By Rodd Cayton
The permanent preservation of about six acres of farmland in Corrales is being hailed as a victory for nature. The Village of Corrales is among the entities that contributed to keeping the land in a near-natural state, having recently approved a conservation easement with more than $700,000. The Indigenous Farm Hub is a working farm that integrates sustainable agricultural practices, traditional Indigenous farming knowledge, and native culture, language, and customs. Alan Brauer, Indigenous Farm Hub’s co-founder and director, told the Corrales Comment the organization has received other grants that will help it put on its educational programs for children and aspiring farmers. The New Mexico Land Conservancy helped secure all the grants.
The grant from the village, he said, fits the community goal of preserving the village’s unique rural nature. “The easement ensures that the land can never be put into houses,” Brauer said. “It seems like almost every square inch of Corrales is at risk of becoming a house.” Land conservancy executive director Jonathan Hayden said Corraleños are particularly mindful of the need to preserve agricultural property, having not only created a village committee with that mission but twice approving ballot questions raising money for conservation easements.
Photo by Roberto E. Rosales for the Paper
“We help people conserve the land they love, and there are few places people love in the state of New Mexico as much as Corrales, especially people who live there,” Hayden said. “It’s an area with a rich tradition of agricultural use, great wildlife habitat, and somewhere the community members really care about the character of the village” He said the Indigenous Farm Hub exemplifies a lot of what preservationists value. He said the project combines elevating centuries-old Indigenous farming practices and land stewardship with protection of natural wildlife habitat along the Rio Grande. Land conservancy stewardship director Chantell Bustillos, who is from the Pueblo of Acoma, applauded the project’s example of how conservation can help protect not only the land itself, but also the associated cultural connections
Hayden said putting public money into conservation easements is unique in New Mexico. “We don’t have a lot of communities that have explored this kind of local financing of conservation,” he said. Most often, that happens at a state or even federal level. I think it kind of illustrates the Village of Corrales ‘ commitment to their town’s character and agricultural heritage that they’ve invested so much of their time and energy into these protections.”
Hayden said the investment generates substantial non-monetary returns. “This is an area where there’s a high level of development pressure,” he said. “You see a lot of developers coming in buying up these historic farms and subdividing them, turning them into McMansions and whatnot. “For a lot of farmers that’s the most lucrative option for them, and so this bond program helps keep those farms in agricultural production by providing them with the resources to continue farming, and then it also goes towards the long-term stewardship of the conservation easement itself.” He said conservation projects typically include a public access or public benefit component; in the past, that has taken the form of viewing platforms for birding, interpretive signage or similar amenities.