Community Resilience Initiative
Shared Understanding, Community & Bioregional Stewardship
Deep Roots, Living Traditions
Taos is a place of deep cultural roots, living traditions, sacred waters and ecological complexity. It holds a strong community identity shaped by interwoven relationships between land, water and people —cultivated by generations of care and connection.
It is a place of beauty facing real, growing challenges. Understanding the complexity of these challenges is essential to planning for current and future generations.
This is a place-based initiative focused on listening, learning and stewarding this place together.
What Is the Taos Community Resilience Initiative?
The Taos Community Resilience Initiative is a collaborative community effort focused on supporting the long-term health, well-being, and resilience of the town, county and bioregion.
It is about helping our community better understand the ecological systems that sustain life here — and using that understanding to support wiser planning, stronger relationships, and more coordinated action.
Mission & Vision
Mission
Provide shared access to trusted, well-organized ecological and resilience-related data and intelligence that help the Taos community make informed, collaborative, near and long-term planning decisions in support of community well-being and resilience.
Vision
A thriving and resilient Taos community and surrounding bioregion where a shared understanding of ecological realities guides planning, strengthens stewardship, and supports the well-being of present and future generations.
Challenges We're Navigating Together
Taos faces interconnected ecological & planning pressures that require thoughtful, coordinated responses rooted in place and community wisdom.
Water Scarcity
Long-term watershed health and water availability remain critical concerns for the region's future.
Climate Variability
Climate variability and increasing strain on ecosystem health and community infrastructure.
Wildfires & Forest Health
Elevated wildfire risk and shifting forest conditions across the region threaten both ecological and community resilience.
Growth & Development Pressures
Housing expansion and land-use decisions with lasting ecological consequences.
Decisions made now will shape future generations & resilience
Why This Initiative Exists
Better Understanding
Create a common picture and better understanding of ecological conditions across the region.
Reduce Fragmentation
To reduce fragmentation and confusion by creating shared clarity across organizations and agencies.
Support Coordination & Stewardship
To support thoughtful, coordinated responses and planning rooted in place, lived experience and long-term stewardship.
Initiative Overview
Click the button above to review the Taos Initiative Overview Document
Listening-First
A collaborative early-stage initiative that begins with listening, not prescribing solutions.
Shared Understanding
Focused on building shared understanding across systems, not delivering quick fixes.
Long-Term Resilience
Designed to support community resilience over time, with transparent collaboration.
Why Taos & the Upper Rio Grande Bioregion?
This community and bioregion is well-positioned to model bioregional resilience — rooted in deep traditions and a shared awareness of ecological limits (our founding team lives in Taos).
Ecological Awareness
Shared recognition of ecological limits and the need for coordinated stewardship. Deep sense of bioregional identity and responsibility to the Upper Rio Grande watershed.
Indigenous Stewardship
Centuries of Indigenous stewardship and acequia water governance provide living models of place-based care.
Regenerative Practices
Strong traditions of natural building, regenerative agriculture and stewardship that demonstrate ecological wisdom.
Purpose of Phase One
Establish a Shared Baseline
Build a credible ecological foundation grounded in existing data and local knowledge.
Support Collaboration
Connect residents, organizations, and agencies around shared understanding.
Guide Future Planning
Create a foundation for informed near-term and long-term decisions, including future funding opportunities.
Learn Together
Discover what is most important and useful before any expansion of scope or scale.
Core Components
Phase One consists of three interconnected components designed to build shared understanding and support coordination.
Community Resilience Assessment
The Phase One assessment has eight core categories of integrated ecological intelligence that creates a shared baseline for understanding system conditions and constraints.
Water
Food
Waste
Ecosystem Health
Climate
Air
Energy
Soil
Community Resilience Coalition
Local organizations, agencies and residents are invited as anchor contributors to the coalition. This work is grounded in real experience and lived knowledge.
Contributions are collaborative, credited and transparent. The coalition exists to strengthen coordination and reduce duplication of effort across the community.
- Anchor organizations share insight and context
- Collaborative contributions are recognized
- Transparency builds trust and shared stewardship
Community Resilience Hub (digital)
Simple & Accessible
A straightforward digital dashboard designed for clarity and ease of use.
Place-Relevant Information
High-level indicators and information specific to Taos and the Upper Rio Grande.
Visible Participation
Transparency into who is participating and what is being learned together.
The hub will start digitally as a website portal and interactive dashboard. Eventually the hub may evolve into a physical community space
How People & Organizations Can Engage
This initiative is meant to be participatory, collaborative, and community-informed. Whether you are deeply involved in community life or simply care about the future of Taos, your perspective matters.
Share Your Voice
Complete the Community Resilience Questionnaire below to share your concerns, knowledge, and hopes for Taos.
Attend & Connect
Join community meetings or town halls. Contribute research, expertise, or lived experience.
Help Build the Coalition
Assist with outreach, facilitation, or represent an organization, sector, or area of focus.
Community Resilience Questionnaire
One of the easiest and most important ways to get involved is by completing the community resilience questionnaire. We really appreciate you taking a few minutes to complete this. It is intended to help us better understand what community members care about most, what concerns they have, and how they may want to engage.
Your perspective matters. Most questions are optional, and this should take approximately 3–5 minutes to complete.
Local Earth & ECOS
The Taos Community Resilience Initiative is a collaborative nonprofit endeavor convened by Local Earth in partnership with ECOS and local organizations.
Local Earth
This nonprofit (founded 2012) convenes and coordinates the Initiative, cultivating relationships, outreach, planning, and stewardship. Local Earth is dedicated to environmental stewardship and regenerative community development.
ECOS
A New Mexico-based company, ECOS provides the platform, technical implementation, and assessment framework, helping communities aggregate, organize, and synthesize ecological intelligence to support long-term planning and community/civic engagement.
The Taos Community Resilience Initiative itself is the shared, community-facing effort — the collaborative structure through which residents, organizations, civic leaders, and municipal agencies can engage with the Community Resilience Assessment, Hub and Coalition.
Seven Generations & the Future
This is just a beginning. Success is measured in trust, clarity and relationships—not in deliverables alone. This is an invitation to listen, learn and steward this place together with care and humility.
"This Initiative is offered in service to Taos and future generations."
Taos Community Resilience Initiative
Assessment, Hub & Coalition
Video Overview
NotebookLM has been used to create these videos. For some reason it has a hard time pronouncing the word “acequia” correctly - we are trying to fix this problem. Please pardon the pronunciation.
DISCLAIMER: This video is an AI-assisted production created from selected source documents and guided prompts. It is intended to spark ideas, conversation, creativity, questions and community engagement. While the core concepts and factual foundations are drawn from trusted materials, some pronunciations, phrasing, or perspectives may not fully reflect the nuance or position of the CRI. Please view this video as a starting point for exploration rather than a definitive statement. Thank you for viewing with curiosity and understanding. Enjoy the video!
Bioregional Resilience Hub (future phases)
Hub Vision: The Taos Community & Bioregional Resilience Hub is envisioned as a place-based center for education, collaboration, and activation. Rooted in ecological wisdom, cultural inclusivity, and community stewardship, the Hub will serve as the beating heart of the Taos Community Resilience Initiative.
Purpose
To provide a dynamic space where residents, organizations, educators, and civic leaders can come together to learn, plan, and co-create solutions that address the most pressing challenges facing our region — while honoring the land, its waters, and the diverse cultures that call Taos home.
How it Works
The Hub will host classes, meetings, presentations, exhibits, and events, and acts as a collaborative workspace for public and private coalition partners working together on the assessment and implementation of the initiative.
Connect & Collaborate
I am dedicated to the stewardship & coordination of this community initiative
Joshua Alvord
Initiative Coordinator | Taos Resident | Local Earth Director
Phone: 619-517-4469
Email: [email protected]
If you would like to learn more, engage, collaborate, explore synergies or contribute to the Initiative please contact me!
Thank you
Click button above to learn more about ECOS
TAOS