The Rio Hondo watershed — stretching from the high-elevation headwaters of Taos Ski Valley to its confluence with the Rio Grande — is an interconnected and hydrosocial system. It is cultural, political, and sacred. The watershed is home to numerous spaces of natural access and outdoor recreation, sustains acequia communities that have governed water cooperatively for over four centuries, supports the sovereign lands and territories of Taos Pueblo, provides critical habitat for wildlife including the native Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout, and supplies the resource base for agricultural, recreational, and residential life across Taos County. It is also a watershed under pressure: from declining streamflows, escalating wildfire risk, expanding development, land-use change, gentrification and out-migration, and the deepening uncertainties of a changing climate.

The Rio Hondo Comprehensive Watershed Master Plan are related documents are the product of three years of collaborative planning by the Rio Hondo Watershed Group (RHWG) — a multi-stakeholder coalition of acequia leaders, tribal representatives, Taos Ski Valley managers, scientists, federal agency partners, water quality specialists, mutual domestic water associations, and community members, convened under the facilitation of the Taos Soil and Water Conservation District beginning in October 2022. The plan reflects not only technical assessment of watershed conditions, but also the accumulated community knowledge, trust, and shared vision that the group has built through monthly meetings, peer-to-peer co-education, and collaborative decision-making over the course of its formation.