Featured Project: The Cañada Alamosa Project
The Cañada Alamosa Project is a multi-year research and educational partnership between Human Systems Research, Inc. (HSR) and the Cañada Alamosa Institute (CAI). CAI is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation founded by Dennis and Trudy O’Toole. CAI’s mission focuses on the interpretation and conservation of the environment and history of the Cañada Alamosa. The Cañada Alamosa (can yada) is literally translated as the “the canyon of cottonwoods”. This beautiful canyon was formed eons ago by the waters of the Rio Alamosa cutting through rhyolitic intrusions that formed at the western edge of the Rio Grande rift west of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. The rift also serves as a dam for subterranean waters, forcing them to the surface to create the Ojo Caliente or “Warm Spring” that feeds a steady stream of water into the canyon.
Focusing on this well-watered tributary to the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico, the Cañada Alamosa Project strives to involve scholars, students, and the general public in discovering and understanding the interactions of human populations and a changing environment along the Rio Alamosa and its tributary drainages over the past 2,000 years.