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Pueblo de Cochiti, New Mexico
Pueblo de Cochiti is located 35 miles southwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and is the main town in a 54,000-acre Native American reservation that is home to 1,175 Pueblo members. Cochiti, the northernmost Keresan Pueblo in New Mexico, varies in elevation from 5,300 to 6,800 feet. The Rio Grande flows through reservation lands and swells with snowmelt in the spring from the nearby Cristo de Sangre mountain range.

The people of Cochiti continue to speak their native language of Keres. They maintain their cultural practices and have instituted programs dedicated to teaching and educating the younger generation Pueblo traditions and cultural practices, including the Keres language.

Cochiti is home to various types of artists, male and female, including, potters, storytellers, drum makers, jewelers, painters, and other crafts people. As is the case in most pueblos throughout New Mexico, art work and crafts has been, and is, passed on through generations. Most of the local Cochiti Artists work directly out of their own homes and or studios. There work can be seen throughout the local galleries in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, or can also be purchased by arrangement in Cochiti. Some artists have become world renowned and their work can be seen throughout the country.

Global Issues Background
The traditional lands around Cochiti have been affected in recent decades by an escalating demand, and diminishing supply, of water in the Western U.S. The story of water rights in the Western U.S. mirrors a struggle for control of water world-wide.

Water from the Rio Grande flows through Pueblo lands and backs up behind the Cochiti Dam to form the massive Cochiti Reservoir. Cochiti Pueblo fought, and won, a long-running legal battle against the U.S. government to dispute the original creation of the dam, and the traditional farmlands that the dam destroyed. Cochiti won the legal battle and, as one of the conditions, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers restored the traditional farmland inundated by seepage caused by the storage of water behind Cochiti Dam. The reclamation of these lands was completed in 1994.

Historically, Cochiti has had no private employers or economic enterprises. This was changed with the Pueblo's acquisition of the Town of Cochiti Lake and the creation of Cochiti Community Development Corporation, (CCDC) in 1995. The Town of Cochiti Lake was established under a 99-year lease agreement with private investors to establish residential housing units under a strict building code and relative covenants. The property has been under the direct management of Cochiti since the early 1980's and has been a primary revenue source for the community.

Of primary importance to Cochiti Pueblo are the land, air and water on and adjacent to the reservation, which is the lifeline of the Pueblo Traditions and Culture. The Pueblo is located in the heart of the traditional homeland and it would be impossible to retain peoples and culture if the environment is impacted to the point where the Cochiti can no longer use the land for natural habitat, farming, fishing, hunting, and maintaining cultural tradition.

Requirements
Students should have a satisfactory level of physical fitness in order to participate in manual labor and other physical activities, such as hiking and swimming.

Students and parents are required to complete all required World Leadership School forms, including the Application, Acknowledgment and Assumption of Risks, Indemnity Agreement, and the Medical Form. As part of the application, students must respond to a detailed questionnaire expressing their reasons for wanting to go on the trip.

Students should remain flexible to changing circumstances, delays and other hurdles that may come up in New Mexico. The specifics of volunteer work will be decided according to the needs of the community or organization shortly before the group's arrival.

Risk Management & Safety
We strive to responsibly manage risks. Our itineraries minimize highway travel and maximize immersion in rural communities that we know well. We update our risk management protocols, integrate feedback into program design, and invest in safety and communication equipment. Despite these efforts, World Leadership School cannot guarantee safety nor can it eliminate the inherent and other risks of international student travel. For information regarding program activities and associated risks, risk management, and student and parent responsibilities, please contact us (303) 679-3412.