Passage of this act is just plain wrong on so many levels.   Barriers are being put in place to allow citizens to vote and proportionally more women and people of color.  

Proof of citizenship will be required to vote.   Got an in date passport?  Be sure to bring it and you should be good BUT 50% of the population don't have a passport.   If your name is the same on your birth certificate as your current one, bringing a birth certificate might do.  Divorced, remarried?  To vote you will need to bring your marriage certificate and any proof of change of name.   

This excellent statement from the League of Women Voters - a bi-partisan organization says it best.
~ Carol Bondy

Washington, DC — Today, Celina Stewart, CEO of the League of Women Voters of the United States, issued the following statement in response to the passage of the SAVE (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) Act in the US House of Representatives:    

“Today is a dark day in politics. The passage of the SAVE Act in the US House is a direct attack on the fundamental right to vote and a dangerous step backward for our democracy.  

The SAVE Act is based on misinformation and fearmongering rather than facts, as there is no evidence of widespread non-citizen voter registration or voting in state and federal elections. Instead, the SAVE Act will create new barriers to voter registration by requiring submission of documentary proof of citizenship materials in person every time a voter updates their registration, which particularly harms rural voters, voters of color, married women who have changed their last names, and other voters who have been historically marginalized who already face obstacles in accessing the ballot box. 

The League of Women Voters of the United States strongly opposes this legislation, which now moves to the Senate. We call on senators to do their job to protect American voters and reject this dangerous bill. The freedom to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy, and we will not stand by while politicians push anti-voter laws that weaken access to the ballot. 

We will continue to fight to protect the voting rights of all eligible Americans and ensure that every voice is heard in our elections. The League is committed to working with our partners and legal advocates to pursue all avenues in fighting back against this harmful law. We will use every tool at our disposal to defend voters from unjust restrictions and uphold the integrity of our electoral system and democracy.” 
###
The League of Women Voters envisions a democracy where every person has the desire, the right, the knowledge and the confidence to participate. We believe in the power of women to create a more perfect democracy.

Crews monitoring New Mexico’s Middle Rio Grande reported yesterday (April 14, 2025) that the river’s still flowing past the San Marcial railroad bridge. Just downstream of the bridge, the USGS gage dropped to zero flow yesterday morning. We’re at the pivotal moment when the fact that you have to go out and look, and finding a ribbon of continuous water, however hard to measure with a gage – the river is still flowing – counts as news.

The Rio Grande through central New Mexico will begin drying soon from the bottom up, as the meager flows coming in from upstream disappear:

• into a web of canals that distribute the water across its former flood plain
• into the ground to fill the space left behind by groundwater pumping by cities and domestic well users
• into the air as the trees along its length suck up its moisture
• and then into the desert sands around San Marcial.

River drying in May is rare and bad. The fact that the river’s on the brink of beginning to dry in mid-April is worse.

Water for irrigators

Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District water operations manager Anne Marken reported at yesterday’s board meeting on the crazy institutional hydrograph we’re now seeing. Flows are up for now on the Rio Chama, but that extra water won’t be making its way down to the Middle Valley right away. Instead, it’s being stored for use later in the year by the Middle Rio Grande Pueblos, which have senior rights under the 1928 legislation that provided federal funding to create the District works. There’s continuing tension over this, because storing more water to meet legal obligations to the Pueblos (which have senior water rights) means less water for non-Indian irrigators. Lots of cryptic signalling about this debate at yesterday’s MRGCD meeting, but little explicit discussion of the hydrologic, economic, social and cultural tradeoffs involved. This is the kind of tough stuff that has to be dealt with in coping with dry years.

Storage in Abiquiu is going up, and the Bureau of Reclamation is adding a little bit of water to El Vado, the busted dam on the Rio Chama that can hold a little bit of water despite its shortcomings. I’m not privy to the internal accounting, but this appears to be Pueblo “prior and paramount” water.

Also at yesterday’s meeting, MRGCD leadership was unusually vocal about frustration with the way the Corps of Engineers has been managing Cochiti Dam releases – lots of ups and downs that have made it hard to manage diversions for irrigators, as district chief Jason Casuga explained in unusually blunt terms.

As I said, this is the kind of tough stuff that has to be dealt with in coping with dry years.
​
The Bureau of Reclamation has money for some supplemental environmental flow water water this year, imported San Juan-Chama Project water. But there’s very little of that. (The e-flow water helps the irrigators – the fish don’t consume it!)
With no water in storage from previous years, Middle Valley irrigators, as we’ve said before, will have a very water-short year this year. What we’re seeing right now may be the most we see this year.

Marken:

So I wish I had better news, but I I think this could be one of the most challenging irrigation seasons the Middle Valley has experienced in recent history. And you know, as always, I encourage everyone to pray for rain.

Federal lands near Española and Santa Fe could be sold off as part of an effort to increase affordable housing, according to the advocacy group Center for Biological Diversity.
​
Those lands include places near the Ojo Caliente Area of Critical Environmental Concern, where there are Native American cultural sites and mineral springs, and the La Cienega Area of Critical Environmental Concern.

The Center for Biological Diversity mapped out Bureau of Land Management parcels within ten miles of municipalities that have at least 5,000 residents. These are lands that the Department of the Interior has indicated may be sold to increase access to affordable housing.

In March, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner announced a partnership to look at turning federal lands into housing.

“Our lands are an incredible asset on America’s balance sheet and we’ve been discussing how we can efficiently and effectively steward these underutilized areas to solve our nation’s affordable housing crisis,” Burgum said in the announcement video.

Turner said the two agencies will collaborate to determine where federal lands may be available for “tailored housing programs.”

Randi Spivak, the public lands policy director with the Center for Biological Diversity, acknowledged that there is an issue with affordable housing, but said she has a “trust issue with this administration.”

“We don’t know how much land, ultimately, BLM will sell off,” she said.

However, Spivak said the two federal agencies have talked about 440,000 acres.
That prompted the Center for Biological Diversity to look at what lands fall within the parameters outlined by the two agencies. 

“We don’t know what BLM is going to do yet, but I think in part, we wanted to do this for two reasons,” Spivak said.

First, she said the organization wanted to see what areas of critical importance fall into the criteria for potential sales. Additionally, she said the Center wanted to “send a message” that some areas should not be “tampered with or encroached upon.”
The map uses different colors to show areas of critical environmental concern, wilderness areas, wilderness study areas, national monuments, wild and scenic rivers and other BLM lands that have some form of protection compared to other BLM lands.
Spivak said if the BLM attempted to sell off lands in those protected areas, the agency would “have a big fight on their hands.”

But even if the BLM did not directly sell off lands in protected areas like the Ojo Caliente ACEC, Spivak said the places could be harmed by having houses built adjacent to them. This could increase demands for water resources in the area and lead to more traffic as people recreate in areas near their houses.

Additionally, Spivak highlighted recent layoffs at federal agencies including the BLM. She expressed concern that the layoffs will result in fewer resources.
“There’s going to be very, very little oversight and enforcement,” she said.

While the proposed sale of federal lands is intended to address housing shortages, critics have questioned if that would be the end result. 

A story by Bloomberg about federal land sales in Nevada that were intended to address the housing crisis found that only a small percentage of the lands sold were developed as affordable housing. Of the 18,000 acres sold in Nevada, only 30 were used to increase affordable housing availability.

The plan comes as the Trump administration has targeted programs intended to protect public lands and the environment.

This week, Trump announced the recission of the BLM’s Public Lands Rule, which aimed to put conservation on equal footing with other uses such as oil and gas development and grazing.

“President Trump is clearing a path to sell out some of the country’s most precious public lands to the highest bidder,” Drew McConville, a senior conservation fellow for the Center for American Progress, said in a statement. “The White House is now targeting the rules that conserve these sensitive lands for future generations – from the migration routes of Arctic caribou to treasured landscapes of the southwest. Gutting these protections may serve the narrow interests of insider oil and gas executives and other billionaire donors, but it squanders America’s public lands legacy.”

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s veto of a bill creating state funds for post-fire recovery and current wildfire suppression “deeply disappointed” House Bill 191 sponsor Rep. Nathan Small (D-Las Cruces), who is also one of the state budget’s main architects. 

Lujan Grisham said the $12 million the bill authorized didn’t provide enough money to even “put a dent” in post-wildfire recovery. Recovery from South Fork and Salt fires and ensuing floods last year in Ruidoso, for example, will cost more than $200 million, the governor noted in her veto message. 

Lujan Grisham also wrote that another new fund the bill created, designed to pay for the state’s wildfire suppression efforts, had no money in it at all and instead would have relied on federal reimbursements, “which have only gotten slower in recent months.”

Lawmakers approved the HB191 amid concerns about the federal government’s capacity to suppress wildfires in New Mexico and elsewhere, thanks to federal funding cuts, and as the state beefs up its own crews of full-time and volunteer wildland firefighters. Also, most of New Mexico is experiencing above-average wildfire potential this month and through the rest of the summer, according to the latest forecasts.

Small, who chairs the House Appropriations and Finance Committee, told Source New Mexico in a statement Monday that the governor’s veto was not just disappointing but also surprising given that the governor’s office was involved in crafting the legislation.

As for her specific objections, Small said the $12 million was a “starting point” that nonetheless would have “made a significant difference to New Mexicans who will face the devastating impacts of the next wildfires in our state.”

He also noted that while the governor vetoed the bill, she left its accompanying $12 million appropriation intact in the budget. As a result, money will “now sit unused” instead of helping communities respond and recover from wildfires, he said.

“Unfortunately, New Mexicans will pay the price for the lack of action this year, but my colleagues and I will continue to fight to protect our communities from the catastrophic wildfires that continue to threaten our people, businesses, and lands.”
Source has a pending request to the governor’s office to respond to Small’s comments and will update this story as necessary. 

State Forester Laura McCarthy, whose agency would have received the post-fire funds defended the concept behind HB191 as a way to budget for wildfire suppression, taking climate change into account and also preserving the governor’s ability to issue executive orders to pay for wildfire suppression on a case-by-case basis. 
But she also agreed with the governor’s criticism of the way HB191 created a fire suppression fund without putting any money in it.

“The Governor’s veto message made clear that without funding for HB191, creating a wildfire suppression fund that relies on federal reimbursements or payments for state crews when they are on out-of-state assignments, does not set the program up for success,” she said in an emailed statement.

Without the legislation, the state will have to pay for any costs to suppress wildfires this year through the use of executive orders, McCarthy said. The Forestry Division has said that is the wrong way for the state to proactively anticipate and budget for the “volatile but predictable expense” of wildfire suppression. Executive orders are handled on a case-by-case basis and capped at $750,000 at a time, often requiring multiple orders for the same natural disaster.
​
McCarthy also said recruitment of state wildland firefighters is “going well,” and the state is anticipating full staffing ahead of increased wildfire activity expected in May and June.

​Despite the veto, Lujan Grisham noted that she signed Senate Bill 33, which creates guidelines and criteria for a new Wildfire Prepared Program, including grants and certifications for property owners to make structures less prone to wildfire damage. The governor said that bill achieves “similar objectives” to HB 191.

“I fully support a revamped process to fund both pre- and post-wildfire maintenance,” she said. “I hope the Legislature will provide a meaningful way to accomplish that goal during the 2026 legislative session.”

Which bills are now in law?
​
The Legislature sent nearly 200 bills to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham during the 60-day legislative session. See which ones she signed, which ones she pocket-vetoed and which ones she vetoed with a message.

Bill numbers in italics have emergency clauses, which means they go into effect the moment the governor signs them.

By Jessica Rath

​The Franklin Macfie House (Hobbit Hut) was officially added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 19, 2024.  

The National Register of Historic Places is the Nation's official list of cultural resources worthy of preservation. Authorized under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Register is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect our historic and archeological resources. Properties listed in the Register include districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects that are significant in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture. The National Register is administered by the National Park Service, which is part of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Read last year's article follows

​I figured this would make a fascinating story for the Abiquiú News, and the Quinns kindly agreed to give me a grand tour of the Hut. Michael had been hard at work for weeks and months (“forever”, Janice corrected), sealing the roof which had several water leaks and renovating each room, to make it habitable.
 
But first of all they shared some great news with me:  on June 14, 2024, the Cultural Properties Review Committee listed the Franklin MacFie House in the State Register of Cultural Properties and recommended that the nomination be forwarded to the Keeper of the National Register for listing in the National Register of Historic Properties. With the help of New Mexico’s State and National Register Coordinator Steven Moffson, Janice and Michael had filled out a lengthy application to have the Hobbit Hut formally recognized as a site of historic relevance. If you’re interested, here is the link to the nomination; it has a lot more information than I could fit into this article. ​

I got a better insight into the way Ferrocement was used when Janice and Michael took me on a tour of the house. The most pressing part of the work to be done is fixing the leaks, Michael explained.

“This mesh makes Ferrocement work”, Janice added. “That's why it doesn’t have to be heavy concrete but can be thin. So this whole thing is made out of rebar, chicken wire, burlap, and Portland cement. It’s a wonderful way to build actually, and it's waterproof. They still have ships that the hull is built out of Ferrocement. There are huge stadiums in Europe which are built of Ferrocement. It's amazing, eco-friendly stuff”.

Ships? Built with cement? This sounded somewhat counterintuitive (and I have to admit that I’m rather clueless as far as engineering is concerned). But sure enough, there’s even a Wikipedia page about Concrete Ships, click on the link for some interesting images. And hereyou can find some other amazing buildings made of Ferrocement.
​
From the outside, it looked as if this would be some dark, cavelike abode. But once we stepped inside, I was surprised to see how light-filled and airy the house was! ​

From the entrance, the living areas undulated in every direction, sloping down naturally, following the hillside. There were no straight lines anywhere, and the few dividing walls all had arches and openings. The house looked alive, breathing, moving, changing. I was utterly enchanted. ​

Meanwhile, the New Mexico Construction Regulation and Licensing Department grew increasingly skeptical that Fathy’s famous domes, arches, and vaults, all held up by nothing more than mathematics, gravity, and faith, could possibly withstand the vigorous “Load Test” required by the state.

Along Came the Egyptians

After several months, enough work had been completed on the foundation and the walls of Dar al Islam, to bring in the “big guns” for a nearly two-week workshop on adobe construction. Traveling with Hassan Fathy were two Egyptian masons, Allahudeen and Muhammad, who had decades of experience building with adobe bricks. In fact, they were both thought to be in their late seventies by the time they arrived in Abiquiu.

Special bricks were required for creating the many domes in the building. These custom-sized bricks were supplied by two local brickyards, one owned by an indigenous family, the other by a Hispanic family. Dar al Islam purchased an old Mercedes truck to transport thousands of heavy bricks to Abiquiu. The site was ready, and the crew awaited the arrival of the Egyptians.

Abdur Rahim Lutz told me that one of the workers, Abdul Jami, picked up the two masons at Albuquerque Airport in his enormous Lincoln Town Car. From that moment on these two men, who literally traveled by donkey much of the time in Egypt, were enamored with what they viewed as the “big American car,” and gleefully managed to jump in again, any time Abdul Jami had an errand to run.

So, how does one calculate a detailed, accurate measurement of each circular layer in a dome while assuring that every ring of bricks would be just a bit smaller than the one set in place before? How does one guarantee that perfect reduction in size as the dome reaches higher while growing tighter and tighter toward the top? With a barrel of sand, a stick, and a string. That’s how.

Set in the space that would eventually be the exact center beneath the dome was a metal barrel. A tall stick with a string was placed in the middle of the sand that filled the barrel. That string became the measuring tool that determined precisely how far away from the barrel the next circle of bricks would go. With each circle, the string was shortened. With each shortening, the delicate arch of the dome drew inward until the top of the dome was tight enough for just one more thing: a small skylight that topped the dome like a benevolent eye, glistening its sunlight onto those praying below.

People have come from across the United States and other parts of the world to study this mosque that is renowned for its beauty, its simplicity, and its connection to similar adobe structures also designed by Hassan Fathy. Determined to bring the art of construction back to its roots, (the use of local materials rather than modern materials such as concrete) Fathy has influenced others around the world to follow his steps. One of his students, the American architect Simone Swan, founded the Adobe Alliance that carried on Hassan Fathy’s legacy. She has visited Dar al Islam several times.

“This whole thing was fueled by Islam. It appealed to counter-culture people, those ready to exchange modern life for starry skies, prayer, and nature.” -Rahmah Lutz

When the domes were finally completed, one requirement to obtain a permanent building permit from the State of New Mexico was to hire a structural engineer to perform a Load Test on the domes. This involved adding weights to the inside of the domes to assure that the structures didn’t collapse. A familiar touch of skepticism rose again with the arrival of the engineer and his crew. He emptied the building and performed the test. The dome stood strong and solid, so he added more weight as a precaution. Then more. Finally, he made the comment that the domes had passed “with flying colors.” From that point on, the Dar al Islam crew was able to move ahead under the protection of their much-coveted building permit.

An Egyptian Mason’s Recipe for “A Proper Tea”

Both masons, Allahudeen and Muhammad, expected a steady stream of tea while they worked at Dar al Islam. To satisfy this request, Rahmah Lutz and Khadijah Cashmere alternated between themselves to assure a steady supply of that hot beverage that was drunk by the gallon every day, despite the heat that pressed down on the New Mexico mesa.
​
But there was a problem. According to Allahudeen, American tea wasn’t made correctly. He politely explained the correct recipe for a proper Egyptian tea:

Then, he discovered the tea recipe Rahman and Khadija were following and understood how these elders maintained their energy along with their enthusiasm.
​
A Chance Encounter During the Hajj to Makkah

Many, many years after the construction of Abiquiu’s mosque, Abdur Rahim Lutz made the Hajj, or Pilgrimage, to Makkah. Within the crowd of two million believers, he spotted the familiar face of Allahudeen. Weakened by the years gone by, the Egyptian mason had entrusted his pilgrimage to the assistance of a personal guide who happened to speak English. Within minutes, the man from Luxor, Egypt, and the man from Abiquiu, New Mexico reconnected. When I asked Abdur Rahim what they talked about, his answer was: “Nothing. We just held hands and sat there for a long time, sharing our silence.”

That circle of connection, reflected in the very structure of the Dar al Islam Mosque, was joined again in that crowded, noisy place where two old friends rediscovered the intimate power of silence.

Please note: If you would like to view the 1980 film, Roofs Underfoot, about the early construction of the Abiquiu mosque and madressah (educational retreat facility), keep an eye on the Dar al Islam website: https://daralislam.org/   The site is being updated, and the video will be added in the process of that update.

Anyway, there we are, dancing in Denver, an hour from our beds and a freezer stocked with late-night tater tots. And our designated navigator shows me the notification on her phone: a winter squall has blown across the interstate corridor, and everyone is advised not to brave it.

What else can one do with a squall but brave it?

No, for real. I don’t know what a squall is. But if pirates in the 1760s can survive them—without the aid of weather apps and G-maps—then we, who have celebrated International Talk Like a Pirate Day since approximately the 1770s, should be able to trust that it’ll all blow over in the next couple hours.

Again: the two people here who are not men of the male gender are making sensible, informed, modern-day choices, which I endorse. These two drive this route every Tuesday night, except for six of the last eleven Tuesdays when the forecast looked sketchier than a raccoon with a switchblade.

It just so happens that on this Tuesday, G-maps is now reporting that some semis have jackknifed on the interstate. These are causing delays but no real concerns. Semis are always jackknifing on interstates, even in purported first-world nations.

So we head home.
​
We reroute on some familiar-to-the-driver-who-is-also-my-girlfriend-so-of-course-I-trust-her back roads. G-maps says it’ll take us nearly two hours to get home that way. Not bad; where I live, I drive nearly two hours to stock up on bananas.

I ride shotgun, despite being—as established—the only man of the male gender present. What can I say? We buck tradition. It looks as though the sailing be smooth, yarrr; there be no sign of squallage outside of some snow being stuck to these here metal street signs.

Until, very suddenly, there be.

We spot a short line of stopped taillights ahead. The taillights are easy to see, because we are not near any other source of light for miles on this two-lane back road. Our Backseat Navigator says that G-maps says there isn’t any significant delay.
Then we hit ice.

Our captain, my girlfriend, keeps going. She passes some of the stopped cars because, if we stop, we maybe can’t go again.

Then we have to stop because a Ryder truck is skidding sideways up ahead.
So we stop. On an uphill. With drop-offs on either side.

And a pickup truck stops right behind us.

And a sporty little Lexus, almost certainly with features like “turbo,” gets cute trying to go around the Ryder and slides off the road at the top of the hill.
We are—in a family-friendly word—stucked.

So stucked.

A stream of cars with the same idea as our squall-braving captain passes us in the icy left lane, only to get stucked themselves behind the Ryder truck they could see from half a nautical mile away because we could see it from half a nautical mile away, only it wasn’t quite so stucked yet when we saw it.

As if all this weren’t treacherous enough, the wind is quite possibly still squalling out there, too. (I don’t know the threshold for squall winds.)

All the cars now stuck in the left lane, many of which (entirely coincidentally I’m sure) have Texas plates, are interfering with the valiant windblown attempts to winch the Lexus out of a ditch. The car thermometer appears stuck at 25°F. I don’t believe what it reads. (That’s degrees Fahrenheit, not degrees of the F-word I am hearing many times from the rest of the crew.)

It's not safe, or even possible, for us to turn around. No room to try going forward, because we have no room to slide backward. Oh, and I should mention that of the three of us I am dressed most appropriately for our predicament: I am wearing slacks, not engineered for winter squalls but at least my legs are covered.

And I, as passenger, have one critical responsibility: I must choose whether to ration the water remaining in my bottle for the hours, possibly days, of being stranded to come; or, to go ahead and, erm, make the bottle available for all three of our uses, which we might need after finishing the water left in it.

Some hours in, time has ceased to have any more meaning than the tater tots we cannot reach. This is when our captain looks deep into my despairing eyes and asks me if I will drive.

I—again, the only man present—am man enough not to give any answer at all for some long, stone-faced, manly moments.

And then I am man enough to say, “I will … if you really, really, REALLY need me to.”

It’s true that I would.

It’s also true that, with me at the helm, we might remain completely stucked on that hill. Even after the sun rises and the ice melts. Even after tow trucks have cleared all the Lexuses and Texans.

Because I carry a truth deep within me. And I watch as our captain realizes it, in real time. Her face dramatizes a masterclass in rational thinking.

She learned to drive in Michigan. This car is her car. Her insurance rates are herinsurance rates.

And her valiant passenger, in car and in life? He learned to drive in New Mexico. Albuquerque has, according to legend, only one snowplow—and most winters, one snowplow too many.

She might be wearing a pink and turquoise skirt. But, avast ye hearties, she is also the only one here wearing pants.

She doesn’t ask me again.

But that’s not to say I am worthless.

As a matter of record, I have a litany of motivational phrases that I am certain everyone in this car appreciates. I also now have an empty water bottle that comes in very handy.

Right after I brave the squall to dump it out—a squall that is definitely still squalling and definitely well under twenty-five degrees—the Ryder truck gets enough unstucked for the rescued Lexus to blow by it and for our captain to find just enough traction to get us up the hill and holy fishtails we are on our way.

We are on our way very slowly, but we are moving. Our Backseat Navigator continues reassuring us with G-maps’ time estimates, which we ignore because even while being perilously stucked it told us we’d be home soon.

I now become, functionally, the Lane Assist Feature. The squall winds are blowing squall snow across the icy squall road, making for some vertigo for the captain. “You’re good” becomes my mantra. “You’re good, you’re good, you’re good, you’re good, you’re good, you’re veering left but you’re good, you’re good, you’re good,” and I’m soon so lost in tracking that hidden white line that I forget to keep using my motivational phrases.

This is the most alert I have ever been in a vehicle moving less than ten miles per hour. I know I’m going to brag about our captain after this one. I’ll write about it so the whole world knows she saved our lives. When we make it to safe haven, I’ll tell everyone about how, right before we returned to the interstate, we passed a sign that warned of a downhill ahead with an 11% grade, which I didn’t even know was legal, and how apparently snowplows can’t handle 11% grades as evidenced by the road being suddenly and distinctly buried in thick white garbage, and how our captain feathered the brakes to her own chant of “Oh Fahrenheit oh Fahrenheit oh Fahrenheit oh Fahrenheit” until we made it safely to the bottom with no help whatsoever from the Lane Assist Feature.

I swear I will tell that part of the story very flatteringly, if we make it home alive AND are all still speaking to one another.

Which we do …
… at 4:15 in the morning.

The whole one-hour drive took five and a half hours. Five and a half hours. I, being the only man of the male gender still present, do the manliest thing I can think of and make everyone tea.

Plus, we be hungry after braving that squall. We deserve chicken nuggets with our tater tots. Too bad none of us wants to ever look at anything frozen ever again. Yarr.

Behind the Scenes

If I remember rightly—which I may not—some of the last words my girlfriend murmured to me before we finally fell asleep around six that morning were You’re allowed to write about this.

So I did.

But it took a while, because this is not quite the usual style here at Zach Hively and Other Mishaps.

And in case this was lost in the attempts to be lighthearted about a very not-lighthearted night: she really did keep us alive. For which I say to her: thank you. I like being alive with you, very much.

By Sara Wright

​My relationship with barred owls began when I built my little cabin in 2002. That first winter a pair hunted from the branches of two large pines situated not far from the living room windows.  These are large and very beautiful owls with mole brown striped feathers and a wingspan up to 50 inches. I looked for them at dusk (although I also heard them during the day) and occasionally witnessed a strike, but most of time I watched them just sitting in wait until it got too dark. Of course, with asymmetrical ears that can triangulate exact locations of prey, most meals probably appeared at night. In the mornings I would go out to see if their hunting had been successful. The sight of those unmistakable wing prints imprinted on new snow never failed to move me, though I knew some creature had lost its life. Owls need to eat too.

As early as January I would begin to hear barred owl calls. Too many sounds to describe except the hiss when pursued. The signature call that most people translate as ‘who cooks for you’ doesn’t work for me. I hear musical trills instead. The pair, they mate for life, frequently vocalized at dusk or at night during the following two months. The conversation seemed so complex and nuanced with an occasional ‘laugh’. After mating in March, the owls stopped calling until May or June when I would sometimes hear one during the daylight hours. Overall, I felt blessed. I loved these beautiful owls with their round faces and giant black orbs for eyes, the colors of the mole brown striped feathers, one of which was often left for me.

In May or June, it was common to hear these owls being mobbed by crows and bluejays, so I often followed the cacophony and sometimes intercepted the intruders, but mostly a hapless owl would try to escape by flying into other heavily protected evergreens unsuccessfully.

Although they hunted around here which at that time overlooked more field, I never discovered a nest assuming they had chosen an old hollow snag, crow or hawk nest further up the mountain. Later in the season, if I was fortunate, I would glimpse a youngster perched on a limb, but a parent was always nearby. These birds are excellent caregivers with the male feeding the female during the month-long incubation and then the family stays together for about six months. They eat small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and insects and are preyed upon by larger birds like the many eagles we have around here. Great horned owls are the other major predator.

These birds have a relatively small territory and mate for life. They return to the same nesting sites each year, so winter used to begin with me peering through the windows to see if they were around. I have no idea where they hunted during the rest of the year.

If undisturbed barred owls roost quietly during the day preferring being close to water in mixed evergreen and deciduous forests like mine.

However, in virtually all the literature I have read they prefer ‘old mature forests’ which I most definitely don’t have, so I was doubly grateful to have them because although my forest is mixed and I have plenty of water my forest was last cut maybe 50 years ago?

Then one year I didn’t hear one barred owl sing all winter. Behind me all the forests were being cut, so although deeply disappointed I realized the owls were losing their habitat. The only place I continued to see them was in a large hemlock stand on a nearby logging road. When those trees were finally stripped away, I stopped seeing or hearing barred owls at all.

By now my land was totally hemmed in except for one neighbor who logged only what he needed for his own use, a man who cares about his trees, but his trees were only a few years older than my young forest (I do have a small grove of  hemlocks, yellow birches, sugar maples a few big pines, and a stand of black elm sitting in the middle of my swamp but so does he).

Many years went by.

Then three years ago I was suddenly serenaded by barred owls one December dusk. I couldn’t believe it. That winter I heard them call to the west of me. Yes, my forest had been rewilding, returning to its natural state, so the trees have grown. My woods across the brook were thriving. But still, the trees have a lifetime or two to become ‘mature,’ and besides I own only a fragment, not enough territory to support barred owls. Every other piece of land along this road has undergone a radical transformation. Most trees except for my one abutting  tree caring neighbor are gone.

When the barred owls raised a family here last year I was overjoyed to have them back. And if this spring is any indication  perhaps this couple may be living here now somewhere across the brook, because I have been listening to barred owls all winter. In the beginning of March, I stood outside for at least 15 minutes one night to listen to an extended conversation between one pair.  Mating calls, I knew them well. Then all went quiet. I’ll have to be patient until May or June to hear owls calling again.

I have reached the sad conclusion that the the few that are left are returning to forest fragments - privately held lands - because they have no place else to go.

Up until recently barred owls inhabited the Northeast and portions of  New Mexico/ Mexico. But recently their range has extended  into the western part of the United States, and the ‘bird police’ have condemned them as invasive. In Abiquiu New Mexico where I lived with owls for four years, I heard them call infrequently but I knew they were there and part of the local ecosystem. Unfortunately, New Mexico also considers these owls invasive.
 
Barred owls according to the US Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Service, and Cornell’s Ornithology Department have determined that this western expansion is threatening the habitat of the rare spotted owl. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act is also on board with the following decision which has already been implemented as of 2025.

Finalized in August 2024, the Barred Owl Management Strategy is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's long-term plan to protect native spotted owls in Washington, Oregon and California from the invasive barred owl species.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service barred owls displace spotted owls, disrupt their nesting, compete for food and in some cases, have interbred or killed spotted owls.

‘The Barred Owl Management Strategy’ permits the lethal removal of barred owls by attracting the owls with recorded calls and then shooting them when they respond and approach. In areas where firearms are not allowed, barrel owls may be captured and euthanized.
In all 500, 000 – half a million - barred owls will be killed over the next thirty years because it has been determined by the ‘experts’ that they are the problem.

No one mentions that in the east barred owl habitat has all but disappeared. Take Maine as an example. Maine is  considered to be the most heavily forested state, but no one talks about the size of the trees. The Maine Forest Service’s most recent survey found that only 7.2 percent of trees are in the thirteen to 21 -inch diameter, and only 0.5 percent are larger than 21 inches in diameter. Another way of saying the same thing is to state that ninety plus percent of our forests are full of trees less than a foot in diameter. We have less than 4 percent of what we now call late successional and old growth forest left in the state. But even more important is that overall, the structural and species biodiversity of our forests is being lost. Mature and ‘old growth’ (?) are more common in the west than in the east, particularly in the Northwest.

‘Invasive’? How idiotic. Barred owls are moving west because they have been forced to by human destruction. They need real forests to live in and to breed not hardwood sticks. Migrating west is a survival mechanism.

It is this kind of thinking/doing that reveals our distain for nature, and the human belief that we are the ‘gods of the earth’ who know how nature works when in truth we know almost nothing at all.
 

• Invasive Species:

In New Mexico, barred owls are considered an invasive species, as they have expanded their range from eastern North America into the west. 

• Competition with Native Owls:

Their expansion has led to competition with native owl species, like the Spotted Owl,and even hybridization with them, which threatens the native owl populations. 

• Abiquiu:

Abiquiu, New Mexico, is an area where barred owls are known to inhabit, and they are considered a part of the local ecosystem. 

 Barred Owls roost quietly in forest trees during the day, though they can occasionally be heard calling in daylight hours. At night they hunt small animals, especially rodents, and give an instantly recognizable “Who cooks for you?” call. 

Barred Owls live in large, mature forests made up of both deciduous trees and evergreens, often near water. They nest in tree cavities. In the Northwest, Barred Owls have moved into old-growth coniferous forest, where they compete with the threatened Spotted Owl.

In 2021, a disjunct population of Barred Owls in Mexico, long considered to be a subspecies of Barred Owl, was split and named Cinereous Owl (Strix sartorii).

Barred Owls (Strix varia) were historically residents of eastern United States, southern Canada, and disjunct regions of south-central Mexico, but have expanded into western North America and now occur throughout the range of the Northern Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) and California Spotted Owl 

What is the Barred Owl Management Strategy?

Finalized in August 2024, the Barred Owl Management Strategy is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's long-term plan to protect native spotted owls in Washington, Oregon and California from the invasive barred owl species.

The northern spotted owl, native to the West Coast region, has been endangered since 1990. The species is listed as Near Threatened under the Endangered Species Act and according to the American Bird Conservancy, only about 15,000 spotted owls remain in the U.S.

Barred owls, larger and more aggressive than spotted owls, have been invading the West Coast region since the 20th century, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Barred owls displace spotted owls, disrupt their nesting, compete for food and in some cases, have interbred or killed spotted owls.

The Barred Owl Management Strategy permits the lethal removal of barred owls by attracting the owls with recorded calls and then shooting them when they respond and approach. In areas where firearms are not allowed, barrel owls may be captured and euthanized. These procedures will be conducted in less than half of the identified regions − more than 24 million acres − and may only be completed by specialists, not the general public.
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"The protocol is based on the experience gathered from several previous barred owl removal studies and is designed to ensure a quick, humane kill; minimize the potential for non-fatal injury to barred owls; and vastly reduce the potential for non-target species injury or death," the strategy reads.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed a bill into law that advocates say will help restore the protections that waters in New Mexico lost following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
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The Sackett decision removed Clean Water Act protections from seasonal waterways. Due to the arid nature of the state, New Mexico was among those most impacted by the Sackett decision. 

Another reason why New Mexico was particularly impacted is that it is one of three states that rely on the EPA to oversee surface water permitting.

Senate Bill 21 establishes a permitting system for waters that lost their protections following the Sackett decision and paves the way for the state to eventually take over the surface water permitting from the EPA.

“New Mexico’s most precious resources are our streams, lakes, and wetlands. But this scarce resource is under singular attack,” Tannis Fox, senior attorney with Western Environmental Law Center, said in a statement. “This law establishes the necessary framework to protect our waters from pollution, and safeguard New Mexico’s communities, Tribal waters, acequias, wildlife habitat, and outdoor recreation economy now and for the future.”

The New Mexico Acequia Association was among the groups pushing for the legislation, which it says is necessary to safeguard the ways of life in acequia communities.

“Our land-based communities depend on clean water in our streams, headwaters, and wetlands to irrigate our fields and care for our livestock,” Paula Garcia, executive director of the New Mexico Acequia Association, said in a statement. “A state-based permitting system will help protect our acequias and farms for the future.”

After the Sackett decision was announced, the group American Rivers listed all of the waters in New Mexico as 2024’s “Most Endangered River.” Emily Wolf, the Rio Grande coordinator with American Rivers Action Fund, said the Supreme Court’s ruling left 95% of the state’s waterways “vulnerable to pollution and degradation.”

“With the signing of this bill, we will have a critical framework for clean water protections for all our waters, and communities, in New Mexico,” Wolf said in a statement.