Three seats up for election in Conservancy District race

Sep. 25—Infrastructure is the issue most on the minds of candidates seeking Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District board of director seats in the Oct. 3 election.

"That's the elephant in the room," said Kirsten Couevas, a Tomé farmer running for the Valencia County director's seat. "How are we going to store water? How are we going to protect water?"

Jerome Cordova, a Bosque farmer and the owner of a security company, is running for the at-large director's post.

"Water is not being channeled for lack of maintenance," he said. "A lot of water is being wasted. We lose a lot to evaporation."

Seven people serve on the board of the MRGCD, which is responsible for drainage, irrigation and flood control on a 150-mile stretch of the Rio Grande from Cochiti Dam downstream to the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge.

Three board members represent Bernalillo County, one each represents Sandoval, Valencia and Socorro counties and the remaining seat is the at-large position.

Board members serve staggered four-year terms. This year, the at-large seat, the Valencia County seat and one Bernalillo County seat are up for election, although Bernalillo County incumbent John P. Kelly is unopposed.

Voting is open only to property owners within the Conservancy District boundaries. Early voting is underway now and will continue through Saturday.

What the river offersStephanie Russo Baca of Los Chavez is vying with Cordova for the at-large director's job. Russo Baca presently represents Valencia County on the MRGCD board and is board chairwoman.

She is giving up her Valencia County seat to seek the at-large post which is being vacated by Barbara Baca, no relation to Russo Baca. Barbara Baca was elected to the Bernalillo County Commission in November 2022 and is now the Bernalillo County Commission chair.

In addition to Couevas, candidates for the Valencia County seat are Carol Benavidez of Tomé-Adelino, who worked for the MRGDC for more than 25 years, and Brian Jiron, a farmer and a resident and member of Isleta Pueblo.

Whoever is elected to the board will find no shortage of challenges.

It's been a tough year for the MRGCD and the irrigators it serves. A very good spring runoff promised a robust irrigation season, but that dream evaporated when the monsoon season failed to show up and temperatures soared into the 100s, burning off water and burning up crops.

Add to that the fact that El Vado reservoir in Rio Arriba County has been undergoing maintenance since May 2022 and is unable to store water, and that New Mexico owes water to Texas under terms of the 1939 Rio Grande Compact.

The only card the MRGCD had to play when things got hot and dry was San Juan-Chama water made available by a 1951 U.S. Bureau of Reclamation project, which moves water from the drainage basin of the San Juan River to help meet water needs in the Rio Grande watershed.

By the end of August, however, the Conservancy District had used up the San Juan-Chama water.

Anne Marken, MRGCD water-operations manager, said that now the Conservancy District is able to deliver only water from the natural flow of the river. She said that at present that is enough to meet water needs on tribal lands with a limited supply left over for other irrigators.

"Recent rains and cooler temperatures have helped a little bit," she said.

Marken said the Conservancy District does not intend to cut short the irrigation season, which runs through October, but irrigators will get only what the river offers.

At-LargeRusso Baca, 36, is completing her four-year term as MRGCD board representative for Valencia County. She said she is running for the at-large position in order to reach out to more constituents.

An attorney specializing in water and natural resources, she also raises dairy goats and pigs on a small plot in Los Chavez and helps with the production of hay on her father-in-law's farm.

She points to a 1 mill tax increase passed by the MRGCD board in May, which will make available $174 million for infrastructure improvement throughout the district.

"We need to ensure efficient delivery and conservation of water with updated infrastructure," she said. "I want to continue to pass policy and continue to offer great constituent services, same-day response to phone calls."

Cordova, 57, a native of Jarales, is a fifth-generation farmer. He grows alfalfa and raises Black Angus and some Corriente cattle on his 150 acres in Bosque.

"I'm running to keep our valley green, to take care of our water and our bosque," he said. "I'm boots on the ground. I live on and operate a farm as well as a security business. I've got 33 years of management experience."

Valencia County

Carol Benavidez, 53, was the Belen division office manager when she retired from the MRGCD.

She grows alfalfa and raises chickens and cows on more than 25 acres in the Tomé-Adelino area.

"I have over 25 years of in-depth knowledge of MRGCD works, and I'm a farmer," she said. "I think that will make a difference if I'm elected."

She said the Conservancy District is 100 years old and some of the infrastructure is that old as well.

"We need to bring it up to date," she said. "The El Vado (renovation) project is the one everyone is talking about. That's the biggest one on the table. But there are a lot of ditches to cover."

Jiron, 42, worked with the Pueblo of Isleta Range and Irrigation Department for eight years but is a full-time farmer now, raising oats, winter wheat and alfalfa.

"My dad was a farmer his whole life, him and his dad," Jiron said. "When I was a kid I farmed with may dad, so I grew up into it. I'm running so I can bring stuff to the table that farmers experience. What farmers see and what people who don't farm see is different. I want to advocate for farmers throughout Valencia County."

He said if El Vado was able to store water, he does not believe farmers in the middle Rio Grande Valley would be facing the crisis they are facing now.

"A lot of these guys start planting alfalfa in the fall and if they don't get the water, they lose a lot of money," he said. "I don't know why (restoring) El Vado is taking so long."

Couevas, 42, said El Vado is important, but she wants to know how to fix things in her district.

"My main focus is getting that mill levy money to the community," she said. "I'm on the ditches every day. Where are we losing water in my district?"

Couevas is from a land grant family, but she is the first in her family to do for-profit farming. She is a regenerative farmer, practicing a type of agriculture that is focused on improving water cycles and strengthening the health of farm soil, among other things.

She said she is running for the board because if you want change, you have to stand up for that change.

"I'm big on conservation," she said. "I believe agriculture needs to stay in New Mexico."