SANTA FE – The Thornburg Foundation has announced that Lynn Trujillo will serve as its new Water Policy Officer, leading the Foundation’s Water Initiative at a pivotal moment for New Mexico. With snowpack at record lows, shrinking reservoirs, curtailed agricultural water deliveries, and catastrophic wildfire growing more acute each year, the need for experienced, effective water policy leadership has never been greater.

As the Water Policy Officer, Trujillo will direct and refine the Foundation’s Water Initiative, guiding its four core strategies: advocating for improvements in New Mexico water governance; building resilient water systems in key river basins and aquifers; promoting community water equity; and advancing science and data systems to support water planning and management. She will manage the Water Initiative’s annual grantmaking portfolio of $1.2 million, identifying strategic grant opportunities and partnering with nonprofit organizations to advance climate-resilient water policy across the state.

“Lynn brings exactly the combination of legal expertise, tribal relations, and policy experience that this moment requires,” said Allan Oliver, President of the Thornburg Foundation. “Her deep roots in New Mexico and her work at the tribal, state and federal level of water policy make her the ideal person to lead this initiative.”

Warming, aridification, drought, and extreme weather and fire events are reshaping New Mexico’s water future. The Foundation’s Water Initiative is responding with a comprehensive package of policy improvements, from water conservation programs and right-sized funding to pilot projects and climate-resilient agricultural systems. The Initiative’s second phase (2026–2030) will focus on implementing key programs and projects such as regional water planning, Active Water Resources Management, the Strategic Water Reserve, Indian water rights settlements, state water infrastructure programs, and the Rio Grande Basin Study. Statewide coalitions including the Water Ambassadors, the Groundwater Alliance, and the Water Policy Forum will anchor education and advocacy campaigns through 2027 and beyond.

Trujillo’s background maps directly onto these priorities. As Senior Counselor to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, she oversaw Indian Water Rights Settlements, positioning her to advance the Initiative’s work on tribal water rights agreements and rural and Tribal water planning. As Cabinet Secretary of the New Mexico Indian Affairs Department, she facilitated collaboration among the Governor’s office, state agencies, and 23 Indian tribes, nations, and pueblos, which is precisely the cross-agency partnership required to move governance reform forward. Most recently, she supported the Office of the State Engineer and Interstate Stream Commission in furthering implementation of the 50-Year Water Plan, with a focus on water workforce and water education, giving her firsthand knowledge of the institutions at the center of the Foundation’s second-phase work.

Trujillo shared about her recent appointment, “It’s an honor to join the Thornburg Foundation to further the impactful and respected work of the Foundation’s water initiative to advance strategic change that serves our communities and people. I thank Patrick McCarthy for his leadership and years of dedication to establish and advance the water initiative.”

Trujillo earned her Juris Doctor from the University of New Mexico School of Law and her Bachelor of Arts from Dartmouth College. An enrolled member of Sandia Pueblo and part Acoma and Taos pueblos, she brings deep personal and professional ties to the communities the Water Initiative is designed to serve.

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Founded in 1999, Thornburg Foundation is a family foundation based in Santa Fe that seeks to advance systems change that serves the public good. The Foundation uses an evidence-based strategic approach to make grants to nonprofits focused on K–12 Education, Water, Land and Agriculture, Pursuing Public Funds, Housing, and Homelessness. For more information on Thornburg Foundation’s water initiative, visit thornburgfoundation.org

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SANTA FE – Today the Thornburg Foundation announced the expansion of its grantmaking

portfolio with the hiring of Natalie Florence as its first Housing Policy Officer. Florence will lead a

new, statewide Housing Initiative aimed at increasing affordable housing stock to reduce rents

and homelessness across New Mexico.

Florence will design and direct the Foundation’s Housing Initiative, focusing on evidence-based

strategies to advance deeply affordable housing development and reduce regulatory barriers.

Her work will bridge public policy, philanthropy, and infrastructure to advance equitable

community development and housing stability.

“Natalie’s unique blend of academic insight, practical experience in housing policy, and

dedication to equitable community development makes her the perfect architect for this crucial

new initiative,” said Allan Oliver, President of the Thornburg Foundation. “Her expertise will be

invaluable as we work to translate bold housing reforms from other states into effective, lasting

solutions for New Mexico.”

The Housing Initiative is a strategic expansion to meet New Mexico’s urgent need for affordable

housing. Over the next five years, through an annual grantmaking portfolio of $1 million dollars,

the initiative seeks to support streamlined development, increase housing supply, and

strengthen homelessness prevention and housing stability systems.

Natalie Florence brings a multidisciplinary background to the role. Prior to joining Thornburg,

she worked at Abt Global, where she researched, monitored, and evaluated federal, state, and

foundation-funded housing programs. She has extensive experience collaborating with public

housing authorities, state and local governments, nonprofit providers, and philanthropic partners

to strengthen program design and system alignment.

“I’m thrilled to bring my research and experience working with diverse stakeholders to the

Thornburg Foundation to help partner with and lift up our communities. To solve complicated

housing problems, we must remain humble and grounded in evidence, but also, relentlessly

optimistic,” says Florence.

Florence holds a PhD in Science and Technology Studies from Arizona State University, a

Master of Architecture from Lawrence Technological University, and a Bachelor of Science in

Architecture and Environmental Design from the University of Colorado.

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SANTA FE – Today, the Thornburg Foundation announced Elisa Montoya will lead the

Foundation’s Pursuing Public Funds initiative, which aims to increase the effectiveness of New

Mexico’s nonprofit sector by securing and stabilizing essential public resources. Montoya will

also serve as general counsel for the Foundation.

Montoya will direct and refine the initiative’s strategy which includes providing support to keep

key grantees viable through funding shifts, increase nonprofit capacity to sustain essential work,

and fund strategic advocacy to improve the public funding environment for non-profits. Montoya

will manage the initiative’s annual grantmaking portfolio of $1 million and identify new

opportunities to strengthen New Mexico’s nonprofits in a dynamic funding landscape.

“Elisa’s exceptional leadership in both the public and private sectors, combined with her deep

roots in New Mexico, makes her an ideal person to lead this critical initiative,” said Allan Oliver,

President of the Thornburg Foundation. “Her experience navigating complex systems—from

local to state to federal government—will be invaluable as we work to protect and expand the

public resources our communities rely on.”

In 2024, the Foundation launched the Pursuing Federal Funds Initiative to help New Mexico

nonprofits and tribal governments overcome barriers like grant writing and matching funds so

they could successfully secure new federal dollars and maximize the return on philanthropic

investments. In 2025, the Foundation provided rapid-response grants to help nonprofits

navigate these shifts, trained over 150 nonprofit leaders to adapt their funding models, and

hired contractors to provide monthly updates on the impacts of federal cuts across the state.

Elisa Montoya brings more than 25 years of executive experience across the public and private

sectors. Most recently, she served as the Community Development Director for the City of

Santa Fe, where she co-led the effort to raise the city’s minimum wage to $17.50 per hour and

secured project approvals for the development of affordable homes in Santa Fe. Before joining

the city, she spent over seven years at Meow Wolf, playing a critical role in creating more than

1,000 jobs and helping launch four experiential entertainment businesses across multiple

states.

Montoya has also served at the highest levels of government, advancing social justice policy,

civic engagement, and public service. She served as professional staff to U.S. Senators Harry

Reid (NV) and Ken Salazar (CO), and Congressman Xavier Becerra (CA). She also worked as

a policy associate at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP in Washington, DC.

Elisa remarked, “I’m honored to join the Thornburg Foundation team to help align strategy and

policy at a moment when nonprofit stability and public funding are essential to New Mexico’s

communities.

”Montoya is a graduate of Stanford University, the University of Southern California Law Center,

and the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. She is also a graduate of St.

Michael’s High School in Santa Fe, where her family has lived for generations.

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A new report from the New Mexico Groundwater Alliance issues a stark warning about the state’s most critical, yet misunderstood, water source. With groundwater supplying nearly 80% of drinking water and over half of the state’s total water, its invisible decline poses an existential threat. The report calls for treating aquifers as essential infrastructure and closing dangerous data gaps in monitoring, especially in rural communities.

Patrick McCarthy, a senior water policy officer for the Thornburg Foundation and alliance member, emphasizes the unique severity of the current crisis. “The water scarcity, water stress that we’re facing now … it’s not your grandfather’s drought,” McCarthy states. He points to higher temperatures and a growing imbalance between use and replenishment, making New Mexico particularly vulnerable. His message is clear: proactive, collaborative, and well-funded strategies are urgently needed to secure the state’s water future.

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Download the Report

January 14, 2026 – Santa Fe, N.M. – As the water crisis in New Mexico deepens, a new report released today by the New Mexico Groundwater Alliance details significant data gaps, challenges and opportunities to protect the state’s declining groundwater supply. The report can be downloaded here and a document with groundwater management frameworks from other Western states can be downloaded here. 

The New Mexico 360 Groundwater Report comes as groundwater levels plunge to historically low levels as they remain threatened by challenges like drought, climate change, water-hungry data centers and PFAS contamination. The report warns that without a proactive strategy for sustaining groundwater, more communities will face aquifer depletion, water quality degradation, and service disruptions.

The report builds off of recommendations made by the Governor’s New Mexico Water & Policy Task Force and the state’s 50-Year Water Action Plan, which warns that New Mexico will have 25% less water by 2050. Groundwater provides more than half the state’s total water supply, and 81% of public water systems in New Mexico rely on groundwater to provide drinking water for their communities.  

The New Mexico 360 Groundwater Report takes a deeper drive into New Mexico’s groundwater history and current challenges by detailing data gaps, water use by category, and policy and administrative structures. It also highlights where New Mexico leaders are already deploying successful groundwater management strategies while offering case studies from other western states. 

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The report concludes with specific recommendations for policymakers to advance proactive, long-term groundwater solutions, including: 

• Science, Data and Modeling: As part of a multiyear effort, accelerate and sustain aquifer mapping, monitoring, and metering by filling the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources’s budget request of $22 million in Fiscal Year 2027. This funding would support aquifer characterization studies to provide essential basin level information — such as quantity and quality of groundwater resources — and address a funding gap for the Water Data Act to help state agencies share, integrate and manage water data better using 21st century technologies.
• State Policy Reform: Develop a statewide groundwater management framework that establishes basin management goals informed by data, science, historical and cultural traditions, and community-driven solutions. 
• Funding: Allocate state funding to provide support for locally driven groundwater management and provide legal avenues for local groundwater authorities to generate funds to support operations.
• Incentive-based Tools: Explore and provide support for locally relevant incentive-based tools such as water banks, rotational conservation or voluntary fallowing.
• Local and Tribal Engagement: Create a pathway for meaningful local and Tribal involvement in groundwater management and ensure representation of all interests in planning and decision-making. Build upon New Mexico specific strategies, such as the Ogallala Land & Water Conservancy and Pecos Valley Artesian Conservation District, for a community-driven framework based on community engagement.

“This report serves as a call to action to protect New Mexico’s groundwater before it’s too late,” said Gretel Follingstad, Ph.D., Senior Manager, climate resilient water systems, at Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). “New Mexicans know we are in a water crisis, but groundwater is often out of sight, poorly understood, and inconsistently governed — especially in rural areas and small systems. We hope this report will be a launching point to elevate the urgency of groundwater declines and spark collaboration to develop a more long-term, well-funded and proactive statewide strategy to secure our water future.” 

A key component of the New Mexico 360 Groundwater Report details significant gaps in groundwater data, reinforcing the need for more groundwater mapping, monitoring and metering tools to provide local water managers the information they need to make long-term management decisions and ensure groundwater is not overused. For example, less than half of all New Mexico’s groundwater withdrawals are metered today. 

“Policymakers understand that we need sound science, data and modeling to better manage our groundwater resources and we’re ready to supply it,” said Stacy Timmons, Associate Director, Hydrogeology Programs at the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources. “Building on the initial funding provided by the Legislature last session, we’re prepared to execute a long-term strategy that will close our water data gaps and modernize our antiquated systems using 21st century technology.” 

Using available data, the report warns that groundwater declines are reaching crisis levels that threaten water supplies for agricultural and rural communities, including in the High Plains (Ogallala) aquifer near Clovis and Portales, the Mimbres Basin near Deming, and the Estancia Basin. Other basins reaching dangerously low levels are the Albuquerque Basin and the Placitas and East Mountains areas.  

The New Mexico 360 Groundwater Report also highlights positive case studies from New Mexico water leaders who are deploying new, successful groundwater management strategies for areas like the Pecos River Valley in Chaves and Eddy Counties, the Ogallala Aquifer in Curry County, the Lower Rio Grande Groundwater Conservation program in southern New Mexico, and through conservation efforts by the Cañada de Los Alamos Mutual Domestic Water Association in Santa Fe County. 

“We don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” said Aron Balok, superintendent of the Pecos Valley Artesian Conservancy District. “Many of our local communities already have the experience, knowledge and determination needed to protect our groundwater. The state should look to these communities and figure out how to replicate what we know is already working.”

“Time is not on our side. We must put forth a more comprehensive groundwater management statewide, building on the work we’re doing in eastern New Mexico to protect the Ogallala Aquifer,” said Dr. Ladona Clayton, executive director of the Ogallala Land & Water Conservancy. “Our voluntary, market-based model is proving the concept that we can conserve agriculture land and aquifer levels at the same time.” 

The New Mexico 360 Groundwater Report was co-authored by the New Mexico Groundwater Alliance, which is composed of:​

• Aron Balok, Superintendent, Pecos Valley Artesian Conservancy District
• Ladona Clayton, Ph.D., Executive Director, Ogallala Land & Water Conservancy
• Gretel Follingstad, Ph.D., Senior Manager, Climate Resilient Water Systems — Environmental Defense Fund
• Maurice Hall, Ph.D., Senior Advisor, Climate Resilient Water Systems — Environmental Defense Fund
• Phil King, Ph.D., Principal Engineer, King Engineering & Associates Inc.; Special Technical Advisor to OSE/ISC
• Ramón Lucero, Regional Field Manager, Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC)
• Patrick McCarthy, Senior Water Policy Officer, Thornburg Foundation
• Adrian Oglesby, J.D., Director, Utton Transboundary Resources Center (UNM)

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Advisory members: 

• Lisa Henne, General Counsel, Interstate Stream Commission / Office of the State Engineer
• Michelle Hunter, Deputy Director, NM Interstate Stream Commission / Office of the State Engineer
• Phoebe Suina, Owner, Project Manager, and Hydrologist, High Water Mark, LLC
• Stacy Timmons, Associate Director, Hydrogeology Programs, New Mexico Bureau of Geology & Mineral Resources
• Hannah Riseley‑White, Director, NM Interstate Stream Commission / Office of the State Engineer
• Katie Zemlick, Chief, Hydrology Bureau, Office of the State Engineer

For more information about the New Mexico Groundwater Alliance, visit nmgroundwateralliance.org. 

Download the Report

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Source NM: A new and urgent report reveals that New Mexico is facing a severe and imminent threat to its most critical resource: water. The study, conducted by leading water researchers, details a “looming groundwater crisis” driven by the one-two punch of climate change and unsustainable overuse. With aquifers declining faster than they can be replenished, the findings warn of profound risks to agriculture, household water supplies, and the state’s economic stability in the coming decades. The analysis underscores that without immediate and coordinated action, New Mexico’s water future hangs in the balance. 

Read the Article

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This comprehensive report, conducted by the University of New Mexico’s Assessment, Planning, and Evaluation Lab, assesses the health, economic, environmental, social, and local food system impacts of 13 agricultural training initiatives across the state. Learn how these vital programs support the next generation of producers, address critical challenges like land access and climate resilience, and contribute to strengthening our local food networks. The report highlights both the significant benefits for trainees and communities, as well as the ongoing hurdles facing new and beginning farmers and ranchers in New Mexico.

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A major new study, funded in part by the Thornburg Foundation and released on November 20, provides the first full accounting of water consumption across the entire Rio Grande–Bravo basin. Read the study here. The findings reveal a systemic crisis, with 52% of annual use being unsustainable, ultimately draining finite reservoirs and aquifers faster than they can be replenished.

While this unsustainable use threatens water security for millions across the Southwest, the impacts are acutely felt in New Mexico. The state has lost 71% of its reservoir storage since 2002, and water scarcity has reduced irrigated farmland by 36% along the Rio Grande. This new data crystallizes the urgent need for basin-wide collaboration, offering a critical roadmap to rebalance our water budget and build resilience for New Mexico’s communities, agriculture, and ecosystems.

Contact :

Patrick McCarthy: Senior Water Policy Officer — patrick@thornburgfoundation.org

Sarah Wentzel-Fisher: Land & Ag Policy Officer — sarah@thornburgfoundation.org

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As a systems change funder, Thornburg works to empower our partners to conduct coordinated and effective advocacy for climate resilience of New Mexico’s agriculture, land, and water resources. An advocacy process starts much earlier than the legislative session, and is informed by broad, community-based work. A key moment when the community informs the legislative process is the interim legislative committee meetings.  

As New Mexico’s Water & Natural Resources Committee (WNRC) met this year, the agenda reflected the realities facing farmers, ranchers, and rural communities across the state: dwindling snowpack, longer droughts, more intense wildfires, and mounting pressure on acequia infrastructure. These challenges are not abstract—they shape how food is grown, how ranching persists, and how water flows from mountain headwaters to valley fields. Thornburg Foundation grantees are not just responding to these pressures; they are helping chart a path forward, showing how healthy farms and ranches, resilient watersheds, and smart adaptation to less water are inseparable. 

In northern New Mexico, Alianza Agricultura de Taos, a new Thornburg partner, is working with producers and agencies to demonstrate that regenerative grazing on public lands can heal ecosystems while sustaining rural livelihoods. Their Public Lands Grazing Innovation Initiative is building collaborative projects on federal allotments, a critical step in securing the future of ranching, where nearly 70 percent of Taos County is public land. 

Meanwhile, in the Española Valley, Greenroots Institute is carrying forward acequia traditions in tandem with watershed restoration. By convening the Santa Cruz Watershed Group and mentoring young farmers through their ¡Sostenga! initiative, Greenroots is ensuring that community-led stewardship of water and land adapts to hotter, drier conditions with the next generation prepared to take on this critical work.  

Upstream, the Chama Peak Land Alliance is blending culture, science, and action. Through its Thinking Like Water screenings and volunteer restoration days, it is connecting ranchers, acequia associations, and residents with low-tech erosion control and stream restoration methods—like one-rock dams and beaver analogs—that slow water, rebuild soils, and sustain irrigation flows. This work not only protects acequias but also strengthens fire and drought resilience across the Chama watershed.  

At a landscape scale, the Forest Stewards Guild is advancing conservation finance strategies for the 2-3-2 Partnership, which spans 5 million acres of headwaters critical to New Mexico communities and agriculture. By quantifying the economic value of watershed restoration, the Guild is helping make the case for durable public and private investment—ensuring that the forests feeding our rivers and acequias remain resilient despite federal funding uncertainties.  

Adaptation also requires strengthening local food systems, as these are the primary market for 80 percent of farmers in the state. In the frontier counties of the southwest, the Frontier Food Hub has paid out more than $3 million to local growers, built seed libraries, and is launching a regional training center to prepare the next generation of producers for regenerative agriculture and climate adaptation.  

Likewise, through CODECE’s Cultivando Futuro, Indigenous and Mexicano farmers are receiving soil health tests, farm planning support, and food safety training—tools that connect cultural traditions of stewardship with market viability in a water-scarce future.  

Together, these efforts form a mosaic that mirrors the priorities of the Thornburg’s Land and Agriculture program, as well as those of the WNRC: safeguarding acequias, restoring watersheds, preparing for drought, and financing resilience. The throughline is clear: adapting to less water does not mean doing less—it means doing differently, with more collaboration, better science, and deeper respect for the communities who have long stewarded New Mexico’s land and water. The story of Thornburg’s partners is ultimately one of creativity, proactivity, and hope: that by aligning state priorities with on-the-ground leadership, New Mexico can secure its water future while keeping its farms, ranches, and food systems thriving. 

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Santiago Mejia The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

As housing costs soar, a Pew Charitable Trusts study—led by Thornburg Foundation grantee Alex Horowitz—proposes co-living as a solution. Converting vacant Albuquerque offices into dorm-style microapartments could cut construction costs by 50%, offering rents as low as $700/month. In Santa Fe, new builds could achieve similar savings. With shared kitchens and amenities, this model may ease the state’s severe housing shortage. 

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