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GRACIAS AMIGOS and AMIGAS! OUR MANY THANKS TO:
OUR MEMBERS AND CONTRIBUTORS
OUR FUNDERS: EMA FOUNDATION–Connie Adler, ALBUQUERQUE COMMUNITY
FOUNDATION, GLOBAL MINISTRIES-THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
OUR VOLUNTEERS, COMMUNITY GARDENERS AND INTERNS
ACTION ALIGNMENT
MAZE DESIGN
ALBUQUERQUE AREA MASTER GARDENERS EXTENSION
AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF WINE AND FOOD, NEW MEXICO CHAPTER
"DAYS OF TASTE"
BETHANY FARMS- TOM McCLELLAN
JAMES BUSHMAN
COTTONWOOD PRINTING
EVERYONE WHO VISITED THE MAZE
FREELANCE FARM/BETH McLENDON
GENESIS SIGN COMPANY
GOV 16 TV- ERIC ANDERSEN & CREW
SANTA ANA NATIVE PLANT NURSERY
ZSOLT PALCSA AND THE PERFORMERS OF READYMADE THEATRE COMPANY
Mission Work Camps provides mission work oportunites in several
Presbyteries of New Mexico. They are supporting RGCF's program to
provide fresh food to Albuquerque residents who need food assistance.
The City of Albuquerque's Parks and Recreation Department, Open
Space Division (OSD) manages approximately 27,500 acres of Open
Space land in and around the City for recreation, education and
wildlife habitat. These lands include the Sandia Foothills, the
Rio Grande Valley State Park (co-managed with the Middle Rio Grand
Conservancy District), the Petroglyph National Monument (co-managed
with the National Park Service), West Mesa lands, properties in
the East Mountains, and five agricultural farms (go to www.cabq.gov/openspace
for more information.)
The City of Albuquerque acquired Los Poblanos Fields as an Open
Space property in 1997. In order to preserve the property as farmland,
the OSD needed to find a farmer to cultivate it. The OSD contracted
Rio Grande Community Farms (RGCF) to manage Los Poblanos Fields
Open Space shortly after acquiring the property, and has renewed
the contract every year since then. This innovative partnership
has yielded a bounty of benefits. First, it has allowed the City
to preserve the property as a working, historic farm, without having
to use tax payer dollars to actually farm the land. Second, the
management contract for the property specifies that in exchange
for being able to farm the property, RGCF grows crops for wildlife
on 25% of the irrigated cropland. The wildlife crops support the
hundreds of Sandhill cranes, Canada geese and various duck species
that migrate to the property each winter, as well as resident songbirds,
ring-necked pheasants, and hawks attracted by abundant prey. Third,
RGCF and OSD staff collaborate to offer an array of unique, farm-based,
family-oriented educational opportunities and special events. These
include the Annual Corn Maze
and Harvest Festival
(with La Montañita Coop), as well as garden workshops and
sunset chats. Through a USDA Community Food Security Grant, the
RGCF/OSD partnership is using part of Los Poblanos Fields to grow
food for local people, and the community garden provides space for
people to grow their own food. RGCF and OSD staff also work together
to provide the public with numerous ways to get involved in their
farm by volunteering to plant wildlife hedgerows, restore traditional
acequia irrigation systems and teach school groups about gardening,
farming and the environment. Finally, RGCF has worked with the OSD
to leverage support for infrastructure improvements on the farm.
Last winter the two organizations collaborated on a cost-sharing
agreement with the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service to
return a 15 acre field to agricultural production, by installing
an underground irrigation pipe and re-leveling the land. RGCF invited
Rasband Dairy to re-level fields, fix ditches and grow alfalfa and
wildlife crops on over half of the farm acreage, and this spring
OSD signed new farm operating agreements with both farmers, in recognition
of their new partnership. In addition, RGCF has obtained a grant
from the City's Urban Enhancement Trust Fund for a greenhouse on
the farm, which should be built by next spring.
In the past nine years, the partnership between the Open Space Division
and Rio Grande Community Farms has helped make the dream of preserving
a working, urban farm a reality. Local people and wildlife have
benefited greatly from this partnership, and we hope that they will
continue to do so many years into the future.
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