Rio Grande Chapter

Mark Allison,
Executive Director, New Mexico Wilderness Alliance A broad-based coalition of conservationists, sportsmen, businesses and pueblos continues to build public support for protecting 120,000 acres of roadless areas adjacent to the existing Pecos Wilderness. This citizen proposal seeks to permanently protect these special areas from commercial development and extractive industry through federal legislation through a combination of Wilderness and Special Management Area designations. The proposal area includes federal public lands within the Santa Fe and Carson National Forests ...

Martin Heinrich,
NM Senator In the Southwest, water is the lifeblood of our economy and culture. Access to adequate clean and affordable water means that our cities can bustle with activity, our farmers can grow local food, and our rivers can sustain the cottonwoods and wildlife we all know and love. In exchange for developing water downstream in the Colorado River watershed, the Arizona Water Settlements Act of 2004 (AWSA) gave the State of New Mexico money to fund ...

For Immediate Release
May 4, 2016 Citizen Groups Challenge Fracking in Santa Fe National Forest
Legal Push Part of Broader Effort to Safeguard Greater Chaco from Oil and Gas Industry Contacts:
Kyle Tisdel, Western Environmental Law Center, 575-613-8050, tisdel@westernlaw.org
Samantha Ruscavage-Barz, WildEarth Guardians, 505-401-4180, sruscavagebarz@wildearthguardians.org
Mike Eisenfeld, San Juan Citizens Alliance, 505-360-8994, mike@sanjuancitizens.org
Rachel Conn, Amigos Bravos, 575-770-8327, rconn@amigosbravos.org
Teresa Seamster, Sierra Club, 505-983-2703, ctc.seamster@gmail.com 
Carol Davis, Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment, 928-221-7859, caroljdavis.2004@gmail.com SANTA FE, NM — In a ...

By Mona Blaber The battle between the citizens of Sandoval County and oil and gas developers has seen many twists and turns in the past three months. The county’s Planning and Zoning Commission initially appeared prepared to recommend to the county commission an application from financially troubled SandRidge Energy to drill an exploratory oil well just 2 miles outside of Rio Rancho. But after a surge of citizen activism, including thousands of messages to commissioners and hundreds of residents packing ...

For Immediate Release:
Thursday, April 25th, 2016 Contact:
Camilla Feibelman, Sierra Club, Camilla.feibelman@sierraclub.org, 505.715.8388
Matt Ross, City of Santa Fe, mross@ci.santa-fe.nm.us, 505.795.4169 New Mexico Elected Officials Call For Reduction of Methane Pollution  68 Mayors and County Commissioners Sign Letter in Support of EPA Rules Today, Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales joined 68 mayors and county commissioners, 7 from New Mexico, to send a letter to President Barack Obama and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator, Gina McCarthy urging them to take ...

PNM has moved its annual shareholder’s meeting from its Albuquerque Headquarters to the small town of Lewisville, TX. Why? To make it harder for shareholders who want to make a difference for the climate and our communities to attend. Come to PNM HQ to let PNM know YOU CAN RUN! BUT YOU CAN’T HIDE. Jointly sponsored by: Sierra Club, 350.org, Positive Energy, EnviroNM, NMIFPL, Tewa Women United, NEE, Food and Water Watch, 4 Corners Idle No More, Southwest Indigenous Uranium Forum, ...

May 8 – Bosque Exploratory Hike Sunday May 8, 1:30 to 3:30. Call for directions. This outing will explore a little-visited part of the Bosque around the outfall of the South Diversion Channel, south of Rio Bravo.  This is often a good area for birds, and migration should be in full swing, so bring your binoculars.  We’ll check out what the Corps of Engineers has been up to in this area in terms of restoration projects and otherwise.  Please RSVP to ...

Robert Tohe, senior representative for Sierra Club’s Our Wild America, is organizing a tour of the greater Chaco Canyon and outliers. The purpose of the trip is to call national attention to the ongoing impacts of oil and gas to the cultural landscape and resources in the region. Robert is the New Mexico representative working on dirty fuels campaign for the Sierra Club.  Robert has invited several other area tribal representatives to provide an indigenous perspective on the historical significance ...

By Richard Barish,
Central Group Bosque Issues chair Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry has disregarded his agreement on a process for public involvement in Bosque decisions in order to rush through plans to extend the developed Bosque trail this winter for another 1.2 miles, from the I-40 bridge to Campbell Road. The Administration created an uproar in February 2015 when it began construction of the first phase of its Bosque development in the middle of a promised public process, short-circuiting ...

The Water Sentinels Rios de Taos are kicking off the 2016 water-monitoring season with a planning and training meeting in late May. We are also interested in monitoring other parts of New Mexico outside Taos County.  If you have a concern about a  possibly contaminated stream in your area, please contact coordinator Eric Patterson at eepatt@gmail.com. We are particularly interested in possible pollution of streams from the dairy industry. Highlights The Taos High School Tiger Salamanders participated in stocking Rio Grande cutthroat trout at La Junta ...