Category Archives: wildlands

bosque, wildlands

ABQ The Plan: The Rio Grande Vision » Connect, Protect and Excite! #abqbosque

I’m suspicious of the word “excite” and the reference to the bosque as “hidden” — you can see it from miles away and hundreds of thousands of people cross it repeatedly each day. However, the Mayor seems to want public input, seems to be reasonable, even as he is clearly not backing down. We need to examine this “vision document” and express our views. peace, mjh

ABQ The Plan: The Rio Grande Vision » Connect, Protect and Excite!

ABQ the Plan is a city-wide public project/public investments plan that will spur private investment, improve quality of life for residents, promote tourism and bring new dollars to Albuquerque, enhance economic development and bring new jobs to Albuquerque. The Rio Grande Vision project is one of several ABQ the Plan initiatives designed around a new Vision for Albuquerque as a great outdoor city, a city of innovation and creativity, and a sustainable community. Click to learn more about ABQ the Plan at ABQthePlan.cabq.gov.

ABQ The Plan: The Rio Grande Vision » Connect, Protect and Excite!

Chaco, daytrips, my soul, newmexico

Why I changed my mind to favor paving the north road into Chaco

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I’ve driven to Chaco Canyon, the Anasazi heartland in northwest New Mexico, every year for nearly 30 years, sometimes more than once per year. I have driven in and out every available route, including the long-since closed old north road that wound down past Casa Chiquita. Overall, I prefer to drive in from the south via Grants and Milan (at least, until Peabody Energy destroyed that area). I like the old south road in, as rugged as it can be. In contrast, the new south road via Pueblo Pintado is out of the way, connecting to the north road before the worst of that stretch. When I come in via the south, I go out north along the road that may be the major route for travelers.

If you haven’t been to Chaco, there is much you may not be able to fully imagine. It’s remote. It’s largely desolate. It’s well-worth almost any journey. Like many of the Chaco faithful, I have opposed paving the final stretch of the north road. I felt this is a pilgrimage and need not be easy. I was surprised after all these year to change my mind about this.

[from my journal at the time]

I made coffee and ate lunch of cheese and crackers. I dropped the camper roof and stowed everything. By 12:15pm, I was ready to roll.

And roll, I did. When I left pavement at the park boundary, the entire vehicle shook violently. Suddenly, the dash was beeping and flashing. It was only the alarm for the passenger seat belt, set off by the weight of my gear and the shaking. I slowed to 15mph for much of the next 15 miles — do the math. During that stretch, I reconsidered the issue of whether to pave the road in. I think the old South road should remain wild and primitive, but now, I think the north road should be paved. Why should every person who visits Chaco have a miserable trip in and out again? That’s not a right of passage, that’s abuse. If the real concern is a flood of visitors, then regulate the size of vehicles or the number of passengers entering Chaco at one time. Limit touring companies, if they become an issue. Why should we all suffer time and again? So long as I can chose to suffer and enjoy the old South Road now and then. …

It’s weird to go from foot pace to 65 miles per hour in such a short time. To go from a teeth jarring road to smooth asphalt. To accelerate into the modern world from the ancient and ageless.

The old south road should never be closed nor improved. Never. But, I’m ready for pavement to the north, back to the place we came from.

Visit my Chaco page for more text and photos.

Albuquerque, daytrips, wildlands

» Proposed city development would threaten river park | ABQ Journal #abqbosque

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Our bosque is a treasure but one easily destroyed by good intentions.

» Proposed city development would threaten river park | ABQ Journal by Dave Parsons

Few American cities can boast such a magnificent natural amenity. Many cities have invested millions of dollars to recreate “green belts.” In Albuquerque, all we have to do is protect what we already have.

However, now, following a century of protection, the natural beauty and ecological integrity of the Rio Grande Valley State Park is being threatened by the Rio Grande Vision – a bosque development plan promoted by Mayor Richard Berry.

The Rio Grande Vision is a disturbing departure from the purposes set forth by the state’s legislation and the Bosque Action Plan. It starts us down a path of incrementally destroying the natural and ecological integrity of the bosque through ill-defined development.

» Proposed city development would threaten river park | ABQ Journal

Chaco, newmexico, photos, wildlands

Updates to my Chaco website: Una Vida, Hungo Pavi, and Chetro Ketl

Many years ago, I created a website to document my experiences in Chaco Canyon in the northwest corner of New Mexico in the southwestern United States. Chaco is a gorgeous and remote canyon that contains extensive ruins dating from 900 to 1100 BC (very roughly). The original structures were built by the people variously known as the Anasazi (per the Navajo and others), Ancestral Puebloans (by modern Puebloans), or Hisatsinom (per the Hopi). I’m now in the process of updating my site. At this time, you’ll find the following pages:

Content update consists primarily of photos taken over the past 10 years, though more text will follow, eventually.

Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

birds, daytrips, my soul, newmexico, photos

Black Canyon Campground near Santa Fe, NM

We camped near Santa Fe in a great little campground near the bottom of the ski basin road. Black Canyon CG has paved sites with great separation, clean outhouses, no hook-ups. It’s barely an hour from Albuquerque and near 8500 feet. There is a good trail out out of the campground and another to Hyde Park CG. There were lots of birds, lots of hummingbirds, even one magnificent hummingbird (twice the size of more common hummingbirds). See 20 photos.

our camper rig in site #14

hanging out at camp

hummingbird

Black Canyon Park Service webpage

CG details, site map, and reservations

birds, wildlands

What does the Keystone XL Pipeline have to do with billions of birds? | 10,000 Birds

You should read the entire blog entry, which strengthens my conviction that this pipeline — and the strip-mining that goes with it — must be stopped. Canada, how could you even consider this? peace, mjh

10,000 Birds | What does the Keystone XL Pipeline have to do with Birds?

All four major flyways in North America — the aerial migration routes traveled by billions of birds each year — converge in one spot in Canada’s boreal forest, the Peace-Athabasca Delta in northeastern Alberta.  More than 1 million birds, including tundra swans, snow geese and countless ducks, stop to rest and gather strength in these undisturbed wetlands each autumn.  For many waterfowl, this area is their only nesting ground2.

Birds and Tars Sands Oil Map

About three billion birds fly north to the Boreal Forest each spring to build nests and lay eggs. These birds arrive in the Boreal Forest after spending the winter in South and Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean, and the United States. From the Boreal Forest Fact Sheet:

  • 325 bird species – that’s almost half of all the bird species in North America! – depend on the Boreal Forest.
  • About 3 billion of North America’s landbirds, 26 million of its waterfowl, and 7 million of its shorebirds breed here.
  • There are nearly 100 species of which 50% or more of the entire population breeds in the Boreal Forest.
  • Up to 5 billion birds – adults and their new babies – migrate south from the Boreal Forest each fall.

Back in 2008, the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) wrote a report titled “Danger in the Nursery: Impact on Birds of Tar Sands Oil Development in Canada’s Boreal Forest” which covers various ways tar sand development affects bird populations including:

  • Habitat loss
  • Trailings ponds and oiled birds
  • Fragmentation of habitat from drilling
  • Water withdrawals
  • Air and water toxins
  • High emissions and climate change

10,000 Birds | What does the Keystone XL Pipeline have to do with Birds?

newmexico, wildlands

Support the Rio Grande del Norte

Salazar visits Taos to get comments on conservation area | New Mexico Wilderness Alliance

Published December 17, 2012 in El Rio Grande del Norte, News.

By J.R. Logan, The Taos News

December 15, 2012

A standing-room-only audience turned out in Taos Saturday (Dec. 15) to show overwhelming support for protecting a huge swath of public lands know as the Rio Grande del Norte.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar took comments from residents regarding a proposal to provide added federal protection to an area that straddles northern Taos and Rio Arriba counties.

Salazar was joined at the meeting by Rep. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M. Also present were Taos Pueblo Gov. Laureano Romero and Lt. Gov. Gilbert Suazo.

During the two-hour meeting at the Kachina Lodge, dozens of local residents spoke about the environmental and cultural importance of the area. All those who gave comments were in favor of added protection.

Members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation have introduced legislation that would create a 236,000-acre conservation area along both sides of the Rio Grande Gorge. However, the legislation has made little progress getting through Congress.

Salazar told The Taos News after the meeting that he would be working on determining how best to get some sort of protection in place, be that through legislation or through a presidential proclamation.

“I think there is huge support for a designation that will protect this place,” Salazar said.

For more on this story, see the Dec. 20 edition of The Taos News.

Salazar visits Taos to get comments on conservation area | New Mexico Wilderness Alliance

wildlands, wildlife

Coyote Hunt’s Final Tally Is 39

ABQJournal Online » UPDATED: Coyote Hunt’s Final Tally Is 39

The statewide hunt, sponsored by Gunhawk Firearms in Los Lunas, took a total of 39 coyotes and was mostly without incident, reported Rick Gross, an employee of Gunhawk.

Gross said the winning team killed 11 coyotes over the weekend. He said the store was not releasing the name of the winners.

“We got back teams with a lot of ones and zeros,” he said. “All the hides will be used; none of the carcasses were just left.”

During the run-up to the hunt, Gross said he learned that people thought the contest would result in the killing of “thousands upon thousands of coyotes. I estimated maybe 200 at the beginning.”

ABQJournal Online » UPDATED: Coyote Hunt’s Final Tally Is 39

newmexico, wildlands, wildlife

Coyote Hunters Want “Fun” [barf]

ABQJournal Online » Coyote Hunters Want Fun By Thomas Cole / Of the Journal on Sat, Nov 17, 2012

If all goes as planned by organizer Mark Chavez, more than 100 hunters will spread out across New Mexico this weekend to kill coyotes.

Chavez, owner of Gunhawk Firearms in Los Lunas, estimates about 150 coyotes will be killed.

That’s a fraction of a fraction of 1 percent of all the coyotes in New Mexico. Still, I guess you could argue that coyote-killing contests are, to some degree, about controlling a predator population, albeit not a very effective way to do that.

But coyote-killing contests are about something else, too: having “some fun.” …

Why this coyote-killing contest has attracted so much attention isn’t clear. It certainly isn’t the first coyote-killing contest and certainly won’t be the last.

The World Coyote Calling Championship was held in Belen at the Valencia County Fairgrounds in 2010 and 2011. I couldn’t find results for 2011, but hunters killed 273 coyotes in 2010. A father-son team won the event, with nine coyotes killed.

New Mexico Sportsmen for Fish & Wildlife will hold its sixth annual coyote-killing contest next weekend, Nov. 24 and 25., at Aztec Machine & Repair in Bloomfield.

There will be cash prizes for most coyotes killed, as well as money for smallest and biggest coyotes. A light dinner will be provided to participants Nov. 25 after the killing is done. …

Another coyote-killing contest is scheduled for Jan. 10-12 in Gallup. It’s hosted by Red and Jackie Cunningham, according to the website of the National Predator Hunters Association.

Coyote-killing contests need to be recognized for what they are: a way to have “some fun.”

ABQJournal Online » Coyote Hunters Want Fun

newmexico, wildlands, wildlife

Ray Powell Shrinks Coyote Hunt Areas

ABQJournal Online » State Shrinks Coyote Hunt Areas

The two-day, statewide contest – in which 60 teams paid $50 each to try to bag the most coyote carcasses – has sparked opposition from people all over the country.

On Thursday, state Land Commissioner Ray Powell announced that state trust lands, about 13 million acres across the state, are off limits, because the participants do not have a permit or lease.

“These contests are about personal profit, animal cruelty, and the severe disruption of the delicate balance of this desert ecosystem,” said Powell in a news release.

He added: “It is time to outlaw this highly destructive activity.”

[Gunhawk Firearms owner Mark Chavez ] and other contest advocates argue that the contest will help cull the predatory coyote population.

ABQJournal Online » State Shrinks Coyote Hunt Areas

Kudos to Ray Powell. Mark Chavez talks as if he wants to help the environment. However, he took up this contest when Calibers cancelled it over public outrage. At that time, Chavez said he didn’t want environmentalists to “win” and this was about gun rights.So, which is it? peace, mjh

wildlands, wildlife

Ask Gov. Martinez to denounce coyote-killing contest

Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter: Email – Ask Gov. Martinez to denounce coyote-killing contest

coyote Ask Gov. Martinez to denounce coyote shoot

Fellow New Mexican,

Coyote-killing contests are legal and are held in New Mexico every year. That’s right, shooters sign up to win a prize for who can kill the most coyotes in a weekend. The death of these native mid-sized wild canines serves no purpose except for use as live targets to make a pile of dead bodies. No one eats coyote.

Now a gun store in Los Lunas is planning a killing contest. Shooters are signing up right now for the killing this weekend, Nov. 16-18. The prize is an assault rifle or a shotgun for killing the most coyotes in that time frame. The governor needs to know how much New Mexicans disapprove of this senseless violence.

This random killing of coyotes will not protect livestock. U.S. Department of Agriculture data reports that native carnivores are responsible for a tiny percentage of all livestock losses and coyotes in particular only a fraction of that. Coyotes will be killed that have never harmed livestock. These population disruptions will create more and younger coyotes which will be more likely to get into trouble with people. The ecosystem is disrupted for a weekend of human blood-sport entertainment, and the result is a senseless mountain of carcasses.

Please send a letter to New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez asking her to denounce this and all killing contests. They cast a very bad light on our state.

Thank you for everything you do,

Mary Katherine Ray, Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter Wildlife chair

Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter: Email – Ask Gov. Martinez to denounce coyote-killing contest