Rio Fernando Park: Ten Years of Wetland, Acequia and Food in Taos

In the heart of Taos, the Taos Land Trust bought about twenty acres of degraded wetland and fallow field beside the Rio Fernando in 2015. A decade later, Rio Fernando Park is a living confluence of land and people: more than seven acres of wetlands restored for beavers, migratory birds and native fish, and some thirteen acres growing food again through traditional flood irrigation, regenerative methods and a community food forest.

Early in the work, water ran in the park’s acequia for the first time in about sixty years. Today Youth Conservation Corps crews build compost bioreactors, students learn ecology in the fields, and volunteers turn up for workdays. A small, grounded picture of what regeneration looks like when a community decides to tend a place together.

Sources: Rio Fernando Park (Taos Land Trust) · A Year of Resiliency: Highlights of 2025 (Taos Land Trust) · Field Day Recap: Rio Fernando Park (Holistic Management International)