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The Fremont Indians’ Name

TheStar.com – Utah canyon held ancient secrets

The Fremont people, named for a Spanish explorer who never met them, remain a poorly understood collection of scattered archaic groups, but a tenuous link to North America’s earliest inhabitants, believed to have arrived via the Bering Strait more than 10,000 years ago.

Their style of basket weaving, animal-claw moccasins and farming and hunting skills distinguish the Fremont from other early peoples.

Fremont tools and pottery differed from the farming-dependent Anasazi south of the Colorado River, even as they shared a similar fate.

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New Mexico’s Wilderness

ABQjournal: N.M. Bestows a Wealth of Locales Ripe for Exploration By Tania Soussan, Of the Journal

This month, the nation is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, which was approved Sept. 3, 1964. But wilderness in New Mexico goes back much farther, to 1924 when Aldo Leopold pushed the U.S. Forest Service to establish the Gila Wilderness, the first in the country.

Leopold, who started seeing roads and vehicles in the forest in the 1920s, initially thought wilderness should be protected so people would have a place for primitive travel. By the 1930s, however, he saw a need to protect the land for ecological reasons as well.

Both ideas are reflected in the Wilderness Act. …

When it comes to wilderness, New Mexico is home to many firsts— not just the first wilderness in the nation, but also the first wild and scenic river (the Rio Grande) and the first Bureau of Land Management wilderness areas (the Bisti and De-na-zin).

“The irony to it is we are second to last in the West with designated wilderness,” said [Stephen Capra, executive director of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance]. “We are a long way behind the curve.”

Two percent of New Mexico’s public lands are wilderness compared with 8 percent in Arizona and 14 percent in California, he said.

ABQjournal: U.S. Plans to Limit Off-Highway Vehicles in National Forests By Tania Soussan, Journal Staff Writer

New Mexico’s five national forests have almost 22,500 miles of roads and more than 2,200 miles of trails, according to the Forest Service.

Sixteen law enforcement officers are responsible for patrolling the roughly 9.4 million acres of national forest in the state.
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map of wilderness areas in New Mexico

Uncategorized

Route from Socorro to El Morro, New Mexico

Q: Traveling from Socorro, can we take the short cut from Las Lunas NM 6 to I40 and gain enough time to do El Morro in one day? Thanks, enw

I’m attaching a little map as part of my answer. Short answer: yes, taking US60 west of Los Lunas will save you from having to drive up to Albuquerque; you save about 30 miles of driving. It is a very nice drive but a two lane paved road. About 6 to 10 miles west of Los Lunas is a stunning canyon visible on the north side of the road with Albuquerque’s Sandia Mountains as a backdrop.

Strangely, there is a different route 60 you might consider. This one runs west from Socorro through Magdalena, Datil, Pie Town and Quemado. This map shows a route NM36 (probably NM117 in Quemado) north from Quemado through Fence Lake that intersects NM53 west of El Morro.

elmorro.jpg

I know much of this route. It is lovely as it passes through the Plains of San Augustin. You might consider this. However, I don’t know that stretch north from Quemado. My map software says this southern route is about 200 miles while your route via Los Lunas is about 165 miles. This whole route will certainly be slower than the Interstate (and more interesting). I think it could be a great loop. You might contact El Morro National Monument or El Malpais National Monument for their comments.

This map doesn’t show route NM36 out of Pie Town, which intersects NM117, which follows the eastern edge of El Malpais. That would shave some distance off the 200 mile route AND take you around more of El Malpais; NM53 from I-40 to El Morro passes the western edge of El Malpais. Be sure to stop at the Zuni-Acoma Trail which crosses El Malpais and has trailheads on the east (NM117) and west (NM53); the west trailhead is a little more interesting if you’re not going far (if you are, take water and a hat). I have some pix of the ZAT at www.mjhinton.net/slides.

Didn’t mean to be quite so long-winded. Feel free to write back with questions/comments and to let me know how the trip turns out. mjh

Other

2004 New Mexico Wilderness Conference

Saturday, September 25th

Want to help protect wild places across New Mexico? Want to better understand how the BLM or Forest Service works? How about the history of wilderness in New Mexico and across the West. These and many more topics surrounding the protection of wildlands will be covered in a fun and informative workshop, the forth held by the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance since our inception in 1997. It will be held on Saturday September 25th, from 9:00a.m. to 4 p.m. at the historic La Posada Hotel in downtown Albuquerque.

Registration is filling up quickly, so if you plan on attending sign up soon! To Register, call 505-843-8696

New Mexico Wilderness Alliance – Home

The New Mexico Wilderness Alliance is a grassroots environmental organization dedicated to the protection, restoration, and continued enjoyment of New Mexico’s wildlands and Wilderness Areas. The primary goal of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance is to ensure the protection and restoration of all remaining wild lands in New Mexico through administrative designations, federal Wilderness designation, and on-going advocacy.

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Happy Birthday, Wilderness Act!

mjh’s Blog: Happy Birthday, Wilderness Act!

I can see the Sandia Mountain Wilderness from my house!

I have started a small collection of photos of my wilderness encounters. mjh

The Wilderness of My Soul — Photos

Wilderness.net

Wilderness.net is an Internet-based tool connecting the natural resource workforce, scientists, educators, and the public to their wilderness heritage through ready access to wilderness information. Through Wilderness.net and its partners, you’ll find access to general information about wilderness, stewardship and educational resources, scientific information, agency policies, relevant legislation, communication tools to connect you with others in the wilderness community and more.

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Brutal Trapping

Column:Animal trapping brutal,legal in New Mexico by Richard “Bugman” Fagerlund and Holly Kern, Daily Lobo guest columnists

Eight states – Washington, California, Massachusetts, Colorado, Arizona, New Jersey, Florida and Rhode Island – have banned the use of leghold traps, but New Mexico, of course, is not one of them. It is unconscionable that less than 1 percent of the population traps and approximately 75 percent of the population opposes trapping. Yet this barbarism is still legal.

The only justification for trapping animals is to skin them, process the skin and then make them into coats and stoles for narcissistic little twits to wear when they go out on Saturday night. All of the fur coats in the world are not worth the bone-wrenching screams of a single animal caught in these mindless traps.

Trappers can kill and skin a coyote and sell the hide for $2. What do they do with coyote skins? Have you ever seen anyone walking around wearing a coyote coat? They can sell skunk and raccoon skins for about $5, but they will get close to $30 for a bobcat kitten. Who on earth would want to wear the skins of kittens? …

Trappers like to lump themselves in with hunters because they know without hunters, they cannot win. But hunting is fundamentally different from trapping. The hunter must be present throughout the stalk.

The trapper can be home drinking beer while the trap is destroying the heart and soul of a helpless animal.

In New Mexico, it is illegal to shoot an animal at night – even a coyote. Traps do their job all night long. It is illegal for hunters to sell the meat of the animals they kill. The purpose of trapping is the sale of the skin.

It is illegal for hunters to use a scent attractant to get an unfair advantage over their prey. Trappers use these to attract the animals to their traps.

Hunters have bag limits. Trappers can kill and kill and kill without a limit of any kind on any species. Hunters, if they are ethical, will identify their target and take careful aim to insure a quick and clean death. Trapping is indiscriminate and anything but quick and clean. A helpless animal in excruciating pain will get his skull bashed in, usually with a pipe or shovel. Then the trapper stands on his chest to be sure he is dead.

Chaco

17 Places to Visit (for Anasazi Ruins)

American West Travelogue – Canyon Country Guide to Popular Anasazi Sites

A Canyon Country Guide to Anasazi Indian Ruins
17 Places to Visit

One of the most popular and fascinating features of the southwest’s Canyon Country is the remains of the prehistoric Anasazi Indian civilization. The Anasazi thrived in the region for nearly 1,000 years leaving evidence of their extraordinary masonry talents everywhere. The zenith of the Anasazi culture was reached in Chaco Canyon during the years 900-1100 A.D. The gigantic pueblos of Chaco rival the other great works of the ancient world, such as those of the Mayas and Incas. By the year 1300, the Anasazi had abandoned the entire region, generally moving into the Rio Grande Valley of northern New Mexico. This departure has long been one of the southwest’s great mysteries and has been the subject of intense research and speculation for generations.
Pueblo Bonito

The domain of the early Anasazi was the drainage system of the San Juan River which runs roughly east to west before emptying into the Colorado River (now Lake Powell).

Chaco

Chaco’s Night Sky

USATODAY.com – Nights with a heavenly view By Laura Bly, USA TODAY

Particularly here in the Land of Enchantment. Home to some of the country’s darkest and clearest skies, New Mexico has long been a magnet for star buffs. …

One of the best-known portals to New Mexico’s nighttime marvels is Chaco Canyon, eerie, windswept desert ruins about midway between Grants and Farmington (or the proverbial Middle of Nowhere).

Chaco began offering astronomy programs in 1991 and opened its own observatory — the only one in a national park — seven years later. Park managers have designated Chaco’s night sky a critical resource in need of protection, and they have retrofitted all park lighting to enhance after-dark viewing and reduce light pollution from cities as far afield as Albuquerque, about 150 miles to the southeast.

Today, about 14,000 self-sufficient visitors a year come to gaze and graze on ancient tales. (Aside from the park’s 49-space campground and a bare-bones inn in Nageezi, the closest food and lodging is an hour and a half’s drive away.)

Given New Mexico’s average of more than 300 sunny days a year, chances of scoring a cloudless night in Chaco are high. But even on a Saturday evening when the Anasazi’s beloved Father Sky is cloaked by thunderheads, magic is in the air.

Search this blog for astronomy

quotes

A Few Wilderness Quotations (out of many)

WILDERNESS Quotations WILDERNESS of famous people – searchable database.

The clearest way into the universe is through a forest WILDERNESS. — John Muir 1838-1914

Philmont Ranger wilderness quotebook

The wilderness needs no defense — only more defenders. — Aldo Leopold

Famous Wilderness Quotes

“It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinions;
it is easy in solitude to live after your own;
but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd
keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Without enough wilderness America will change. Democracy, with its myriad personalities and increasing sophistication, must be fibred and vitalized by the regular contact with outdoor growths — animals, trees, sun warmth, and free skies — or it will dwindle and pale.” –Walt Whitman

Uncategorized

Native American Resources around Albuquerque, New Mexico

The Seattle Times: Travel: Travel Q & A: Seeing New Mexico’s Indian culture

Q: I plan to take my grandson to New Mexico as a graduation present. We’re both interested in Native American culture. Any recommendations?

A: The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center (505-843-7270, www.indianpueblo.org), representing the 19 pueblos of New Mexico, is a good starting place. Its 10,000-square-foot museum in Albuquerque showcases the cultural development of the Pueblo Indians. The cultural center also keeps an events calendar and info for visiting the individual pueblos.

Also, the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture (505-476-1250, www.miaclab.org) in Santa Fe houses 10 million Native American artifacts from 12,000 excavations.

You also will want to visit several sites administered by the National Park Service that feature Indian artifacts and culture. They include the Petroglyph National Monument (505-899-0205, www.nps.gov/petr), just west of Albuquerque; Bandelier National Monument, 505-672-0343, www.nps.gov/band), west of Santa Fe; and Chaco Culture National Historical Park (505-786-7014, www.nps.gov/chcu), closer to the Four Corners region.

For more information, including organized tours, contact the New Mexico Tourism Department (800-733-6396, www.newmexico.org).

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company