Rio Grande Chapter

By John Buchser, Chapter Water chair An unplanned release of 3 million gallons of water from the Gold King Mine over its mine tailings in August 2015 caused a pulse of pollutants that turned the Animas River yellow. After mining in the last of the 5,500 mines in the Silverton area ceased in 1991, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency compiled a full-time team of scientists to evaluate the situation. A federal $3 million fund helped fund researchers from major universities in ...

Many Otero County residents breathed a sigh of relief in May when the U.S. Department of Energy withdrew its proposal to drill a 3-mile borehole in Otero Mesa to research the storage of radioactive waste.  The DOE had identified five potential sites for its test site, one in Otero County. The other possible locations were in Quay County, New Mexico, Pecos County, Texas, and two South Dakota counties.  The test would require drilling a 8.5-inch-diameter hole down 16,000 feet. If ...

You’re invited to a fall series of presentations & discussions related to our Northern New Mexico Group priority environmental issues. September: Wildlife Wednesday, September 6, 6-8 p.m.
Unitarian Universalist Church Fellowship Hall
107 W. Barcelona Road, Santa Fe Our speakers will address the issues of protecting and restoring New Mexico’s unique native wildlife and wild lands, and vital aquatic life such as the otter. Presenters

• Virginia Seamster, PhD, Share with Wildlife/BISON-M Coordinator, New Mexico Department of Game and Fish
• Mellissa ...
  
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Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Contact: Lauren Lantry, lauren.lantry@sierraclub.org WASHINGTON, D.C.– Today in the midst of a national emergency along the Gulf Coast, Donald Trump’s Attorney General, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, is set to announce the termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, leaving it up to congress to protect the more than 800,000 young undocumented immigrants in the program. DACA, put in place by the Obama administration, provided protections from deportations and the ability to work and attend school for ...

The Bosquitos are the youth-centered group of the Bosque Action Team. Our mission is to learn about Albuquerque's Bosque, the animals and plants that live there, and ways to take care of the Bosque and our earth as a precious natural space. Please join us for our fall outings – and bring a friend! ...

Catching bugs, spotting porcupines, and digging down to groundwater are fun in and of themselves, but in the Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program (BEMP) about eight to ten thousand New Mexican K-12 school students turn those adventures into science that has meaning beyond their classroom ...

Trail repair, 8/26/17, Rio Quemado ...

We were a group of 10 enthusiasts including an artist who made some wonderful watercolor sketches along the way…..caramba!!! The weather was perfect and everyone was friendly and big-hearted. We had a great time with this interesting and interested group….saw a small or young heron, turtles, mallards, lots of beetles, a small hawk, lots of lizards great and small, lots of hummingbirds. The area (Montano Bridge)  is green and lush right now. Hike leaders: Margaret &  Julie
Photos by Kim Adonna ...

In the August 24, 2017 edition of the Santa Fe New Mexican, the Sierra Club and other environmental organizations added their voices of concern over Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's lack of transparency regarding secret recommendations related to our national monuments ...

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Thursday, Aug. 25, issued a report to President Trump containing recommendations on possibly shrinking recently designated national monuments. The contents of the report have not been released, though a Zinke statement indicates some protections will be removed, in opposition to the lion’s share of public input. Below is a statement from Howie Dash, Sierra Club Southern New Mexico Group’s outings leader, in reaction to the news: “A whopping 99% of the 2.7 million public comments ...