Today I went up to Dixon, via the high road, for a discussion-cum-interview with Stanley Crawford, author of several works relevant to this blog ( Mayordomo , A Garlic Testament , The River in Winter ). As a former mayordomo for his acequia (del Bosque, in first photo), I wanted his take on how governance has changed on the ditch, if at all. While acequia bylaws are now de rigueur if the ditch seeks state and federal funding for projects and repairs, he called them a fallback set of rules. In other words, if you have to use them a lot, the ditch is in trouble. Most people don't bother to read the full set of bylaws. So the good news, if one can call it that, is that governance has changed little over the last 30-40 years in Dixon, at least on his ditch. The typical, but occasional, lawsuit, and dealing with the alphabet suit of state and federal agencies responsible for water managment, were par for this acequia's course. Unlike acequias living on the encroaching suburban ...
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