Help Tesuque Protesters with Legal Fees

My name is Kerry and I am part of a small group of concerned citizens in Tesuque, NM who have been actively protesting for just over a year - standing up for clean water, sacred land, and the rights of small communities to say no to irresponsible development.

Our weekly protests have been targeted at a local luxury resort and its owners, a multibillion dollar out of state real estate investment firm. The simple reason for our protest is to protect our water. We object to the resort’s plans to discharge partially treated sewage to a newly created leach field located within a FEMA flood zone, immediately adjacent to Little Tesuque Creek and two previously failed leach fields and ALSO, dangerously close to the aquifer, the primary source of drinking water for hundreds of downstream wells. The discharges are coming from all of the resorts activities as well as from 84 private residences located above the Lodge. The community of Tesuque and the Tesuque Pueblo, which actually draws its drinking water directly from the acequias in the Tesuque Valley, both sit downstream from the Lodge.

Now, twelve individuals have been named in a lawsuit.

Their supposed offense? Holding protest signs on public property. Exercising their First Amendment rights. Standing peacefully for their community.

This lawsuit against the Tesuque 12 is intended to chill protest, silence criticism, and make an example of grassroots resistance. It’s full of exaggerations and falsehoods.

This is about intimidation. About power. And about whether money can drown out truth.

We can’t let that happen.

We’re raising $100,000 to defend the Tesuque 12—our neighbors, who took the risk to stand up for the creek, the aquifer, and our future.

If you’ve ever stood on principle, marched for a cause, or watched a neighbor be unfairly targeted—you know what this is. It’s a test. Of our values. Of our community. And of whether we let corporate lawsuits erase community voices.

This GoFundMe has been established to help offset the legal fees that our neighbors are incurring for their defense.