Environment

Santa Fe National Forest Announces Prescribed Fire Projects

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SFNF News:

SANTA FE —The Santa Fe National Forest is planning prescribed fire operations in September, pending all required approvals. We estimate this work to continue through the fall and winter as weather conditions allow.

Prescribed fire helps reduce overgrown vegetation to protect local communities, infrastructure and natural resources from catastrophic wildfires.

The following prescribed fire projects are tentatively planned:

Jemez Ranger District

  • Holiday North
    • Acres: 853
    • Location: Holiday Mesa approximately 3 miles northwest of the village of Jemez Springs
    • Smoke: Smoke
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U.S. Rep. Vasquez Introduces Bill To Help Protect New Mexicans From Natural Disasters, Establish Resiliency Office

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U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez

From the Office of U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez (NM-02) introduced Monday, Sept. 8, the bipartisan Championing Local Efforts to Advance Resilience (CLEAR) Act, a bill to help communities better prepare for and recover from extreme weather and natural disasters.

The CLEAR Act invests $100 million annually over five years to help states, territories, and Tribes establish or expand resiliency offices and save lives. This push to bolster resiliency offices is critical for strengthening disaster mitigation, infrastructure protection, Read More

Wildlife Wednesday Free Event: Hibernation And Torpor

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Bears rely on torpor and hibernation to get through lean, cold times. Courtesy/NMWF

NMWF News:

While human beings get to reach for a wool blanket when nights get cooler in the fall, many other animals rely on the ability to slow down their metabolism to conserve energy. From the tiniest hummingbird to the largest bear, a wide spectrum of creatures relies on torpor and hibernation to get through lean, cold times.

Shayne Halter, a graduate student at the University of New Mexico, will speak on how animals use torpor and hibernation. He’s the featured speaker at the New Mexico Wildlife Federation’s Read More

Public Input Requested On Improving Visitor Services Across National Parks System

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NPS News:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Park Service is seeking public input to help identify ways to improve visitor services in national parks, including more efficient methods for delivering and managing those services. 

This request for information supports Executive Order 14314, Making America Beautiful Again by Improving Our National Parks, which directs the Secretary of the Interior to take steps to enhance services for United States residents visiting national parks. 

“We’re inviting those who know our parks best, the visitors, to share their experiences,” said the Read More

NNSA, LANL Given Okay To Depressurize Containers

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From LANL:

The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Los Alamos Field Office and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) received Temporary Authorization from the New Mexico Environment Department to safely perform the controlled depressurization of headspace gas from four flanged tritium waste containers at LANL’s Technical Area 54, Area G.

The “Transmittal of Notification of Planned Start of a Temporary Authorization Request” is posted in the LANL Electronic Public Reading Room at https://eprr.lanl.gov/.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Read More

Daily Postcard: Valles Caldera Helped Prove Theory Of Plate Tectonics Now Widely Accepted

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Daily Postcard: Two scientific bore holes from a paleomagnetism study on Cerro Abrigo. I heard that Valles Caldera helped prove the theory of plate tectonics. How so? When scientists were working to verify the theory of plate tectonics in the 1960s, Valles Caldera was an ideal study location due to the occurrence of certain aged volcanic rocks. Similarly aged rocks from Valles Caldera’s lava domes and from the ocean floor were analyzed for their symmetrical stripes of alternating normal and reversed magnetic polarity. Some of the young reversals of the Earth’s magnetic field that Read More

Posts From The Road: Sheep Canyon Geological Loop

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Open Views: When visiting the Flaming Gorge area, traveling from south to north, one would be on Utah Highway 44 to drive the Sheep Creek Geological Area. This view was taken a short distance into the 13-mile loop that traverses through high meadows and open spaces surrounded by mountains. The views are tremendous and there are some areas along the loop road to stop and appreciate the landscape. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com

Forested Hillsides: The loop road passes through mountains and high desert terrain for the first few miles of the loop. Many views such as this forested hillside broken Read More