Current work in wildlife, rivers, public lands, and climate

Thursday, March 8, 2007
John Horning announces the Living River Fund, a pilot program to lease water from farmers for the Rio Grande

Prepared Statement of John Horning
Contact: WildEarth Guardians

Everyone accepts as a simple truth that a river needs water to be a river.

And yet as I stand before you today, the Rio Grande has no rights to its own waters.

The Living River Fund that we announce today aims to right that historical oversight and ensure that future generations can enjoy a living Rio Grande just as past generations have.

The purpose of the Living River Fund is to lease water from willing farmers who would forbear the use of that water and either allow that water to flow in the Rio Grande or that water would be stored in upstream reservoirs and released at a time when the river needs it most. We hope that this pilot agricultural water-leasing program attracts the interest and support of many farmers in the Middle Rio Grande.

It’s our hope that today’s announcement inspires the rest of the state’s leaders, including Governor Richardson and Senators Bingaman and Domenici, to match these funds with state and federal dollars. Our goal is to increase the fund to $1.5 million dollars by the end of this year.

We know that popular support for a Living Rio Grande exists. We just need to create new mechanisms that allow for creative solutions, like this one, to be implemented.

The Rio Grande is the lifeblood of this city and many other cities, towns and communities throughout New Mexico and the entire Rio Grande watershed. This fund assures that as we look to the river to sustain us, we are also taking steps to sustain the Rio Grande.