All posts by mjh

Mark Justice Hinton lives in New Mexico and loves the Four Corners region, as well as the Rocky Mountains. Write him at chaco@mjhinton.com.
arizona, newmexico, wildlife

Results of poll on feelings about wolves in NM, AZ – Las Cruces Sun-News

peace, mjh

Results of poll on feelings about wolves in NM, AZ – Las Cruces Sun-News

By The Associated Press

Article Launched: 06/16/2008 12:03:33 PM MDT

ALBUQUERQUE—A look at results from a poll of 1,000 residents of New Mexico and Arizona, half in each state, about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 10-year-old program to reintroduce the Mexican gray wolf on public lands in the two states.

—Sixty-seven percent of Arizonans and 57 percent of New Mexicans favor giving wolves greater protection under the Endangered Species Act; 14 percent of Arizonans and 25 percent of New Mexicans oppose the idea.

—Fifty-one percent of Arizonans and 49 percent of New Mexicans believe livestock grazing is good for the environment; 16 percent of Arizonans and 19 percent of New Mexicans disagree.

—Sixty-two percent of Arizonans and 53 percent of New Mexicans support letting wolves migrate to suitable habitat in the states; 17 percent of Arizonans and 24 percent of New Mexicans oppose migration.

—Sixty percent of Arizonans rate their overall feelings about wolves as positive; 13 percent are negative and 22 percent are neutral. In New Mexico, 48 percent have overall positive feelings, 19 percent are negative and 26 percent are neutral.

—Sixty percent of Arizonans and half of the New Mexicans surveyed want ranchers to be required to remove or render inedible the carcasses of cattle that die of non-wolf causes—something environmental groups have pushed for.

—Fifty-one percent of Arizonans and 48 percent of New Mexicans support reimbursing ranchers who volunteer to give up their grazing leases.

A portion of the poll calling for respondants to state the first thing that came to mind when thinking about wolves found:

Arizona:

—21 percent: beautiful animal

—14 percent endangered species

—12 percent wild

—6 percent dangerous

—4 percent kill livestock

—13 percent don’t know or won’t say

New Mexico:

—9 percent endangered species

—7 percent beautiful animal

—6 percent wild

—4 percent kill livestock

—3 percent dangerous

—13 percent don’t know or won’t say

———

Information from poll done in April and May by Research & Polling Inc. of Albuquerque. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.

Results of poll on feelings about wolves in NM, AZ – Las Cruces Sun-News

newmexico, Other Peoples, wildlands

ABQjournal NM: Fight Over Mountain Emotional

peace, mjh

ABQjournal NM: Fight Over Mountain Emotional
By Leslie Linthicum
Copyright © 2008 Albuquerque Journal; Journal Staff Writer

Mount Taylor and its mesas rise from the desert, and its peak— often capped with snow— reaches 11,301 feet. The mountain can be seen from Albuquerque, 80 miles away, and beckons hikers, hunters, piñon gatherers, and skiers and bikers for an annual quadrathlon.
    Members of Acoma Pueblo call the mountain Kawesktima, "a place of snow." To the Navajo it is Tsoodzil, or "turquoise mountain." The Zunis call it Dewankwi Kyabachu Yalanne or "in the east snow-capped mountain."
    Members of those tribes, along with the Hopis and Lagunas, made the application for a traditional cultural property distinction for the mountain.
    The tribes hold the mountain sacred, and it plays a part in their traditional lives. It is a place where their deities live; where shrines are visited; where feathers, plants and soils are collected for religious uses; and where pilgrimages are made for prayers.
    Members of the tribes said they asked for the state designation after they saw a flurry of uranium exploration permits for the mountain and after some exploration activities disturbed religious shrines and ancestral graves.

ABQjournal NM: Fight Over Mountain Emotional

newmexico, wildlife

Birding Around the Gila

Be sure to read Judy’s latest. Follow her around the edge of the Gila in a great birding expedition. peace, mjh

Following New Mexico’s Southwest Birding Trail « Judy’s Jottings

Further along we are startled when a flash of red and orange shoots from the foliage and lands briefly in the branch of a cottonwood before heading across the river. As we pull out our field guides hoping it is a Flame-colored Tanager, we are equally delighted to identify it as a first spring Summer Tanager.

daytrips, newmexico

Gutierrez Canyon Open Space

New Mexico, Gutierrez Canyon Open Space Expanded to Over 800 Acres (NM): The Trust for Public Land

The property is accessed by a small strip of land just south of the Cedar Springs post office. It is surrounded on the north and east sides by residential development, and abuts Gutierrez Canyon Open Space on the south. Its protection brings the total acreage of Gutierrez Canyon Open Space to 700 acres, and creates the first public access from N.M. 14, the Turquoise Trail.

The property offers hikers and equestrians impressive views from its high ground, and includes oak filled side canyons. Residential development was a very real threat in this scenic part of Cedar Springs, but decisive action from community activists and local and state government ensured its conservation as open space.

New Mexico: The Trust for Public Land

newmexico

Save La Bajada Mesa!

Save La Bajada Mesa!

Mission Statement
The mission of Save La Bajada Mesa is to protect the cultural, environmental and economic resources of of Santa Fe County from the adverse impacts of strip mining La Bajada Mesa.

NMHeritage.org: Resources: NM Preservation Resources
La Bajada Mesa and Escarpment, Santa Fe

Significance: La Bajada represents a key landscape demarcation between what the Spanish colonial world termed the Rio Abajo and Rio Arriba regions of New Mexico–the lower and upper lands with their distinct ecologies and climates. It also represented the greatest single obstacle for movement across the land as signified by the many pathways that early travelers used to climb or descend the escarpment. These various paths stretch for miles along the escarpment eastward beyond the Cerrillos Hills to the Galisteo Basin and westward to the Canon Santa Fe. The wagon and, later, automobile roads passing near the village of La Bajada recall historic (and prehistoric) north and south movement. Early engravings and, later, postcards celebrated the escarpment and the challenges it posed to transportation. Many of these early images convey a sense of the grandeur of undisturbed open spaces, altered only by the engineering feats of modest roadways scaling the escarpment.

Threat: Mining and development could disturb the view shed of the entire escarpment. Any disturbances of the land (including cell towers) will diminish the capacity to appreciate the significance of the space. Retaining an undisturbed as possible view shed is essential to retaining a feeling for this important landscape and what it has meant historically for defining New Mexico’s southwestern character.

daytrips, newmexico

Sandia Mountain Hiking Guide

Hiking in the Sandia Mountains
by Mike Coltrin

This web site is a hiking guide to the Sandia Mountains. I give trail descriptions and advice on about 40 separate day hikes in the Sandia Mountains, covering more than 50 separate trails, and 250 miles. If you follow the rough outline shared here, all of the major (and many very seldom-traveled) trails can be covered within a year.

Sandia Mountain Hiking Guide

arizona

Arizona Trail Association, Working to build, maintain and promote the Arizona Trail.

Arizona Trail Association, Working to build, maintain and promote the Arizona Trail.

The Arizona Trail is a continuous, 800+ mile diverse and scenic trail across Arizona from Mexico to Utah. It links deserts, mountains, canyons, communities and people. Currently 94% of the trail is complete.

The Arizona Trail Association’s mission is simple: build, maintain, promote, protect and sustain the Arizona Trail as a unique encounter with the land.

Arizona Trail Association, Working to build, maintain and promote the Arizona Trail.

daytrips, newmexico

ABQNews – Another Top 10 for Albuquerque

peace, mjh

ABQNews – Another Top 10 for Albuquerque

Written by Dan McKay

Monday, 21 April 2008

Albuquerque’s Biological Park landed on the Top 10 list for best urban parks in the West, according to Sunset magazine.

Tingley Beach, the Rio Grande Zoo’s African exhibit and the Sasebo Japanese Garden are mentioned as reasons for the No. 8 ranking.

The magazine compiled a list of 10 great urban parks for its April edition. Topping the list is Balboa Park in San Diego.

ABQNews – Another Top 10 for Albuquerque