This piece originally appeared as an article written for the Christian Science Monitor on October 21, 2021.
From her office in the visitor center at the still-under-construction Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge, Jennifer Owen-White has a perfect view of the fuel terminals and salvage yards that dot the horizon.
One day soon, there will be wetlands, trails, and saltgrass meadows in the foreground. But those fuel tanks and junked cars will still loom like a storm cloud in the distance, an “important reminder,” says Ms. Owen-White, of “what my job is and why this refuge exists.”
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This piece originally appeared as commentary for KRWG Public Media on August 25, 2021
By Sierra Club | 08/25/2021
Commentary: A broad coalition of New Mexico advocates today applauded Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham for announcing an executive order to protect 30% of the state’s land by 2030. The order—titled “Protecting New Mexico’s Lands, Watersheds, Wildlife, and Natural Heritage”—is a critical step to conserving the state’s treasured landscapes and biodiversity for generations to come, while bolstering our economy, expanding access to the outdoors, and increasing opportunities for hunting and fishing.
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This piece originally appeared as commentary in the Los Alamos Daily Post on July 19, 2021
Submitted by Carol A. Clark | 07/19/2021, 8:49 a.m. MDT
U.S. SENATE News:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) traveled to the Sabinoso Wilderness Saturday to join U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland as she accepted the largest wilderness land donation in U.S. history.
The donation from the Trust for Public Land to the American people is in Cañon Ciruela, adjacent to the Sabinoso Wilderness in San Miguel County.
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This piece originally appeared as an article featured in KQED on April 29, 2021.
By Judy Fahys, InsideClimate News | 04/29/2021 12:00 AM MST
Amy Kuo saw firsthand how powerful it can be to tackle the big problems of our times in small ways when she was on a California Conservation Corps work crew a few years ago in the sweltering summer heat deep in a forest outside of Los Angeles. Kuo, now a legislative analyst for the corps, recalls slogging upstream, sometimes waist deep in water or poison oak, hauling gasoline, chain saws and other heavy gear to clear fallen trees and debris blocking the riverbed.
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This piece originally appeared as an article featured on E&E News on April 29, 2021.
By Jennifer Yachnin, E&E News reporter | 04/29/2021 12:00 AM MST
Democratic lawmakers moved a step closer to thwarting a proposed copper mine in Arizona last night, as the House Natural Resources Committee approved a measure to unwind a land exchange for the site.
Natural Resources Chairman Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) won approval of his H.R. 1884, the "Save Oak Flat Act," on a party-line vote, 23-20.
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Community leaders and nonprofit organizations are applauding New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham for signing House Bill 200 into law today. The legislation, which was co-sponsored by Reps. Matthew McQueen and Nathan Small and Senate President Pro Tempore Mimi Stewart and Sen. Siah Correa Hemphill, ends the proposed Gila diversion project and fast-tracks the spending of the remaining approximately $80 million in the NM Unit Fund for priority water projects, creating long-term water security and jobs in southwest New Mexico (Catron, Grant, Hidalgo and Luna Counties).
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Critical decisions made today will affect Latino heritage for generations...
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It was refreshing to hear Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) voice his concern in a Senate hearing last week over oil and gas development in the northwest New Mexico, and its potential impact on Chaco Canyon, which in the Senator’s words is “an incredibly rich cultural destination as well as sacred place to the tribes of the Southwest.”
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Max Trujillo caught the conservation bug during childhood summers spent with his father hunting, hiking and camping in the wilderness of northern New Mexico. In the years that followed, Trujillo noticed that many Hispanic families were out enjoying the woods, but they weren’t involved in the mainstream environmental movement....
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HECHO Director Rod Torrez was interviewed by Benjamin Goad of The Hill to discuss why Latino organizations have joined to support the "Waters of the United States" (WOTUS), a new EPA rule that more clearly defines waters protected under the Clean Water Act.
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Plans to drill 2,000 square miles of land in Utah for drilling have been met with resistance from groups who want to preserve the Swell, an area of untouched geological formations in Utah also popular for recreational hiking and canyoneering. The auctioneering of hundreds of parcels in the area is a slap to the face to the many visitors who want to preserve the area for their own recreation use and that of future generations.
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