Environment

Udall Presses U.S. Forest Service Chief On Budget Cuts, Wildfire Funding, Other New Mexico Priorities

Submitted by Carol A. Clark on May 16, 2019

U.S. Sen. Tom Udall

From the Office of U.S. Sen. Tom Udall:

Also questions USFS on maintaining wildlife corridors and discusses his legislation to promote reforestation

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M), lead Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies, Wednesday pressed U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Chief Vicki Christiansen on “President Trump’s wholly insufficient” budget proposal for the USFS, which would undercut the Forest Service’s ability to combat catastrophic wildfires in New Mexico and Read More

Aspen 6th Graders Conduct Trash Clean Up Day

Submitted by Carol A. Clark on May 16, 2019
Aspen Elementary School 6th grade teacher Christine DuBois and her students Wednesday clean up the Aspen School campus. These bags do not include the recycle trash that had already been put in the bin. The consensus is the students had a blast doing this community service project! Courtesy photo
Read More

La Niña’s Effect On Droughts Traced To U.S. Civil War

Submitted by Carol A. Clark on May 16, 2019
Max Torbenson coring a bristlecone pine in central Colorado. Photo by Daniel Griffin
 
AGU News:
 
Cyclical variations in wind and sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean may have contributed to a drought that played an important role in the outcome of the U.S. Civil War, according to a new study.
 
The new research used tree ring data to reconstruct the influence of El Niño and La Niña conditions on droughts across North America for the past 350 years, including during the American Civil War.
 
The Civil War drought – one of the worst to afflict the U.S. in centuries – occurred
Read More

Help Wanted: Volunteers For Trail Workday On SFNF

Submitted by Carol A. Clark on May 15, 2019

Volunteers are need for a June 9 workday that will focus on the Perimeter Trail (Forest Trail 290) between Water Canyon and Canon de Valle Trails along N.M. 501 in Los Alamos. Courtesy photo

SFNF News:

SANTA FE – The Santa Fe National Forest (SFNF) and Pajarito Environmental Education Center (PEEC) invite the community to show one of their popular trails a little love by volunteering for a trails workday Sunday, June 9.

The June 9 workday will focus on the Perimeter Trail (Forest Trail 290) between Water Canyon and Canon de Valle Trails along N.M. 501 in Los Alamos. Volunteer crews will dig, rake and Read More

LANL Director Emeritus Terry Wallace Traces Gold’s Cosmic Journey In Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Los Alamos

Submitted by Carol A. Clark on May 15, 2019

Terry Wallace

LANL News:

  • From stars to the Amazon, free lectures explore the story of gold

 

Los Alamos National Laboratory Director Emeritus Terry Wallace will discuss the cosmic and tectonic journey made by the metal gold in three Frontiers in Science public lectures beginning May 20 in Albuquerque. 

 

“Gold is one of the most fascinating of the 4,500 mineral species on Earth, and no mineral (or metal) evokes more emotion,” said geologist Wallace. “But it also has an incredible scientific story: a gold nugget is made of material that was not born in our planet or even our solar

Read More

SFNF May Launch Rowe Mesa Burn Thursday

Submitted by Carol A. Clark on May 15, 2019
SFNF News:
 
SANTA FE ― Ignitions on the previously announced East Rowe Mesa Phase II prescribed burn could begin as early as Thursday, May 16, if conditions, including fuel moisture levels, air quality and weather, remain favorable.
 
Fire managers on the Santa Fe National Forest are looking at a window between May 16 and May 20 to conduct the 293-acre burn. The project area is located east of State Highway 34 along Rowe Mesa, 10 miles south of Pecos, NM, and south of I-25. Crews will use hand ignitions to reduce the risk of wildfire, improve wildlife habitat and improve forest health.
Read More

Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory Tour Highlights Research, Partnerships

Submitted by Carol A. Clark on May 15, 2019
From left, U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar listening last week to environmental scientists Teresa Matthews and Mark Peterson of the Aquatic Ecology Laboratory discuss EM-funded research. Courtesy/ORNL
 

DOE News:

 
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. ― Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar last week visited Oak Ridge National Laboratory where they learned about a partnership between EM and DOE’s Office of Science to identify effective and affordable solutions for mercury cleanup that can
Read More

In Key Committee Hearing, U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich Calls For Protection Of Chaco Canyon Area

Submitted by Carol A. Clark on May 15, 2019
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich
 
U.S. SENATE News:
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. ― U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, delivered opening remarks Tuesday at a Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining hearing on S. 1079, the Chaco Culture Heritage Area Protection Act, a bill he introduced with U.S. Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) to withdraw the federal lands around Chaco Canyon from further mineral development.
 
Heinrich’s legislation, S. 526, the Buffalo Tract Protection Act, to withdraw four parcels of Bureau of Land Management
Read More

BLM Rescinds Authorization For Vegetation Removal In Wilderness Study Areas Following SUWA Lawsuit

Submitted by Carol A. Clark on May 15, 2019
Cedar Ridge, within the Desolation Canyon Wilderness Study Area on the Tavaputs Plateau, where the Bureau of Land Management had planned to remove pinyon pine and juniper trees via heavy machinery. Courtesy (c) Ray Bloxham/Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
 
BLM News:
 
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah ― Last week, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) withdrew a 2018 decision authorizing the destruction of more than 2,500 acres of pinyon pine and juniper trees within the Desolation Canyon and Jack Canyon Wilderness Study Areas (WSA) in the Tavaputs Plateau region of eastern Carbon County,
Read More

Green Team Kicks Off Clean Up Los Alamos

Submitted by Carol A. Clark on May 15, 2019

With Clean Up Los Alamos scheduled for Saturday, Los Alamos County Green Team members Joshua Levings, left, Robert Martinez and Catrina Chavez get a head start on sprucing up the town Tuesday on the Canyon Rim Trail near Smith’s Marketplace. Clean Up Los Alamos Day is Saturday morning followed with a volunteer appreciation picnic noon to 1 p.m. at Ashley Pond Park. Courtesy photo

The Los Alamos County Green Team members cleanup along the Canyon Rim Trail Tuesday. Environmental Sustainability Services Division Manager Angelica Gurule reported that there was a lot of plastic wrap from disposable Read More

Valles Caldera National Preserve Delays Start Of Summer Hours; Opening Of Backcountry Vehicle Route

Submitted by Carol A. Clark on May 15, 2019

Daylight shines through where the spring runoff washed out a culvert. Nathan Plants/NPS

A section of the main route through the center of the preserve has been marked as unsafe to travel across. Photo by Nathan Plants/NPS

VCNP News:

JEMEZ SPRINGS — Due to seasonal staff hiring delays and road damage from spring runoff, Valles Caldera National Preserve will delay the start of its extended summer hours and will offer a reduced vehicle route.

A backlog in government background clearances has delayed the arrival of seasonal National Park Service staff needed to operate the extended hours during Read More

Local Rotarians Clean Up LAHS Memorial Garden

Submitted by Carol A. Clark on May 14, 2019

In preparation for summer, a crew of Rotarians worked in chilly and inclement weather Saturday to clear and clean the Memorial Garden at Los Alamos High School. The garden, which was supported by funding from the Rotary Club of Los Alamos and Los Alamos Public Schools, was dedicated in December 2012 to honor students who lost their lives while enrolled in high school. From left, Rotarians Chuck Tallman, Kurt Steinhaus, Mike Katko, Skip King with grandsons Blake and Ryder and Rotarian Oliver Morris. Photo by Linda King Read More

Science On Tap: A Conversation With Dr. Cathy Wilson About The Impact Of Thawing Arctic Permafrost

Submitted by Carol A. Clark on May 13, 2019

Creative District News:

The community is invited to join the Bradbury Science Museum and the Los Alamos Creative District for Science On Tap at 5:30 p.m. Monday, May 20 at project Y cowork, 150 Central Park Square.  

This discussion will feature Dr. Cathy Wilson of the Earth and Environmental Sciences Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Dr. Wilson is an observational and computational hydrologist and geomorphologist working with the Lab’s Earth and Environmental Sciences Division. She also is the curator of an exhibit at the Bradbury Science Museum, “Climate Perspectives: Read More

Search
LOS ALAMOS

ladailypost.com website support locally by OviNuppi Systems