New Mexico & El Paso
42 million acres of western state trust lands are an important public resource. Trust land managers uphold the fiduciary purpose of these lands for the designated beneficiaries—primarily K-12 public schools—and ensure the long-term sustainability of the trust. Read the 2015 report on State Trust Lands in the West, which describes the history and current uses for State Trust Lands’ income.
Join Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter for a fundraiser for the Global Warming Express, a kid-founded climate-action group with a science-and-civics program in schools around the state.
Democracy doesn’t end with the vote; it begins with the vote. And your vote counts! Read Senator Peter Wirth’s Top 10 Tips for Citizen Advocacy at the New Mexico Legislature.
Trip report, January 13 2018.
More than 100 free-flowing streams in northern New Mexico’s Carson National Forest are listed as Wild and Scenic. The Carson’s draft evaluation includes 61 river segments that were previously found eligible for designation under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, but that the Carson now considers non-eligible.
Under court order, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released its final version of the Mexican Wolf Recovery Plan in late November. Most of the 100,000 comments they received were concerned with the low number of wolves allowed in the plan and the declining genetic diversity of the wild population. Unfortunately, this plan fails to adequately address those concerns.
The Sierra Club is expanding its work to connect people to nature through a number of local projects. The projects span the country and focus on breaking down barriers that prevent people from experiencing the outdoors. The new partnership projects are a continuation of the Sierra Club’s work to increase equitable access to nature, and to get more people unplugged and outside.
Meet Cecilia Chávez Beltrán and Camilla Feibelman who are leading Sierra Club’s efforts in Albuquerque to connect people to nearby nature.
On alternate months, the Central NM Group holds Root Beer & Sierra OR First Friday Arts. February is a First Friday Arts gathering, featuring Caroline Rempe.
The 2018 New Mexico legislative session is in full swing. This is a primer on priority environmental legislation that protects or threatens our climate, water, land and wildlife.
The Legislature holds shorter, 30-day budget-focused sessions on even years that are restricted to legislation that has an impact on the state budget and bills the governor puts on her call. That leaves less room for some of the legislation focusing on wildlife and land protections that Sierra Club members and our allied groups usually support, but several promising energy bills are likely to need your activism.