's talk drought. Bill is so humble, and that helps.”

It must feel so good having completed this five-part series, being done with all the work. And episode I already won an honors award at a film festival. However, maybe now is time for a lot of promotional work, I asked?

Renea was rather sanguine about this.  “Bill’s reaching an older age, and  I don’t have the resources to do something  like a film festival run. It's not just one film,  but five episodes. I am just allowing it to find its own flow, to get out there. Maybe through the people that know about the work first it will  ripple out to more and more people.”

“It is interesting how many people are reaching out from all different walks of life,” she went on. “People I collaborate with mostly  thought that I was too ambitious, making a series. Asking ‘ Are you sure you want to do that?’  But it just always made more sense to me, because there are so many layers to Bill’s work and the whole issue. So, I am glad that I did that. But it was a lot of work. I've definitely had people who helped and colleagues who have helped do drone or film, or other people helping with the web presence, and other  different things. But the bottom line is that I have been juggling a lot of it, editing and doing the bulk, and so then it starts to shift gears. I also  have to find my own meandering pace, because I only have so much energy, and I’m learning as I go.”

But Renea will be at Ghost Ranch this Friday, she assured me. Don’t miss your chance to meet this lovely, creative person!

“I’ll be there, and Steve Vrooman, with Keystone Restoration Ecology and Phil Carter with Albuquerque Wildlife Federation will be there. They've also done a lot of work with Bill. He won’t be there on Friday,  but he’s done work with Ghost Ranch over the years.”
 
Renea talked some more about Ghost Ranch. “They had some really heavy flooding a while back, when some buildings were washed away and the whole landscape changed drastically. We actually did a walk there not that long ago. It was interesting, because I remember filming there for another project, some ten or so years back. I walked to Box Canyon, and I could see how much the flood had cut down. It looked totally different. We walked through some other places and we could see where some restoration work had been done. They had to use machines, because the rocks were much bigger, but it was based on the same philosophy as the hand work, just at a bigger scale.”

I had one other question, Do you have any new projects, or do you need a bit of time to catch up and recuperate?

“I  definitely need time," Renea told me. “And I think I want that time, and I also just want to be with this current project, while it is  getting out there. There is so much for me to learn. Plus, I want to catch my breath, and just see where this is  going.”  ​

This makes sense. What a gargantuan undertaking! But it must have left a lasting impression on Renea, documenting the work of such an inspiring individual over an extended period of time. Bill Zeedyk has become a living legend among conservationists and anybody who strives to repair degraded streams and waterways. “He’s mentored 25+ proteges who have gone on to make their own unique contributions in the field, most with successful businesses to boot. Has field-taught over 3,000+ volunteers. Has master-designed the improvement of over 400+ miles of streams, 4,000+ acres of riparian floodplain areas and many many miles of dirt roads.”
About Bill Zeedyk). People who studied with him have taken his methods to England, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, Australia, Mongolia and China.
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Thank you, Renea, for sharing your work with us. I didn’t know anything about Bill, and I’m grateful that you introduced me to the life and achievements of this outstanding person. If you want to learn more about this exciting project, please visit the website: Thinking Like Water.
 Below is the docuseries trailer: