Retreat Trips and Activities

The 2007 EGA Retreat Host Committee is pleased to present you with these pre- and post-Retreat trips which will enhance your time in New Mexico. Please consider joining your colleagues on these fascinating visits as part of your Retreat experience.

Deadline for all trip registrations is September 7.

Please note: If the minimum number of participants is not met, each trip is subject to cancellation. Participants will be reimbursed for the full cost of the trip should this occur.

2007 Site Coordinator

If you have any questions or would like more information about the Retreat trips, please contact our site coordinator:

Site Coordinator
Arturo Sandoval and Sandra Lara de Menchaca
VOCES, Inc.
T: 505-247-2729
,
www.vocesinc.com

Pre-Retreat Overnight Trip

Friday September 21 – Saturday September 22
Register by September 7

Exploring the Border: Colonias, Survival and Success along the US-Mexico Border

Join us to get a broader sense of New Mexico, as we explore the southern side of the state. Participants will fly into El Paso on Friday evening, September 21, and gather for an informal dinner together in El Paso. We will stay that evening at the historic Camino Real Hotel. On Saturday morning, we will meet in front of the El Paso Civic Center downtown to board a bus for a tour of the border.

Our first stop is the colonia of Anthony, NM. There, Pat Banegas of the Anthony Water District will share the success story of a colonia that once lacked basic services but now has major infrastructure in place—including water, sewer and affordable housing. From Anthony, we’ll travel to the colonia of Chaparral. There, we will visit Clinicas de la Familia, health clinics serving colonias residents. Dr. Francisco Crespín will explain the inter-related issues of environment and health in colonias.

Our third stop is the town of Sunland Park, NM. Mayor Rubén Segura will explain the challenges to create personal wealth for people mired in poverty. He will discuss efforts by local residents to build sustainable income. We will then travel to the colonia of San Miguel to visit Tierra de Sol, a self-help housing initiative that is providing well built, affordable housing to immigrant families in the region. Finally, we’ll hear Arturo Uribe detail his colonia’s struggle to prevent the Helena Chemical Company from locating in their community.

We will return to El Paso in time to catch an evening flight to Albuquerque Saturday evening, arriving at the Hyatt Tamayá in time for dinner.

Storyteller: Frank Sánchez of The Needmor Fund will be your host on this unique trip.
Begin:  Friday, 6:30 pm, dinner in El Paso (restaurant TBC)
End:  Saturday, 6:00 pm, Hyatt Tamaya
Trip Cost:  $300, includes meals and snacks, bus tour, and hotel. This does not include airfare to/from El Paso or transportation to/from airports. Please contact VOCES, Inc. for assistance with air travel and ground transportation.
Issue areas:  border issues, environmental justice, environmental health, economic equity
Group size: minimum 10, maximum 20
Activity level: easy
Age restriction: none
Family friendly: no

Pre-Retreat Day Trips

Saturday September 22
Register by September 7

Truchas: Tradition and Innovation in Local Communities

We will start the morning with a drive through breathtaking Northern New Mexico. In transit, we will learn background on land grants in New Mexico, a historical overview of Native American and Hispano relationships and other local issues. First stop is the Native American village of Nambé Pueblo. There, we will visit a biofuels station collaboratively launched by Nambé Pueblo and New Energy Economy to provide fuels for all of the Los Alamos National Laboratories vehicles. While we are at the Pueblo, we will learn about Nambé Pueblo’s innovative watershed restoration project. 

We next travel to the Truchas Land Grant—about 45 minutes from Nambé Pueblo—to learn how land grants in New Mexico are developing comprehensive land use plans, creating affordable housing using traditional models and seeking eco-tourism opportunities. We will learn how land grant communities are using the political process to help themselves obtain resources to rebuild communal villages. We will also take a short hike up into the forests owned by the Truchas Land Grant.

Our last stop is at the Santa Cruz Farm. Here, Don Bustos provides a sustainable agricultural model for Latino small farmers. On four acres, Don is able to earn a good income. He has been active in the New Mexico Farmers’ Markets Association and has helped develop local markets for local produce and fruits. We will learn how the acequias associations are enticing young people back into agriculture in northern New Mexico.

Storyteller:  Arturo Sandoval of VOCES, Inc. will host and educate us on this journey.
Begin:  Hyatt Tamaya 9:00 am
End:  Hyatt Tamaya: 5:00 pm
Trip Cost:  $85, includes boxed lunch and transportation
Issue areas:  alternative/renewable energy, indigenous watershed restoration, land grants development and conservation, ecotourism, sustainable agriculture, acequia traditions
Group size: minimum 10, maximum 20
Activity level: moderate
Age restriction: none
Family friendly: yes 

Water, Justice, Agriculture: Off the Beaten Path in Albuquerque

Get on your bus at the Hyatt Tamaya and we will see firsthand how ancient acequias—irrigation systems introduced into New Mexico more than 400 years ago—still exist within the shadows of the state’s largest city. Learn how acequia organizers are using the acequias to protect water rights for sustainable agriculture in the middle Rio Grande corridor.

Get back on the bus and travel to a colonias community located on Albuquerque’s Southwest Mesa. Talk to the people living in the colonias to see how they are waging a strong battle to obtain infrastructure, and see their successes to date.
 
On our next stop, we’ll meet land grant activists who have been trying for 50 years to protect 55,000 acres of communal land from land speculators. Finally, we will visit one of the world’s largest Intel plants to see how this massive multinational corporation impacts local natural resources, tax bases and more

Storyteller: Robby Rodríguez of the Southwest Organizing Project will be your host for the day.
Begin:  Hyatt Tamaya, 9:00 am
End:  Hyatt Tamaya, 2:00 pm
Trip Cost:  $75, includes boxed lunch and transportation
Issue areas:  environmental justice, land, agriculture and water issues, land grants development and conservation, urban colonias; traditional communities vs. urban sprawl,  international multinational corporations
Group size: minimum 10, maximum 20
Activity level: easy
Age restriction: none
Family friendly: yes

Sunday September 23
Register by September 7

Jemez: Fire, Water and Nuclear Energy

Join us on a profound visit through a troubled but beautiful part of northern New Mexico. Our first stop is a visit with the leadership of Zia Pueblo to hear about the most critical environmental issue facing New Mexico and the West: water rights. Learn how the Pueblo is working to share water with its neighbors and how this complex issue is increasingly impacting New Mexico’s future.

Next stop is a short trip through Jemez Pueblo and Jemez Springs into the Jemez Mountains. There, we will visit The Valles Caldera Trust. It was created by the Valles Caldera Preservation Act of 2000 to preserve and protect the historic 90,000-acre Baca Ranch of New Mexico’s Jemez Mountains. The groundbreaking legislation that provided for the federal purchase of this 89,000-acre ranch nestled inside a volcanic caldera also created a unique experiment in public land management. Learn how this experiment is playing out against a backdrop of high meadows and old volcanic calderas. For more information, see http://www.vallescaldera.gov/about/.

Back on the bus, we will travel a short distance to the Los Alamos National Laboratory. LANL is one of the integral laboratories in the US nuclear complex. Learn of the serious nuclear energy issues in New Mexico and the environmental impacts of the nuclear industry on land and water resources. See first-hand how fire issues impacted a town and forest and about fire issues in New Mexico forests.

Storyteller: Henry Carey, Sapelo Foundation, will host this transformative visit.
Begin:  Hyatt Tamaya, 9:00 am
End:  Hyatt Tamaya: 5:00 pm
Trip Cost: $85, includes boxed lunch and transportation
Issue areas:  water sustainability, national lands management, nuclear energy impacts, fire management
Group size: minimum 10, maximum 20
Activity level: easy
Age restriction: none
Family friendly: yes 

Rowe Mesa: Ranchers as Green Grazers and the Nation’s Only Real Healthy Forests Initiative

Enjoy lunch at a world famous restaurant in beautiful Santa Fe before starting the site visit. On the way, storyteller Walter Dunn will give us background on the unique forests restoration project he helped Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) design for New Mexico.

After lunch, we’ll head into northern New Mexico’s rural vistas. We will pass the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and arrive at Rowe Mesa, southeast of Santa Fe. Our first stop will be at the Rowe Mesa Grass Bank, where we will visit with Courtney White, executive director of the Quivira Coalition, a dynamic partnering of ranchers, conservationists and others who are implementing new ways to keep grazing lands healthy and have cattle roam the prairie. Learn how rural folk in New Mexico are putting aside historic differences to restore their landscape and keep a traditional lifestyle alive.

Next we will visit a nearby forest in various phases of restoration through New Mexico’s unique healthy forests initiative. This federally-funded project permits local communities to restore the health of forests, hire local people and ensure the long-term viability of public lands.

Storyteller: Walter Dunn, US Forest Service, will host this magnificent trip.
Begin:  Hyatt Tamaya, 11:00 am
End:  Hyatt Tamaya: 5:00 pm
Trip Cost:  $90, includes lunch and transportation
Issue areas:  coalition building, sustainable grazing, healthy forests
Group size: minimum 10, maximum 20
Activity level: easy
Age restriction: none
Family friendly: yes

Post-Retreat Afternoon Site visit

Wednesday September 26
Register by September 7

Petroglyph Site Visit: Struggling to Protect Ancient Indigenous Art and Sacred Places

Laurie Weahkee has led the fight to protect the petroglyphs along Albuquerque’s West Mesa for more than a decade. She will detail how urban sprawl and social indifference is threatening this sacred site. We will be able to hike the lava escarpment and see these magnificent ancient drawings firsthand.

For more information please see:
http://www.desertusa.com/pnm/pnm.html
http://www.nps.gov/petr/
http://www.cabq.gov/openspace/petroglyph.html

Storyteller: Laurie Weahkee, Sage Council, will take you back in time.
Begin: Hyatt Tamaya, 2:00 pm
End:  Hyatt Tamaya: 5:00 pm
Trip Cost:  $25, includes transportation and guide.
Issue areas:  sacred sites, national monuments
Group size: minimum 10, maximum 20
Activity level: moderate
Age restriction: none
Family friendly: yes