‘Fake’ boulders strewn around Pajarito Mountain made of styrofoam.’ Courtesy/Sharon Dogruel
By SHARON DOGRUEL
Los Alamos
Editor’s note: A meeting has taken place with Netflix and Pajarito Mountain Ski Area. Netflix is bringing back a clean up crew to mitigate the issues that have appeared as the snow on the mountain has melted. Pajarito Manager Tom Long said in an email that Netflix and Pajarito are in agreement about what needs to be done to complete the clean up. He also said downed green trees have nothing to do with the movie shoot but were required to be removed from the Spruce chairlift line as they presented a hazard to the lift.
On May 7 this year, I, my son and partner with our dog, went for a hike up to the Pajarito Ski Mountain area. Since there was still a little snow, we decided to take a familiar trail (Lower Aspeñola) around the south eastern part of the mountain that is more open. There is a turn-out on Camp May Road about a quarter mile below the parking lots and lodge at Pajarito. This turn-out has a steel gate that was closed but many people stop here to access the trails that curve around this section of the mountain.
We started out in the early afternoon and noticed that there had been a bulldozed roadway that looked new. We took Lower Aspeñola that is parallel to this newly graded road and were shocked to see what had happened. Apparently, a movie company had been filming a movie, American Primeval, precisely in this area recently and there was such damage to the environment and surrounding areas it was nearly unbelievable.
First, as we went along the trail we started to see lots of signs of some sort of white spray material that looked like the company was spraying rocks and the ground to make it appear white. This was a white powdery substance that was fine-grained, and not knowing what it was, we were suspicious of touching it. This powder was stuck to rocks, the ground, and most everything in a wide area.
Then we noticed there were ‘fake’ boulders strewn around that were actually made of styrofoam and painted to match real rock formations painted with the same white material to simulate snow. Some of these fake boulders were huge – four feet in diameter. Many natural rocks were also sprayed with the white substance. In addition, there were a lot of pieces of white synthetic fiber that had blown throughout the area, clinging to bushes, trees and over the ground. This material looked identical to spun polymer batting that is used to fill pillows.
As we continued along, the amount of trash was disgusting—plastic bags, cups, bottles, bags, garbage of all sorts including large chunks of styrofoam were strewn everywhere. Especially disconcerting was the damage that the bulldozer had done in carving two new roads that wound around, obliterating a significant portion of Lower Aspeñola. This ended in a large flat clearing that had been cut out of the hillside ripping hundreds of young aspen trees and shrubs out and pushing a lot of dirt and rocks away to make an area that apparently could be used for structures. Below, there was a lot of styrofoam and more trash.
Upon returning to the lodge area via the Aspeñola trail, it was tragic to see what had happened in the area east of the Spruce chairlift. Here, upslope of the mechanical shop, a bulldozer had carved several wide access roads into the forest tearing out trees and shrubs. These areas were quite wide and a large amount of sand had been trucked in to cover the dirt. Still under the trees were unopened sacks of ice melting material that were left scattered. Dirt and small boulders were just pushed to the side. Two very large pine trees had been cut down and were just lying in the open area. Again, plastic and trash were strewn throughout.
As we looked carefully, we could not see any signs that attempts to remediate this mess were underway. We picked up sacks of trash and carried what we could to our car, filling the entire trunk. We took pictures of all this mess and are hopeful that the film production company, or certainly the management of Pajarito Ski Mountain will do something. We understand that Pajarito Mountain is privately owned, but it is surrounded by public lands that are visited by many people who frequent the trails and enjoy the beauty of this area who would be appalled.
Of additional and perhaps greater environmental concern, the trash, plastic batting and chunks of styrofoam are being blown from the filming area onto Santa Fe National Forest lands. This contamination will impact the land and the wildlife in the public domain. At least one large piece of this batting has been found by a homeowner in the Western area of Los Alamos.
Surely filming movies that showcase the natural beauty of our New Mexico mountain areas is great, but to leave the land trashed and covered with unnatural and potentially toxic materials is unacceptable. I have hiked these trails for many years and always believed that the Los Alamos community takes pride in their surroundings and would not tolerate this kind of environmental abuse.
Trash discovered during a hike May 7 along Lower Aspeñola. Courtesy/Sharon Dogruel
Link to a collection of photos illustrating the points in this letter: https://tinyurl.com/Pajartio-filming-damage
