2026 New Mexico WCR Intensive
An Exclusive Learning Experience on a Real Project Site
This 8 Day Intensive is led by Zach Weiss and open to current and past Core Course students only.
Designed as a deep dive into the technical side of Water Cycle Restoration, this experience takes place on an active project site where you’ll engage directly with the process of installing real features on the land. It’s an opportunity to build practical skills quickly and meaningfully, alongside a team of experienced practitioners and fellow students.
Live Core Course Students - gain an extra $288 USD in Alumni Membership credits if you sign up for this in-person opportunity! That is multiple months of access to the Alumni membership for free to help further support you and your goals after this workshop.
September 12–19, 2026
San Cristobal, New Mexico, USA
Over 8 days, you’ll join Zach, the Water Stories team, and a group of dedicated students in an arid, high-mountain landscape of the southwestern United States. Together, you’ll learn hands-on techniques for shaping land to restore water cycles and support ecosystem health.
The intensive begins at the start of a month-long project, giving you a unique chance to witness and participate in how a restoration site evolves over time. Planned installations include multiple earthen-dam water bodies, road and access improvements, as well as check dams and beaver dam analogs.
Highlights:
Experience an earthworks project throughout the process of creating multiple small-scale water bodies
Hands-on experience with the details of water body construction
Learn and Practice Surveying for Earthworks
Hands-on Excavator Skills Overview
Dam Construction
Spillway Construction
Soil Assessment Techniques
Connecting with other Water Stories students
Dynamic Decision Making
Earth moving best practices and mitigation strategies
Observe a project being implemented in real time
Help create a demonstration project
Skill shares, connection with other revolutionaries, and a whole lot more...
Notes on Running Water Cycle Restoration Earthworks Projects:
Working with the earth is a dynamic, ever-evolving process that asks you to stay engaged, observant, and ready to adapt in real time. Alongside learning essential earthworks techniques, such as soil assessment, excavator safety, and spillway construction, we’ll explore the importance of reading the landscape and making thoughtful, responsive decisions as conditions unfold.
The point of this workshop is to offer a grounded, practical path into the many layers of working with land to restore water and bring abundance back to ecosystems and the communities connected to them.
Expect full, immersive days that blend hands-on work, site planning, skill-building exercises, and in-depth learning. Questions and open dialogue are encouraged throughout, creating space for real understanding to take shape.
You’ll be stepping into an active project with opportunities to support detailed implementation work such as spillway construction, mulching, rock placement and possibly more. This is a chance to get your hands in the soil, engage fully in the process, and build the confidence to apply these techniques on your own projects.
Come with an open mind and be prepared for the unexpected.
The Project Site
At 7,600 feet in the semi-arid Sangre de Cristo foothills, this site sits in a transition zone between forest and high desert, with juniper, piñon, sage, and scattered ponderosa pine. An intermittent arroyo, smaller seasonal channels, and a historic acequia move brief pulses of water across the land above the San Cristobal Valley.
Like much of the region, the site faces the dual challenge of scarcity and intensity - long dry periods, wildfire risk, and fast-moving water from snowmelt and summer storms that quickly escapes the landscape. This project focuses on slowing and holding those fleeting flows, building resilience in a place where water is both precious and unpredictable.
The Project's Intention
After more than three decades on this land, our client has developed a deep relationship with the forest, seeing it not as fuel to be reduced, but as a living community to be understood and supported. While others urged her to thin the trees to reduce fire risk, she sought another path, one that would protect the forest while acting responsibly within a fire-prone landscape.
Her collaboration with Water Stories reflects that intention: to hydrate the soil, support diverse plant and microbial life, and create conditions for the whole system to hold water and build resilience. The project is rooted in a commitment to working with the intelligence of the land by strengthening biodiversity, symbiosis, and long-term ecological health.
Accommodations
You are responsible for arranging your own accommodations. The project site itself is not possible to camp on. There are a number of places to camp around San Cristobal.
If you prefer not to camp, there are hotels, Airbnbs, and other lodging options in the area. We recommend booking early, as accommodations can fill up quickly this time of year. Search for options near San Cristobal, New Mexico.
Meals
Meals are not currently included in the ticket price. Please plan to prepare your own food. We’re exploring options for a simple, on-site meal plan and will share details if this becomes available. If you have specific dietary needs or prefer to prepare your own food, you’re very welcome to do so. Please note that there may not be electricity on the rustic project site, so please plan accordingly.
If you know of a self-contained caterer who can operate on a rustic site (no plumbed in running water or electricity) and serve ~20–30 people, please reach out to Megan at workshop@waterstories.com.
Space is Limited
To keep the experience focused and hands-on, participation is limited.
We’re offering an early registration discount for those who commit in advance, which helps us plan and prepare the site accordingly.
If you’re ready to deepen your skills, connect with others in this work, and be part of a real project in motion, we’d love to have you join us.
This Event is for WS Core Course Students ONLY:
Student of a Previous Core Course or Already Enrolled in the 2026 Core Course?
We would love to have you at this event! If you sign up, we would like to extend a gift of $288 of credit towards your alumni membership. This credit can be applied towards your alumni membership after you've completed the course, it will be applied to your account after the intensive.
Not Yet a Student of the Core Course?
This intensive is an opportunity exclusively for Core Course students. If you haven’t yet taken the Core Course you can take advantage of a limited time special offer and receive a $200 discount on the self-paced course. During this intensive we will be covering advanced material, so a basic understanding of the fundamentals covered in the core course is mandatory in order to join this in-person experience.
Save $200 on your self-paced Core Course tuition when you join the intensive!
If you are interested in participating in this event and taking our self-paced core course, please email us at workshop@waterstories.com and we can send you more information.
Please Visit our Core Course page to learn more >>>