Farm + Ranch Show with Sage Faulkner
The Farm + Ranch Show highlights the unique agriculture in the San Juan Chama Watershed. Regularly featuring local farmers and ranchers, discussions reach from historical to cultural aspects and a wide range of topics.
Join us for a chat around the coffee table with the folks in the Chama area!
Farm + Ranch Show with Sage Faulkner
Northern NM Recreation & Outdoor Conservation Foundation President and Founder, Javier Vigil
Northern NM Recreation & Outdoor Conservation Foundation President and Founder, Javier Vigil, visits with Sage about the vision and goals for NNMROC Foundation. This fun interview covers everything from the Yazzie Martinez Meeting at Escalante on Oct 9, 2025, to activities for youth and community and critical needs for the Chama youth, community, and for conservation in the area. Learn about this new youth conservation foundation in Chama and the area and feel all the love Javier has for community!
For more information, please go to www.chamapeak.org!
Good morning, this is Sage Falner, program manager for Chama Peak Land Alliance. I'm a small rancher here in northern New Mexico, and your host today for the Farm and Ranch Podcast. The Farm and Ranch Show is sponsored by Chama Peak Land Alliance. Membership is free if you're interested. You can learn more at www.chamape.org. You can also find us on the main social media channels. I want to thank you guys again for joining us here on the Farm and Ranch Show where we talk about things agriculture, community, and conservation. As always, a disclaimer: the opinions expressed on this show may or may not be those of Chama Peak Land Alliance, its members, or its board of directors. And friends, this is about our 110th show, and I'm really excited. I have a wonderful community leader and activist here in the studio with me, Javier Vihil. Javier is with Northern New Mexico Recreation and Outdoor Conservation Foundation. Welcome, Javier. Why don't you tell our audience a little bit about you?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, thank you, Sage, for having me today. We are super grateful to be here in this space and have this platform today. I am born and raised in the Chamo Valley and am super grateful to be back in our community starting pretty much in summer of 2023, really. And super in love with the environment of the Chamo Valley brought me back home. Super amazing people in our community that brought me back home to really live my dream here on this grateful planet that we have. And so a little background is, you know, as I said, I was born and raised in the Chamo Valley area, went to UN, and at that point uh was trying to figure out where my life was headed and went through the college experience, did not graduate in relation to where I was at at that point in my life. College was not the path for me, and so I had to switch my journey, which I knew technology was really a passion of mine and the future, and so Verizon Wireless was opening up a brand new call center, and that's where my telecommunication road took me for 16 years, uh led me to Chicago, where I actually learned the art of philanthropy and started the nonprofit Parks and Wreck of Algin, Illinois, and uh worked with Random Randy Riapelli, who is my mentor, and really was able to find my way in the nonprofit world while working in the largest corporate telecommunications store in the world. And so that led me to Santa Cruz, California, where I learned business technology and telecommunications, and then really COVID hit, and then I decided I would get my grant writing certificate to be a seven-figure grant writer as well as nonprofit management through the community college of Santa Fe. And as that happened, I was really uh able to network and become a little league director in Santa Fe. At Santa Fe Little League was able to help rebuild a Regal Field uh renovation project where we're working on four uh turf fields to save over 90,000 gallons of water a month, and that was a four million dollar project that I was able to uh put all my time in at no cost. So I'm a little league director in Santa Fe for four and a half years and looking to bring Little League back into the valley, uh just a little insider. And anyway, so at that point uh I realized that Santa Fe had a lot of resources, obviously, as being the capital and and their infrastructure still needs a lot of work, but they have a lot more, and so I realized that I needed to come back home to the Chama Valley and and do what I'm doing now after doing some uh investigating in my own heart and soul coming back home. So in 2023, June 4th, we started the Northern New Mexico Rock Foundation, aka the Recreation Outdoor Conservation Foundation, and what stimulated that idea was a big dream really for the youth. And the big dream is ensuring that recreation was at the forefront, giving them a place to play, a safe place to play, outdoors or indoors. Uh STEM STEAM now, right, with art involved, and making sure that our kids are prepared for the future and now, as well as literature. The only way we can become abundant, sage, and wealthy is through reading, and so giving our kids a love for reading is important for our foundation, and then outdoor conservation. We know that we live in the most beautiful place in the world, and so it's really important to ensure our youth also believe in our outdoors here in our communities. So that was the vision, and the mission is to ensure that our kids are emotionally, mentally, and physically intelligent and healthy. So uh that was that's where we're at two years later. I have a great board of directors who also helped me put this dream into reality and who are not only my friends but my family, Justin and Amanda, Angelika Baca, Jessica and Tommy Casados. Just incredible people. Eli Gallegos was my first vice president. Um has started his own foundation called the Ethos Foundation based in San Diego. We've also helped create Callie Strong Foundation, which is the owner of Converse originally, and so we're just continuing to help inspire everybody to create philanthropy, the art of giving, uh, and and come back to Chama Valley to inspire the kids in the community. And so that's how it all began and and where we're at now, Sage.
SPEAKER_01:What a wonderful, wonderful story, and I'm so excited for the opportunity to sit at the table with you and get to listen to this story. It's it's really exciting for me. So we talked a little bit about what in Northern New Mexico Rock Foundation is and how it how it started, but let's go in that a little bit more and you know maybe talk a little bit about the opportunities that you want to provide for northern New Mexico and just things that you want folks to know that you guys are doing.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, in the now we just had Transform Education New Mexico, which I know will be further in our agenda, but really providing a place in the everyday education world, the learning experience for our kids to learn true history of our community, to have a place to play and learn while playing. Right. Uh, you know, we're seeing a lot of evidence in relation to ADHD and anxiety, and we're just showing that our especially our boys are not able to play with their hands as much and and use hands-on activities to really give them their best life. It's not the fact that they have these per se diseases or or mental traumas, it's the fact that our education system is not giving the right tools for our kids, and and so we're really engaged with the schools. We're bringing Lara Manzanares and Tierra Wools into uh Thursdays in Chama to work with the youth and ensure that they have that musica alegre in their life and music in general. Um the arts is is really important. Tierra wolves in our culture. Um, the sheep have been a part of this area for how many years, Sage, would you say?
SPEAKER_01:I would say, gosh, easily five generations. Um, you know, so several hundred years and and such a huge part of our culture here.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah, so uh we're really excited to partner with our local community to provide programs. Really, the youth in our community have so many opportunities, whether it's soccer and partnering with New Mexico United, whether it's Little League and bringing that back, whether it's badminton, tennis, pickleball. I mean, there's just so many great things that we can have for our kids that need to be provided on a daily activity. And so we're really passionate uh bringing those resources to our community and ensuring that we're partnering with the right people from a STEM standpoint, ensuring that our classrooms and our after-school and and extracurricular activities are prepared as well. So Lano Foundation has really been key to bringing in Roadrunner 3D printing to allow us to do 3D printing in the schools last year. And every time I talk to the kids, I'm like, hey, what do you want me to bring? Continue the 3D printing, Mr. V. Heel. So ensuring that our kids are design-oriented because it's just creativity at the forefront, and saying, Oh, I want to create a Biscochito cutter that allows my grammita's hands knot to her because she has arthritis, and I want to design something that is going to change our community for the better. And so those are the things that we're establishing now. Literature, uh, we're working with Chama right now to re-establish a library that is set for the future and culture. Um, so that way our kids and our community have a place to learn safely, grow safely. I use safely as a word because it's not a safe community right now, Sage.
SPEAKER_01:Right. And and that's fair. You know, kids need these opportunities, but without that fear associated with it. And I appreciate the honesty that you're bringing to the table with that because it is important and it needs to be a safe space.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, I I truly believe that in order for Chama to thrive or Valley to thrive from really abacu to Dulsi, we really need to get come together as a community, per se, as the olden days, you know, that that that cultura to really establish a robust community where everybody's thriving as best as we can. We know there's always going to be gaps as a humanity, and we work together to fill those. So that's our goal, really, is to build a safe valley for our community and especially our kids, because we're a youth organization, and of course, everybody's affected by the youth, or we we we laugh with them, we we enjoy funny times. I that's what I appreciate. That's all I focus on, is all of the greatness, but you can't help but look at the data. And when we see that some ho suicide and addiction and death has raised double this year in Rio Reba County, it is time that we do step up awareness uh around drugs, around suicide, and even positive things like partnerships like you and I are building right now, Sage, in this conversation.
SPEAKER_01:Right, right, absolutely. So, just a side note, um, Javier and I are recording this on World Mental Health Day, and so this will come out later in the week, but we always have a place on this show where we recognize how important mental health is, and certainly today um I can really appreciate visiting with you about our youth, but also these challenges that they're facing and we as a community face. So, just a reminder for for all of us and for our audience that every day needs to be mental health day, and there are resources out there, as you and I know, Javier, that they're not always identifiable, they're not always easy to find. And so, if there's a place I think where either you or I can help in in any capacity in that for our audience, please know that we are available, and then we'll we'll jump back into our kind of scheduled discussion here. So you've got some incredible goals, a very real and and necessary place where there is a need for what you're doing. How can people help if how can they donate? Volunteer, let's talk a little bit about that, and then we'll we'll come back around again at the end and and revisit that.
SPEAKER_00:From a philanthropist at heart, that's where I come from. I'm a natural giver, and so from a community standpoint, it starts with just being kind. That's what you can give first. Once you give the kindness to yourself, starts from within, then you give it to somebody else. That'll create the wave. Now, if we're talking 3D print in relation to this world, donations help financially, of course, to ensure that we're providing program. And I know we always come back to funding, right? And ensuring that we have the infrastructure and all that, but let me tell you, we all add a dollar a day,$30 a month. We as a community can grow beyond abundance, and we invest. So, of course, donations, we have our website www.nm, that's double n m roc.org slash donations. Of course, we always love people's energy, that's the most important part. The only way our community is going to heal. This is a 70-year-old study by Harvard Sage, is through relationships. The happiest people on this earth is because of the planet, aka nature, and relationships, and that's why we're here today. Is because of those two things we mirror each other in energy. So we build the volunteer group together, we have the funding, that's great support. As a parent, give unconditional love to your kid.
SPEAKER_01:I love that reminder. Because as a parent, we we know that, but sometimes those simple reminders are wonderful. So thank you for that. Well, I I can just appreciate immensely what you're doing here, and I'm looking forward to the opportunities to continue to do this, and I think for me, the reminder to be kind with yourself and with others is such a good thing, Paviet. And I just appreciate that you're bringing that to the table here for us. So we're gonna backtrack just a minute. You went to the Yazzi Martinez community meeting last night at Escalante, and and so for our folks listening in, there was a community meeting that is based on, gosh, how would you say that the legal determination from a lawsuit called the Yazzi Martinez case, and there are implications that the public education department is going to need to bring things to community education in new ways. And and correct me if I'm wrong anywhere in this, is that was what this meeting was for last night?
SPEAKER_00:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, and Tenham, which is Transform Education New Mexico, is an organization that is representing the youth, the community, and really the teachers' administration. And this organization I've been a part of now for over uh a little over a year now, and we were invited by Loretta through the Lano Foundation uh to ensure that the Chama Valley and rural northern New Mexico communities have a voice at the table when the actual uh plan comes out and says, you know, Chamo Valley, Pinasco, Cuesta, because of the community feedback, this is what we're implementing into the school system, whether it's um funding properly infrastructure and teachers and people that are assisting in the schools, uh, whether it's our language and ensuring the Norte Nuevo Mexicano language is not dying, is ensuring that it's thriving, ensuring there were six pillars that we laid out last night that we wanted, we called them themes, and we wanted to ensure that our community had specific feedback based off of the plan that was provided by PE, I mean by the state, and saying, wait a minute, we're not seeing specific information regarding the North and Nuevo Mexicano language, we're not seeing agriculture in the schools and how is this actually going to be implemented and what's the cost specifically. It was a very generalized three-year plan, and so we wanted to ensure Tenem, Loretta, this amazing, powerful, young she wouldn't say that, but I know she is at heart because I see it in her every time I see her, to ensure that we as Norteños had a place at the table, and so we it was live between three communities: Chama Valley, Albuquerque, and Las Cruces. And so we had youth from all over the state collaborating. We had eight kids there last night giving their feedback, we had community members, we ensured that there was voices being heard, and to be honest with you, Sage, that gym should the commons area should have been filled because I understand that a lot of times our voice we give it and then we say, What is being followed up? What is now the plan of action? Are we seeing now an agriculture uh class being offered and so forth? And so I get that a lot of times we feel our voice is being given and it's just water down the bridge. And another part of that goal that we talked about is ensuring that our voices are not only being heard, but action is being taken now, and so taking this to the lawyers and now actually making sure that our culture and our people are being respected because we do know funding is being spent in certain areas of our state, it's very evident, and so when we have those conversations now at the table, and that's what I love about being a nonprofit, is it allows me to see the PED and the state are doing these changes slowly, but the community is saying this now, so I can harness that and say, Lara Montzanares, can you come in and do música alegre with the kids? See, senor. The kids want 3D printing, okay. Let's bring in the three. They want agriculture. How do we create the grant funding through the state? The the uh what grant were we talking about earlier, Sage? The um New Mexico Outdoor Grant Funding that and and now we are partnering with the schools to create programming now. And so this platform, yes, the state is we're pressuring to ensure that these changes are happening robustly for the long term, and it's giving us data and feedback now, so that way we as nonprofit leaders, community leaders, can start creating this change now, whether it's after school programs, we don't have school on Fridays, so let's create a Friday program. We have great weekends that are not a lot of stuff really going on, uh, unless we're traveling to Santa Fe for football, which is great. We also have soccer in Santa Fe that I want to take our kids to on Saturdays that they have uh teams available for our kids to join. So this Transform Education New Mexico is a big picture, and I want to drive it down to organic for the valley so that way all of our kids are seeing the value in themselves, and this community is valuable beyond belief. And last night I saw it. The kids were amazing in relation to their feedback, they were so engaged, they're ready. So it was just quite believable unbelievable that we're getting these opportunities, and and uh and I think Loretta a lot for the giving us that chance.
SPEAKER_01:Well, thank you so much for that recap. And I'm looking forward to to tuning in as this progress happens. It's gonna make a difference. I can just feel that it matters. So just an aside, I'm a huge Lada fan. I could listen to her music from sunup until sundown, and so I'm just I'm just tickled that you've got that connection and and you're doing that for the youth here because that's that's a really good thing to be happening. Okay, so we'll switch gears a little bit again. Now let's talk. You've got some specific upcoming events that we really want to make sure we get our community tuned into. Chama will be having a United Against Drugs first annual walk. That walk will be October 25th, 11 a.m. We'll start at Chama Elementary, and there's some places where we've got a need for volunteers. Let's talk a little bit about that walk. And you and I have had had this conversation prior to the podcast about how many opportunities there are here, how beautiful it is, but there's also a dark place and a place where there's some things that we we have to acknowledge and work towards. And one of those is is the the drugs in this area. And so I commend you again for making that space where we can all come together and say, okay, this is something we need to work on as a community, and this is where you're gonna do that. So let's talk a little bit about this walk.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, I I know this is a really touchy subject, it's very touchy for everybody around the world. This isn't a trauma problem, as we know, Sage. This is a world problem, and it's hit us hard, of course, here in our rural community because we're all familia. We're family at the end of the day. Whether you moved in from Texas, whether you're from trauma for 500 years, like the V Hills, we're all family, okay? And when one person is affected, everybody's affected. And negativity is easier to carry than positivity. It's easy, okay? And so because of that, we have now have an epidemic on our hands, and I'm continuing to see my friends, family, and classmates perish. Um, and uh it's nobody's fault, there's nobody to blame, but it's a systemized issue, okay. And so uh in my opinion, the best way to start creating solutions is to bring awareness, stage one, awareness, and anybody who's been through addiction or any kind of crisis of their own, including sugar, okay, let's not forget we have a diabetes problem in our community, Miss Sage. We also have a technology addiction to our cell phones, and and I know adults, it's hard to accept that you're also a part of the addiction because we want to see our kids are on their phones, but I know for a fact when I would go into your cell phone time use, it would be probably just as high, if not higher, than your kids. But let's not go there, we're going back to the first part of our conversation, but it's all related because the other reason that we're having this drug uh problem is because we're not connected to the outdoors anymore, like we used to be sage. And that's a lot of yours and I work, I feel like, is it's not conserving in relation to oh, let's make sure this land is super prime and it has all the incredible ingredients. It's giving our community and our youth a place in outdoors where they can love life. And while they're loving life, yes, they're taking care of the land, yes, they're gardening, yes, they're creating solutions for any kind of climate that we do see change, whether it's a bunch of rain and Rio Doso is flooding or whether in a dry crisis, our solutions are available once we start creating, and the negativity of all this other things, such as drugs, are taken away from our creativity. So I had an experience where I saw Lencho Sanchez die, right? We all knew that it happened, and I didn't see any awareness brought up, it's just another community member who was on drugs, and he he's dead. So I knew that in order to start creating true change, there needed to be action, which is a walk. And again, we're outdoors, and we're breathing in the fresh air, we're enjoying the beautiful environment of the chama community, and we're hand in hand to create positivity, and so I knew with that intention, then it would bring the right people in to start creating change. And sure enough, Sage, once we put out during the council meeting that we were having a walk, there are incredible resources coming into our community to start this. And I know because I've been there myself, change doesn't happen overnight. Right, I've had issues myself, whether it's alcohol, Dr. Pepper's, I'm not good enough. That's a mental addiction as well. I've been there, and so now it's my turn to come and help and make the changes that are necessary by leading by as best as I can. And so I figured it was great to bring the valley together, to do a walk, so we can start loving unconditionally our people. I don't care if it takes me a 200 times, I need to step up a little bit more and help my friends because I did see them at Speedway, and I didn't offer because I was afraid, and I'm not there anymore. It's time that I not only help the kids because that's to me too easy, they're so full of energy and they're engaged, and so I love that part of it. It's just like what I meant to do, and the challenging part is this aspect of the community now where I am seeing my friends and family rather do drugs than live their best lives, age, and that's where I draw the line, and so this walk is putting the love back into our community together so that way we can have outdoor cultural events, and our kids and our people that have been suffering aren't suffering no more. They're thriving. And no matter where you're from, I don't care if you're from Germany or whether you're from Chama, we this is a place for everybody. This is everybody's land, and we all have the right to be here. Stop tearing each other down. Let's build this wonderful place up together so we can thrive and our kids. We're not talking about how we're losing another friend or family member. We're talking about how our lands are so juvenile with lemons and things, and they're like, well, how are you growing lemons in trauma? Well, we have this incredible biosphere that we've created with incredible partners, and our kids came up with a solution to be able to grow year-round. And our community has some of the best lemons in the world because of the love in the soil. And that's where it goes.
SPEAKER_01:And that starts with a walk. And so there you are. So, folks, just a reminder that walk is going to be in Chama October 25th. It'll start at 11 a.m. Come out to be part of the community. Bring a friend, tell a neighbor, share the information about this. If you're so inclined and you want to help, Javier could use some volunteers as well, but don't feel like you have to do that. Just your presence alone, I think, is the ask here. And I think the rewards will be tenfold. I think when we come together and do this walk, I think we'll find a place where we can just really focus on that commonality and the fact that we're all part of this wonderful, amazing, beautiful community. And so I can I can tell you, Javier, Chama Peak Land Alliance is very excited to be there, and we have a small contribution for you as well. So, folks, again, that's October 25th, Chama Elementary.
SPEAKER_00:I just want to say a few more things in regards to the logistics of the uh walk. Thank you for kind of reminding me on that. Um, we will be offering shirts to represent the walk that day. Uh, we'll be offering ribbons so you can honor your friends and family and bring them with you. Uh, you'll be able to write their name personally. There will be a bunch of great supporters there as well, and ensuring that our community already has that little support. So we'll be offering some great comida as well to ensure that we bring that community as well. So, again, thank you so much, Sage. I really appreciate you.
SPEAKER_01:We're we're so excited to be a part of this and appreciate you and all your volunteers and your board of directors for all the things that you guys are doing. And it it takes community. That that that's the answer, and I love that that's your focus here again. So, if if folks have questions, you can always reach out to Javier or myself. We'll be glad to answer those questions, and you can find we'll continue to share the information on our social media. We've got a little bit more time, so I'm gonna circle back around. We've talked a bunch here, but recreation and outdoor conservation. Of course, we're a conservation organization, and so we love having partners in the community, and I love the aspect that you bring of conservation and the youth. And um, I just wanted to touch bases a little bit more on that. Tell us a little bit more about what you guys are doing there.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, I really see that in relation to the youth and the outdoor aspect, there's some great things happening right now. So, for one, we uh were partnered with Encantado Foundation, and they allowed us to bring in Jacob Torres, who's a NASA scientist, nice NASA scientist, Espanola, native, horticulturist, amazing human being, and he's basically working on putting the green chili as the first food on the moon when they are cultivating their and that's because the green chili is the remote the the most robust plant on the planet. Sage they went and looked all over the world, and this was the the fruit that was the best New Mexicans, Chama. We we have the best, and so he is uh we put gardens in chama. I'm working on getting a garden for Tierra Maria's. I do apologize, my Tierra Maria friends and and kids, I'm getting that worked on now. But we're putting the green chilies in the school to create data for Jacob so that way he ensures when the plants are on the moon, their data is ready for them growing and helping the astronauts thrive. The bigger picture of that is ensuring that we have nutrition in our valley year round. Well, what do you mean? What do you mean, Javier? Well, Jacob is also not saying, well, we don't have issues growing in relation to the moon, we're having issues growing in rural communities in northern New Mexico due to climate. You can't grow in the snow, Javier. Let's let's be real. So, what are we gonna do to create solutions? So we're working on building indoor gardens at the schools, test those out, see what we need to do to have different fruits, exotic and otherwise that the crude kids want to grow. So that way in the future, every home in Lowe's or whatever grocery store we have, we have sustainable nutrition. Because as we know, Sage, we also have an epidemic in relation to diabetes in our community, right? Right, and that is total conservation because it comes from the land in relation to what we're eating, right? Are you eating takis or are you eating green chili?
unknown:Right.
SPEAKER_00:So that's a really important project for us. Nutrition, making sure that we have amazing gardens in our community, either at home, because that's the really if you can sustain at home, as you know, do you your confidence levels boost by 40%? That's an incredible statistic. How I mean, could you talk on that a little bit, just maybe a minute, of how that could be, Miss Sage, on being able to sustain, because I know you've ran ranches your whole life, really. What do you think about that?
SPEAKER_01:So I I think it's a wonderful statistic and ties in something really deep in me. I grew up with a garden, and there's nothing in the world, you know, I have those early childhood memories of walking out and grabbing a tomato off the vine and eating it. Yes. And then, you know, college and those kind of things, this story in my life progressed. It was like, oh well, you know, it's uh I'll take care of cows. I really like cows. But then I had children, and one of the things I wanted to do was to teach them that their food came from the land, and so I started gardening. And I'm gonna tell you, I have the most not green green thumb on the planet. I can grow 10 or 12 things, I can grow tomatoes like nobody's business. Um, but there's a lot of things I don't grow well. But seeing my children go out and grab that tomato and eat it off the vine and knowing that they have that connection to where food comes from. All of all three of my children have gotten to hunt. And so there's that place there where whether it's hunting, whether it's fishing, whether it's a garden, whether you're producing cattle, feeling like I can take care of myself, I can provide for myself, I can take care of others. When my kids were young, they did 4-H and they would raise show lambs and pigs, and so then we would butcher and they would share. They would give a neighbor a package of pork chops or lamb chops. Those lessons tied to food, I think, are huge for a community. And I think it's really important for us to recognize the nutritional aspect, but also the cultural, which is your green chili, right? It's huge and the social aspects. If if we see our neighbors and our friends not only surviving but thriving because they have healthy food, that's a huge thing.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, well said. I am seeing that as we continue to see other sovereign nations that were also struggling in our native communities with nutrition. Um, there's a place in San Diego, and I'm I'm do apologize remember the name, but they have created an indoor garden learning culture space for the schools. So they're not only going in and talking about growing or how it affects the local animals in the area and hunting and so forth, they're actually having classes in that space. And what they're showing is when you're around plants, obviously, the energy that it's giving with oxygen and all that is super incredible for the human body, and so there's no reason why we are indoors so much in the winter time that we do have an incredible biosphere. There was a funny movie back in the 90s called Biosphere, and it kind of got a little bit out of hand, but really, it really showed how incredible a space during harsh times can uh really inspire a community. So conservation and and tying it back to the earth and animals. I'm glad you really brought that up, is really key to our schools and our community and our everyday learning experience uh for everybody. It's not just for ranchers, right? It really isn't, it's about the community because this is the community. We are a farming ranching community that has been changed over time in relation to the industrial revolution and the train coming in right and creating the little city of Chama and Billy the Kid and all of these people from down south would come to Chama to hide and go to Denver and have their good times. This history is not written in the books, but it's all part of agriculture because they all knew that Chama Valley was a beautiful place, and so it's really important. I mean, take care of that so the next generations have a beautiful place too.
SPEAKER_01:I I'd love that. And ditto, what I understand. So we're about to kind of wind this podcast down. Is there anything else that you want to make sure our audience hears about today?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, the the Northern New Mexico Recreation Outdoor Conservation Foundation would like to thank all of our partners. It's our our foundation is based off of gratitude, is attitude. And the schools, Anthony Casalos, thank you for giving us a youth center in Chama to build for the kids a safe space to have fun and learn. Uh Leah Lab, the high school, thank you for giving us a space last night to start transforming our education system for all of the community. Administrators, kids, teachers, parents. Uh, thank you to all my sponsors, Roadrunner 3D out of Albuquerque, encantado, Monica Archuleta out of Triad and Lano. I have such amazing people that are continuing to support my family and friends, James Chavez, a really key inspiration. They have a state of the heart foundation, Albuquerque, ending method methodiction. So, and most important, Sage, bringing me here today to bring Christmas to today, which is what we call the present moment. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01:Well, likewise. Let's let's share again your contact information. So if we've got listeners that want to be part of this, they know how to reach you.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, uh, you can reach me at my phone number. Uh my business number is 312-802-5049. We have our amazing website, uh nnmrock.org, and our email is info at nnmrock.org as well. And those are our great ways of communication. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01:Perfect. And we know folks are gonna be reaching out to get in touch with you. So that's gonna about wind us down, folks. We want to thank you again for sitting in and listening to Javier and I. Thank you immensely, Javier, for coming in, for sharing what you're doing and your heart and your thought for this community, for the youth, but for also the conservation, the land in the community. And we just appreciate you making time. All right, folks, that'll be winding us down. We want to thank you again for joining us on this Farm and Ranch podcast, which was brought to you by Chama Peak Land Alliance. A reminder today and every day, if you or anyone you know is feeling like you are facing a mental health crisis, you can always call or text the numbers 988. Again, that's 988. It's nationwide. If you are worried about a family member, a friend, we are a community, and wherever you are, there is a community that cares. We can play a role in suicide prevention, and we want everyone to remember that and to know that mental health matters today and every day. Please take care of yourselves. Folks, thank you for joining us here on the Farm and Ranch podcast. I'm Sage. You can reach me. My email is Sage at chamapeak.org, and our website is www.chamapeak.org. Thank you, folks. Have a blessed and wonderful day, and you can see that we've got a few.