About the Dialogue

New Mexico Water Dialogue

About the Dialogue

West of the 100th Meridian people like to quote the adage, Whisky's fer drinkin'; water's fer fightin'! We don't believe that has to be true. Dialogue is about listening actively to try to understand - and not to judge - another person's viewpoint about a strongly held value, in order to discover whether at some level you share common ground. "Water dialogue" encompasses our Board's attempts to discover ways to address contentious issues about how we will share, manage and protect this scarce and vital substance, and be stewards of its sources, so that they will continue to sustain us and those who will follow us.

Our articles of incorporation define the purpose of the New Mexico Water Dialogue thusly: "To promote the wise stewardship of water resources in New Mexico through support of community-based forums for education, communication, and development of common ground."

Though this is still true, it has seemed incomplete. In fact our work goes several steps further. The diversity of the voices represented in Dialogue forums and on our statewide Board of Directors means that we seldom take positions on the content of water policy. But we share broad understanding about the need for open, inclusive and democratic processes in the development and administration of those policies, and we keep track of policy-making activities in the Office of the State Engineer, the Interstate Stream Commission, and the New Mexico Legislature to make sure that they adhere to these principles. To reflect these concerns, the Dialogue's Board adopted a revised mission statement on July 27, 2007. The language agreed to by the Board reads as follows:

"To promote the wise stewardship and assure the availability of water resources for future generations of New Mexicans by

sponsoring community-based forums for education, communication, and development of common ground;

supporting inclusive, community-based planning processes, at all levels – local, regional and state;

advocating open, inclusive and democratic processes in the development and administration of water policy; and

monitoring and publicizing major water policy developments."

Our Board of Directors

The Dialogue's Board is composed of between 15 and 25 individuals who live in most of New Mexico's 16 water planning regions, and who bring many perspectives on water issues to bear on our work. Our current Board members are:

Consuelo (Conci) Bokum, President - Santa Fe

Michael Benson, Vice President - Navajo Nation, Fort Defiance

Jean Witherspoon, Secretary/Treasurer - Albuquerque

Cyndie Abeyta - Albuquerque

Beth Bardwell - Las Cruces

John Brown - Corrales and San Francisco

Brent Bullock - Roswell

Oscar Vasquez Butler - Dona Ana

Paula Garcia - Mora

Brian Greene - Mountainair

Alan Hamilton - Santa Fe

Elaine Hebard - Albuquerque

Simeon Herskovits - Taos

Janet Jarratt - Los Lunas

Randy Kirkpatrick - Farmington

Dick Kreiner - Los Lunas

Charles (Charlie) Lujan - San Juan Pueblo

Ernest Mirabal - Nambe Pueblo

Kendyl Monroe - Seneca

Mary Murnane - Albuquerque

Lisa Robert - Los Lunas

Frank Robinson - Rio Rancho

Dutch Salmon - Silver City

Tom Shelley - Tyrone

Frank Titus - Albuquerque

Staff, Consultants and Volunteers

Conci Bokum, the Dialogue's President, is temporarily acting as principal contact for Dialogue business, while we search for a new Executive Director.

John R. Brown is no longer our Executive Director, but is coordinating a number of Dialogue projects from his new home in San Francisco. He has also written several articles and papers on water planning and policy. Send him an e-mail here.

Kathy Grassel edits and is responsible for layout of our newsletter, Dialogue.

Yana Merrill keeps the books and writes the checks.

Lucy Moore facilitates our annual statewide meetings and many other events, including the Upstream-Downstream Project workshops.

The Dialogue's work involves planning, convening, facilitating and reporting on a variety of forums that bring together individuals and groups concerned with water issues to share information and perspectives, to explore differences and commonalities in interests and values, to foster a deeper understanding of the implications of policy choices on others' interests. Our major initiatives are discussed on the current projects page. We publish our newsletter, Dialogue, three times a year. For subscription and publication information click here.