2025 Rewind: Ruidoso Floods; Healing a Burn Scar
This week on New Mexico in Focus, we take you out of the studio for a look at our favorite field pieces of 2025.
Host Nash Jones heads out to the Mescalero Apache Reservation for a community feedback meeting organized by the state’s Public Education Department. For this segment that first aired in August, we attended one of about a dozen in-person and virtual meetings across the state to get input for PED’s new plan to meet compliance with court orders under the Yazzie/Martinez lawsuit.
Reporter Cailley Chella brought us to Ruidoso just days after deadly flooding hit the area. Originally aired in July, her visit to the village found residents, including the mayor, watching the clock and waiting for the feds to step in and help. After Cailley spoke to those affected, the federal government declared a disaster in Lincoln County. The move freed up millions in federal aid for those trying to dig out from a year of fire and flood damage.
In 2022, the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fire burned more than 340,000 acres of spruce, fir and ponderosa pine. Since this segment first aired in June, recovery for the forest in the burn scar remains a work in progress. Correspondent Elizabeth Miller took us to one of many replanting sites and spoke with two researchers who are working to restore the area’s canopy.
Later, in a segment that first ran in October, Elizabeth ventured to the Cibola National Forest to show you how the almost entirely volunteer-driven New Mexico Search and Rescue shifts from the frenetic hours of looking for a live subject to the search for clues months later.
New Mexico is now the third state to legalize the use of psychedelic mushrooms for medical treatment. The Medical Psilocybin Act went into effect last month, giving state officials a 2027 deadline to establish the use of mushrooms as a medical practice. In this segment that first aired in July, Cailley spoke with medical experts and advocates who explained how psychedelics can help patients with severe depression and PTSD.
Host: Nash Jones
Segments:
Education Dept Gets Feedback on Native Student Needs
Correspondent: Nash Jones
Photojournalists: Joey Dunn, RJ Torres
Guests: Ariel Aguilar (Mescalero Apache), Former student
Thora Padilla, President, Mescalero Apache Tribe
Rosalinda Baeza, Mid/High Principal, Mescalero Apache Schools
Mariana Padilla, Secretary, New Mexico Public Education Department
John Sena, Director, Legislative Education Study Committee
Flood Recovery in Ruidoso
Correspondent: Cailley Chella
Guests: Emerson Fulcher, 13, Flood Survivor
Jason Fulcher, Dad, Riverview RV Park Owner
Vandhana George, Resident, Gavilan Mobile Home Park
Arturo Olivas, Resident, Gavilan Mobile Home Park
Monda Milton, Manager, Gavilan Mobile Home Park
Cynthia Schumacher, Volunteer
Lynn D. Crawford, Ruidoso Mayor
Planting Seeds in a Burn Scar
Correspondent: Elizabeth Miller
Photojournalists: Joey Dunn, Manny Valdez
Editor: Lou DiVizio
Guests: Andrei Toca, Research Scientist, John T. Harrington Forestry Research Center, New Mexico State University
Christopher Marsh, Research Scientist, Center for Fire Resilient Ecosystems and Society, University of New Mexico
Training, Hunting for Clues with Volunteer-Driven NM Search and Rescue
Correspondent: Elizabeth Miller
Photographers: Ethan Weiner, R.J. Torres
Producer: Jeff Proctor
Editor: Lou DiVizio
Guests: Laurie Dodge, Deputy Incident Commander, NM SAR
Rachel Searles, Friend of Missing Woman, 911 Caller
Robert Garcia, SAR Council President
Robert “Bob” Rodgers, SAR Resource Officer, NM Department of Public Safety
Mary Berry, K9 Handler, Sandia Search Dogs
Sarah Wharton, Assistant, Sandia Search Dogs
Indy, Search Dog
Melvin Herrera, Cibola Search and Rescue
Brad Berry, Drone Operator
Steve Larese, Albuquerque Mountain Rescue; Acting Public Information Officer, NM SAR
Tony Gaier, Incident Commander, NM SAR
Duke Pigott, Albuquerque Mountain Rescue
New Medical Mushroom Program
Correspondent: Cailley Chella
Guests: Ben Feinberg, Professor of Anthropology at Warren Wilson College
Joaquin Orozco, New Mexico Psychedelic Science Society Board member
Dr. Larry Leeman, Psychedelic Assisted Therapies Researcher at UNM
Jeff Holland, Licensed Clinical Social Worker