In an op-ed published in the Taos News, Erin Sanborn - Director of the Taos Green Chamber of Commerce and Collaborative Green and a local business owner - explains why protecting the Rio Grande del Norte is an investment in northern New Mexico’s economy.
The Río Grande del Norte — and the opportunities it provides for hunting, fishing, rafting, ballooning, climbing, hiking, camping, and other forms of recreation — is already a major economic engine for the Taos region. This area is important to local businesses and our personal economies in other ways, such as by providing clean drinking and irrigation water, farm land, fish and game to feed our families, and a place to graze livestock, gather firewood and piñon pine nuts.
Once this beloved landscape has a permanent protection, the Río Grande del Norte will be available as a resource in perpetuity to assist us all to create new jobs and contribute to the long-term sustainability of our community, economy, and way of life.