Laura McCarthy, the first woman to serve as New Mexico’s state forester, leads an agency that oversees firefighting duty on 43 million acres of state land. “The water fund started because there was a need—an unfilled need,” said McCarthy, in reference to the Rio Grande Water Fund, which she started while working at The Nature Conservancy. “The region is underfunded in comparisons to to other regions, and counties are left to fend for themselves.” Photo © Pablo Unzueta for Circle of Blue