Our Land
October 12, 2018 — Clean air and water are important to everyone, no matter where they live or what their political views might be. Here in New Mexico, we have challenges with drought, climate change, public lands, and even energy … Continue reading Our Land: Midterm Elections And The Environment
September 14, 2018 – If you’ve ever white-knuckled it through a canyon or overpass, hoping you don’t encounter deer or elk on the highway, you’re not alone. Our highways and roads get us where we need to go, but they … Continue reading Making Crossings Safe For Wildlife And Drivers
August 10, 2018 – When the Las Conchas wildfire burned more than 150,000 acres of forest in the Jemez Mountains, the forest itself shifted. The 2011 fire killed trees, like ponderosa mines and other conifers, and new trees couldn’t grow … Continue reading Our Land: Replanting Trees In The Jemez Mountains
July 13, 2018 – Project Feed the Hood is a food justice program in Albuquerque that connects communities with healthy food and young people with the land (and a paycheck). Begun out of the Southwest Organizing Project, a 38-year old … Continue reading Our Land: Project Feed The Hood
May 11, 2018 – Scientist Jonathan Overpeck has spent decades studying climate change and its impacts in the southwestern United States. Last year, he and Bradley Udall published a paper showing that between 2000 and 2014, flows on the Colorado … Continue reading Our Land: Jonathan Overpeck And Climate Change
By: Laura Paskus As high winds whipped dust, Siberian elm seeds and recycling bins around Albuquerque Thursday afternoon, dozens of people filed into the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s Albuquerque office to hear the agency’s 2018 forecast for the Rio Grande. … Continue reading Public should be ready for the Rio Grande’s bad year
April 13, 2018 – You might be surprised to see how low the Rio Grande is through Albuquerque right now. The river has already dried for more than ten miles south of Socorro, and it’s running low in northern New … Continue reading Our Land: It’s not just one dry year: What the Rio Grande’s low flows tell us about the future
by Laura Paskus In springtime, rivers are supposed to swell with snowmelt, filling their channels and triggering fish to spawn. This year, however, the Middle Rio Grande has already dried south of Socorro. Record-low snowpack in the mountains upstream means … Continue reading Rio Grande Already Drying Out Near Socorro
By: Laura Paskus The tony neighborhoods tucked into the juniper-dotted grasslands on the east side of the Sandia Mountains represent yet another battleground in New Mexico’s water wars, one in which the state’s top water official has abandoned one side … Continue reading East Mountain water application spurs protests from residents, silence from State Engineer
March 8, 2018 – This month on Our Land, we visit with tree ring scientist Tom Swetnam, a professor emeritus at the University of Arizona. Swetnam has studied forest ecology and fire regimes in the southwestern United States, including in … Continue reading Our Land: Preparing Homes For Fire Season