Environment

County’s Traffic & Streets Division Snow Response Team Asks For Resident Cooperation During Winter Storms

Submitted by Carol A. Clark on November 17, 2025

Scene on Diamond Drive from winter 2024. Post file photo

COUNTY News:

During the winter months, Los Alamos County’s Traffic and Streets Division works hard to ensure safe travel by plowing snow from designated streets and sidewalks. To enhance the effectiveness of snow and ice control operations, the snow response team would like to remind residents that they also play a crucial role in maintaining clear and safe pathways.

To support this effort, residents are asked to:

  • To clear sidewalks and driveways within 24 hours of the end of a storm.
  • Ensure areas for trash pickup and mail or newspaper delivery
Read More

County: How To Be BearWise At Home This Fall

Submitted by Carol A. Clark on November 17, 2025

Learn how to be bear wise at home to prevent encounters. Courtesy/LAC

COUNTY News:

It’s Fall, and the bears are busy getting ready for their long winter slumber. Be BearWise at home to prevent encounters.

Trash & Recycling:

  • All trash containers are cleaned often to reduce odors.
  • Recycling is rinsed out and clean.
  • Bear-resistant trash containers are always closed and latched.

If containers are not bear-resistant:

  • Regular trash cans are stored inside a sturdy, locked building or bear-resistant enclosure.
  • Garbage is put out the morning of pick up (not the night before).

Around Homes and Read More

Robinson: Fire Hazard Mounts As FEMA, Forest Service Shrink

Submitted by Carol A. Clark on November 17, 2025

By SHERRY ROBINSON
All She Wrote
© 2025 New Mexico News Services

A woman from Mora County told me recently: “We always said we were land rich and cash poor. Since the fire, we don’t even have the land.” Besides fire and flood damage to family property, a road washed out, and nobody has rebuilt it.

U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, D-NM, joined by U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Lujan, have chided FEMA’s New Mexico Joint Recovery Office for its sluggish payout of claims for damages caused by the massive Calf Canyon-Hermit’s Peak blaze three years ago. In their recent letter they said the claims Read More

Daily Postcard: Bucks Sparring On High School Lawn

Submitted by Carol A. Clark on November 17, 2025

Daily Postcard: A pair of bucks are spotted engaging in a sparring match, practicing their moves and establishing who gets the best turf on Sunday on the lawn at Los Alamos High School. Photo by Michael Smith

Another view of the bucks sparring Sunday on the lawn at Los Alamos High School. Photo by Michael Smith

And one more view of the bucks sparring Sunday on the lawn at Los Alamos High School. Photo by Michael Smith Read More

NMED And NMDOH Report Increased Levels Of Metals In Mora County’s Groundwater

Submitted by Carol A. Clark on November 15, 2025

NMDOH News:

SANTA FE — The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) and the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) are urging Mora County residents to test their private wells after high levels of metals were found in the county’s groundwater.

Three metals — antimony, arsenic and uranium — exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) safe drinking water limits. The independent geologic study focused on Mora County also found elevated levels of manganese over EPA guidelines.

Seven other metals — barium, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, thallium and vanadium — were also found Read More

Little Joe II Rocket Restoration Project Launches At New Mexico Museum Of Space History In Alamogodo

Submitted by Carol A. Clark on November 15, 2025

NMMSH News:

ALAMOGORDO — The New Mexico Museum of Space History (NMMSH) is refurbishing the shining star of its Rocket Park, Little Joe II. This restoration will bring it back to its original glory. During this time, the Rocket Park at New Mexico Museum of Space History at 3198 N.M. 200 in Alamogordo and the nearby playground will be temporarily closed to the public to ensure the safety of everyone. However, this also presents a unique opportunity for our visitors to witness the meticulous restoration process, a privilege not many get to experience.

Received by the museum in 1985, Little Joe II Read More

McQuiston: Why You’re In A Wildfire Area … Even If You Don’t Have A Single Tree On Your Property … A Common Misunderstanding

Submitted by Carol A. Clark on November 14, 2025
By ALLEN MCQUISTON
Jemez Insurance Agency
Serving Los Alamos Since 1963
It’s easy to assume that if you don’t live in the woods, you’re safe from wildfires. After all, your yard might be mostly gravel, your trees are sparse, and you’re nowhere near the forest line. But wildfire risk doesn’t stop where the trees end — and that’s one of the biggest misconceptions many homeowners in New Mexico face.
Wildfire danger isn’t just about trees or dense vegetation. It’s about wind, embers, and defensible space.
When a wildfire burns—even miles away—it throws off burning embers that can travel up to
Read More

New Mexico Environment Department Announces That Chromium Plume From Los Alamos National Laboratory Migrates Onto Pueblo De San Ildefonso Land

Submitted by Carol A. Clark on November 14, 2025

NMED News:

A toxic chromium plume from Los Alamos National Laboratory has spread beyond lab boundaries onto Pueblo de San Ildefonso land for the first time, with contamination levels exceeding state groundwater standards, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) announced today.

Recent groundwater sampling conducted by the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) found hexavalent chromium, a toxic and carcinogenic substance, at levels ranging from 53 to 72.9 micrograms per liter (ug/l), depending on the depth sampled. The ground water Read More

Santa Fe National Forest Prepares For Pile Burns

Submitted by Carol A. Clark on November 14, 2025

SFNF News:

          • Favorable weather conditions are in place for hazardous fuels reduction work

SANTA FE — The Santa Fe National Forest (SFNF) is planning prescribed fire pile burns, pending all required approvals. SFNF estimates this work to continue through the winter as weather conditions allow.

Pile burning is meant to treat slash, like branches, piled by thinning crews with the aim of reducing flammable fuels. The decision to proceed with each pile burn will depend on multiple factors, including snowpack, air quality, ventilation, forecast weather and wind, and resource availability. SFNF Read More

County Has Plan For Improving Athletic Ball Fields

Submitted by Kirsten Laskey (ladp admin) on November 13, 2025

These images show how the North Mesa and White Rock athletic fields look now versus how an artificial turf feasibility study proposes they could look in the future. Click here for more detailed images. Courtesy/LAC

By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post 
kirsten@ladailypost.com

Turf that is neatly trimmed, perfectly leveled and colored a single shade of green could be in the future for several athletic fields on North Mesa and in Overlook Park. Not because of some breakthrough in sod botany but because Los Alamos County installs artificial turf.

If the County follows through on this project, Read More

Public Comment Period Open For Draft Revisions To VW Beneficiary Mitigation Plan For State Of New Mexico

Submitted by Carol A. Clark on November 13, 2025

NMED News:

The New Mexico Environment Department (Department) is seeking public comment on proposed draft revisions to the Volkswagen Beneficiary Mitigation Plan for New Mexico. The Plan summarizes the state’s goals for the expenditure of the $17,982,660.90 allocated under the Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust Agreement for State Beneficiaries (Trust). The Trust funds allow the state the opportunity to offset (mitigate) the impact of excess nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions caused by Volkswagen’s (VW) use of illegal defeat devices in affected diesel vehicles registered within Read More

Search
LOS ALAMOS

ladailypost.com website support locally by OviNuppi Systems