By Carol A. Clark on May 6, 2025
Courtesy of the Los Alamos Daily Post

By Hannah Grover
Courtesy of NM Political Report

The U.S. Forest Service’s Carson National Forest announced this week that the prescribed fires lit over the fall and winter from October through January have been safely extinguished.

Crews used infrared technology to look for heat at the burn sites.
The announcement comes amid severe to extreme drought conditions in much of New Mexico, which increases the risk that a spark could lead to a catastrophic wildfire.

As of Thursday, all parts of New Mexico were experiencing some level of drought, with more than half of the state being in extreme drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

In 2022, a prescribed slash pile burn that was conducted in January reignited during the spring winds and led to the Calf Canyon Fire. The Calf Canyon Fire later joined with the Hermits Peak Fire and the combined fires became the largest wildfire in the state’s history.

“Since the National Prescribed Fire Program Review in 2022, our protocol has been to keep tabs on these burn areas for longer periods of time with more thoroughness than in years past,” Fire and Fuels Staff Officer Brent Davidson said in the announcement. 

Crews in the Carson National Forest conducted 10 prescribed burns over the fall and winter, which treated more than 7,000 acres of U.S. Forest Service lands.
Prescribed burns are an important tool in preventing future catastrophic wildfires and protecting watersheds.

One of the prescribed burns that occurred last fall was the La Jara prescribed fire adjacent to the Taos Pines Ranch near Angel Fire. The burn occurred following thinning and slash pile burns. The national forest says the work done in the area reduced the threat of wildfires and protects the headwaters of the Rio Fernando de Taos.

Looking forward: Projects in the East Mountains​

Brad Tauson, the Cibola National Forest and National Grasslands Fire Management Officer in the Sandia Ranger District, said the agency is preparing for prescribed burns in the East Mountains this fall and is doing work in the David Canyon area, located off of Raven Road south of Tijeras and accessible through Mars Court.

“We’ve had an ongoing project there for multiple years now,” he told East Mountains residents during a town hall Thursday evening in Tijeras.

He said the Forest Service also has projects in the Sulfur and Cieniega Canyon area near Cedar Crest.

“We do have some pile projects up there as we may implement once we receive enough moisture in the fall season and in the winter,” Tauson said.
The Forest Service is also looking at doing a pilot project in the Cedro lookout area this fall.

BY: AUSTIN FISHER - MAY 5, 2025
Courtesy of Source NM

Over the next year, Northern New Mexico’s bus system anticipates restarting routes that were suspended or curtailed at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, fears of a national recession are driving uncertainty about how much the so-called Blue Bus will receive from both local governments and Washington.
The North Central Regional Transit District Board of Directors on Friday approved a preliminary $53 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year, a nearly 7% decrease from the previous year’s budget. The board will meet again in June to formally vote on the budget, which staff will then submit to the state Department of Finance and Administration.

The district projects the number of riders on its 26 fixed routes to increase compared to last year, when more than 565,000 people took the bus, a marked decline from the 2018-2019 fiscal year pre-pandemic numbers of more than 814,000 rides.

In his budget message to the board, Executive Director Anthony Mortillaro wrote that the district suspended some routes or limited them to on-demand service in response to the pandemic’s outset, but most have returned, and the rest will in the coming year as they hire more staff.

The district’s service area encompasses 74 communities across 10,0000 square miles where nearly 290,000 people live. NCRTD employs approximately 100 people, and the budget pays for two additional bus drivers.

At its Friday meeting in Española, Mortillaro told the board that the district’s future projections remain uncertain because of federal actions. Nearly 50% of the district’s income comes from the federal government.

“There’s an increasing concern about the odds of a national recession due to the tariffs and high interest rates, and all that could impact tax revenues as well as future grant levels,” he said.

Most Blue Bus routes run in Santa Fe, Rio Arriba, Taos and Los Alamos counties, with some connecting to eight Northern Pueblos, the Jicarilla Apache Nation and the counties of San Juan, Mora and San Miguel.

While the area is experiencing a “leveling economic recovery based upon reported tax revenues,” Mortilarro wrote, a recession could lower those tax revenues and how much grant money the federal government will provide.

Los Alamos County, the City of Santa Fe and the Rio Metro Regional Transit District, which operates the Rail Runner, receive more than $7 million from the Blue Bus’s budget, which they use to fund regional transit in those areas, Mortillaro wrote.
The budget also includes $9.5 million for electrical charging infrastructure in Española and Taos, and three diesel hybrid electric buses. Tariffs can add between 5% and 10% to the price of an electric bus, Mortillaro said.
​
This story was updated following publication to correct information about Blue Bus funding. Source regrets the error.

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Mattie Allen
[email protected]
505-423-3360

Santa Fe, NM – This May, Violet Crown Cinema marks its 10th anniversary by partnering with Española Humane and other local nonprofits for a series of classic film screenings. All ticket proceeds from these screenings will support the work of these organizations.

Española Humane will present "Best in Show," the beloved 2000 mockumentary comedy co-written by Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy. The screening will take place on May 9 at 6:30 p.m. at Violet Crown Cinema in the Railyard District, 1606 Alcaldesa St. Prior to the screening, a complimentary popcorn reception will start at 5:30 p.m., offering guests a chance to learn more about the shelter’s impactful work.

"We’re honored to be part of Violet Crown’s celebration and grateful for their support," said Kate Baldwin, Executive Director of Española Humane. "Nothing fosters community spirit quite like the shared love of film – except maybe adopting a dog or cat into a loving home."

The cinema’s restaurant and bar will be open for guests to purchase food and drinks during the reception and screenings. Additional showings of "Best in Show" will be held on May 12, 13, and 14. For ticket details and prices, visit santafe.violetcrown.com.

In addition to showcasing classic films to benefit nonprofits, Violet Crown will also feature significant movies from its 10-year history throughout the month. These include the highest-grossing New Mexico production and the longest-running film at Violet Crown.

"We are grateful to the Santa Fe community for their support over the past decade," said Bill Banowsky, owner of Violet Crown. "Our aim has been to provide an exceptional moviegoing experience, and we look forward to many more years with our Santa Fe audience."

As Violet Crown celebrates this milestone, the cinema continues to evolve with the latest projection and sound technology, a popular café and bar, and a diverse selection of films catering to every taste.

"We take pride in serving as a platform for independent voices and nurturing artistic expression," said Peter Grendle, Director of Programming at Violet Crown.

"From thought-provoking documentaries to groundbreaking experimental works and major Hollywood releases, we've had the privilege of showcasing the best in cinema. Our anniversary celebration is a tribute to the artists, filmmakers, and community members who have supported us. We invite the Santa Fe community to join us in May for these special screenings, with 100% of ticket proceeds from 30 benefit screenings going to our nonprofit partners."

###

Española Humane’s mission is to end animal suffering in underserved communities in Northern New Mexico communities and services are free to at-risk animals in Rio Arriba County and beyond. To learn more about how you can help, visit espanolahumane.org.

By Felicia Fredd

About two weeks ago, I spotted my first hummingbird visitor - just a quick flash and buzz of one checking out an empty feeder. About 3 days ago, my claret cup cactus began to bloom. I looked into this coincidence, and learned that the stunning claret cup flower was made for the hummingbird, and timed for its arrival.

“In addition to color, its flowers are distinctive for shape, morphology and timing of availability… Bees, butterflies and flies are also common cactus pollinators, but hummingbirds are the most common pollinators for claret cups. To take a sip from the nectar chamber deep in a claret cup, the hummingbird must stick its whole head into the flower. Its bill, face and the top of its head rub against both the stigma and the collar of anthers as it penetrates the flower, assuring the transfer of pollen.” https://www.colorado.edu/asmagazine/2018/05/30/hummingbirds-pollinate-claret-cup-cactus

Here’s another cool symbiotic desert relationship: the yucca moth & native yucca which can be seen blooming in Abiquiu right now. In a few more days, you’ll be able to find these pure white moths, Tegeticula sp., within individual yucca flower cups - pollinating, and eventually laying next year’s eggs.

“The relationship between yucca moths and yucca plants is an example of obligate mutualism. Many species of yucca plant can be pollinated by only one species of yucca moth, while those yucca moths use the yucca flowers as a safe space to lay their eggs. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/wurjhns/vol8/iss1/10/ and https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/pollinators/pollinator-of-the-month/yucca_moths.shtml

These are just two examples of inconceivable (!) numbers of incredible relationships within our local food web (I remind myself of Vizzini’s character in the movie ‘The Princess Bride’ from the 1980’s). It is also the subject of University of Delaware wildlife ecologist Douglas Tallamy’s, second principle of Universal Landscape Goals: they (garden and landscape) must provide energy for the local food webs. https://homegrownnationalpark.org/4-universal-landscape-goals/.

I have not read Dr. Tallamy’s book. No time. It certainly would have been helpful, but this second principle considers all things native from the perspective of unique ecosystem energy dynamics. Native species have evolved together within their environments to access and transfer energy in the most efficient and sustainable forms for each successive user. In the broadest conceptual sense the food web appears very simple. Up close however, it becomes apparent that it is very complex and vulnerable. It’s a bit of a super intricate Jenga puzzle. Environmental collapse is a closely related concept.

I personally feel very strongly that ecology can’t be ignored anymore, and I know that there is nothing to lose, everything to gain, and no real obstacle to supporting environment by using native plants in garden and landscape outside of actual plant and seed market availability. That’s the big one. Aside from that ever so aggravating issue, I see potential every time I go walking in the hills where I discover beautiful plants, or beautiful aesthetic effects presented by light, moisture, or contextual conditions.

I don’t know if anyone out there will get this, but the Japanese art of Ikebana, translates into “making flowers come alive” - not making them more beautiful, but making them come alive in one’s perception. This is what we do with design in general - we try to bring a presence to things through physical relationships that produce a compelling feeling or effect, or to embody a concept. This could be a lot of things, but the Japanese words ‘ma’ and ‘kekkai’ refer to an awareness of space (most importantly empty space) and boundaries within & between forms to do this, roughly speaking.

As a form of meditation, Ikebana is also a practice of cultivating presence, and an openness to feeling. I’ve also heard it called ‘making flowers human’ in recognition of the fact that it’s all about appealing to human perception. ‘Freakebana’, “The turnt cousin of Ikebana”, is also insanely interesting because it brings the traditional principles of ikebana to the arrangement of a bunch of pretty weird stuff - the seeming absurdity of which allows one to see even more clearly the intelligence behind the original buddhist practice. ‘Freakebana’ playfully illustrates that it is not materials per se, but design relationships that raise things to levels of surreal, or hyper-real ‘beauty’.
​
Gardens are places of concentrated beauty, whatever that means to individual people, and it’s another very important aspect of ecological gardening that I am exploring. I think this is where ecology meets the human psyche.

Interview with Katherine Eagleson, founder of Abiquiú Lake Amigos.

By Jessica Rath

When you think of a beautiful lake, what comes to mind first? I bet it’s swimming, maybe kayaking, or sailboarding, or some other recreational water activities. That’s the image most of us would conjure up. However, a lake has a lot more to offer to those who are interested: the birds and the insects one can see, the water quality, or checking boats for invasive species. Abiquiú Lake Amigos, a group with about twelve dedicated members, concerns itself with these more scientific projects.

​Katherine Eagleson formally started the group in 2023. She was kind enough to meet with me and explain what they do, and also, how she got into this: she’s a biologist who grew up in Iowa but has lived in northern New Mexico for 35 years. From around 2011 onward she did volunteer work for the Army Corps of Engineers, and when she retired, she started the Amigos group to continue with the survey of the water quality. They added bird surveys on the lake and down the Chama River for three miles below the dam,  and also began to do pollinator studies: bees and butterflies.

“Butterflies are the easiest to identify,” Katherine continued. “Generally, bees are hard to identify, but they're very important pollinators. Pollinators in the United States have decreased by 45% and when such a large part of a population is declining, it affects the birds that are insectivores. It’s definitely going to have some impact on warblers and fly catchers, and we are monitoring both of those.”

​The decline in abundance and diversity of insect pollinators due to habitat loss, pesticide use, climate change, and other factors has been observed worldwide. Bird populations in the U.S. are declining too at an alarming rate, and bird watching/surveying is a critical part of recovery efforts, according to this Audubon article.

“There’a a book about where to find birds in New Mexico,” Katherine told me. “The last version I had basically said, don't bother with Abiquiú Lake. There's nothing happening there. This was some years ago, but it’s wrong, because the lake is part of an important migratory route. The birds that we see in April on the lake are migrant birds. We even had a loon last year. It's an important stopover, and that's becoming more and more important in people's consciousness. It's not so much about what birds are here right now, but where they're going. Are we part of that journey? And if we're part of that journey, then we have to make sure that these animals, the birds, the insects, mammals, the reptiles, that they have a place of refuge and can fuel up for the next stage. Every step of the way is important, not just where they breed and not just where they winter. But every step along one way
is a continuation of their journey.”

“We have three kestrel boxes. Kestrels have declined 45%, nearly half of kestrels have been lost in the United States, and it's probably their nest sites. They're cavity nesters. So we've put up some nest boxes, and we're monitoring those. We put up boxes for Juniper tit mice, because they're also cavity nesters. That work is important. You know the old adage, ‘Think globally and work locally.’ ‘What can I do in my backyard?’ Because we're one of the steps in the birds’ journey.”

I love this idea. For the Amigos the Abiquiú Lake isn’t an independent, isolated location but one step in the journey back and forth. It’s part of a larger, dynamic  picture.
​
Katherine illustrated this wider view with an example: “We don't have very many nesting bald eagles in New Mexico, but we have a lot of bald eagles that migrate into Mexico in the winter time. So we keep track of that. How many are coming in, how many are staying, does the lake level have anything to do with how many eagles we have? Does the icing level have anything to do with the number of eagles we have? And now we have quite a bit of data, because we've been doing this for quite a number of years.”

When did you start, I wanted to know.
​
“I think I started in 2011 with the Army Corps of Engineers,” Katherine replied. “I started with a few of my friends here, and they have friends; they're all outdoor people, and they've become interested. And some of them, a couple, Ann and Willie, are really good birders, and Susan's really getting up to speed on water quality. We have some new members who are interested in various aspects of it. So, we're not out trying to get a hundred people in the group. We're trying to get a cadre of people who are really interested in participating on a regular and sustained basis because that's how you can collect data. We started with about six, and at the last meeting we had maybe twelve, so it is growing.”

“We have ten stops along the Chama River where we do a bird count every month,” Katherine added. “Now we will do them almost every week for the next three months, because it’s breeding season. We have all kinds of warblers and fly catchers coming in. We have migrants going across. I saw an osprey yesterday moving through. So we have set times, but we also say, if you're out there and you happen to see something, or if you can’t do all ten but you do the first four stops, send me your data. Because, you know, I'm not interested in keeping the data from a certain date, but we want to know what's moving through here, what's nesting here? What bird has successful nests? That's the data we want. Anybody can go out and send me their data once they learn what we're doing.”

How often do you have meetings, I wanted to know.
“On average, we have about six meetings a year,” Katherine answered. “We have more right now, because we will be working with the Army Corps of Engineers on Earth Day for the Earth Day activities. A couple of times a year they have activities at the lake that we help with. We built the titmouse boxes last fall on the Public Lands Day, and we put them up this spring. A number of activities are planned for this year’s Earth Day celebration.”

​“We're also going to help with checking boats for invasive species, the quagga mussels and zebra mussels. They're very short staffed at the lake. The Army Corps of Engineers is making a great effort up there. They care about the environment, they care about their impact, and they want to engage the public.”

Next, I asked Katherine about the poisonous blue green algae. I remember reading the warnings, especially for young children and dogs, because the water can become highly toxic. Katherine corrected me by stating that we’re talking about cyanobacteria, not algae, and that almost every lake gets them at a certain temperature. But  when they reach a certain level they can become toxic. Cyanobacteria are not toxic at every level, Katherine explained. When they start to die, they deplete the oxygen level in the water, and that’s when they can become fatal for birds and mammals. Warming temperatures cause those blooms to happen.

​“Pretty much every pond water in the southern United States is going to have cyanobacteria. But how much circulation is there? How much fresh water is coming into the lake, what is the temperature of the lake, all those things can have an impact.”

“The Army Corps of Engineers has a pretty robust water quality testing process now, it collects samples, checks for oxygen, checks for turbidity, checks for conductivity. And they collect samples to check for invasive species, mainly the quagga mussels and zebra mussels. Because they're microscopic when they come in, you have to collect the samples and send them in. You can't see them at that early stage. When we check the boats we're not looking for mussels. What we're looking for is, is there standing water, and has this boat come from a place where those mussels are prevalent. New Mexico doesn’t have them, but they’re in every state around us, Texas has them, Colorado has them, Utah has them.”

What do they do, I asked.

​“They completely clog up everything,” was Katherine’s answer.  “They’re highly invasive on other species and you can't get rid of them. You really can't get rid of them.”

“Right now we're meeting every month because we're setting up a whole summer schedule,” Katherine added. “Everybody's doing everything at this point.”
Earlier, she had mentioned  an osprey platform. I was curious: what’s that?

“Many years ago, I was there when the Army Corps of Engineers put up an osprey platform, like they had up at Heron Lake,” Katherine told me. “It's a very tall pole with a platform on the top where ospreys can build their nests. But no osprey has ever used it, I think it's too barren. Maybe they don't know what it's for. But I have often seen a bald eagle perched up there, and some other birds. As I said, there was a bald eagle yesterday when I needed to check the Kestrel box. There was a bald eagle sitting right on top of the osprey nest box. The ospreys come up here for the summer from further south, from the Gulf of Mexico and from below Mexico. They come up here in the summer to breed along the lakes where they can fish, because they are obligate fish eaters. So they breed, have their little chicks, and then they fly again. They can't fish here in the winter because it's frozen,”

The eagles stay here for the winter, but where are they in the summer, I asked.

“Well, these days bald eagles are almost everywhere,” Katherine told me. “They were an endangered species till 2007 because of DDT and some other impacts. They were seriously endangered, along with peregrine falcons and a number of other birds. But they've recovered marvelously, and now they're all over the place. But they will be here mostly in the winter, and in the summer they will be further north from here, up in Canada and Alaska. But Colorado has nesting pairs, and we have a few nesting pairs here, but not too many.”
 
“At different times in the year we have different numbers of birds. In the winter we have a lot of waterfowl. We'll go down to the river in January and get 26 different species of birds, and maybe eight or nine or more species of waterfowl. In the summer and in the spring we're trading waterfowl for warblers and fly catchers, and the birds that are coming in to nest. Things will really be popping in the next two months.”
So over the years that you've been doing this, did you see any kind of fluctuation in the numbers, I asked.

“The lake habitat is difficult because the lake level varies so dramatically. A couple of years ago when it was unprecedentedly high, birding was just so much fun because there was so much habitat. But it fluctuates very much. For instance: the grebes build these mats along the shores to nest. When the lake level frequently goes up and down, those mats can't survive, and so we have many fewer grebes.  The river fluctuates a great deal too, but the habitat has improved so much in the last 30 years. From being a straight sort of ditch that didn't have willows and didn't have salt brush and other growth it has changed dramatically. A few years ago they put in some structures to help slow the water down in certain places, so it didn't just rush through. It slowed the water down, so more water moved to the side, and you have little wetlands. There are more amphibians down there,  and frogs start croaking. I heard them just the other day. And there are a lot more willows now, just a great variety of vegetation. So we're going to get more insects, and we'll get more birds, and it's just just greatly improved. We have river otters there now. They've migrated up and they're actually nesting there.”

So we talked about the birds and the water quality, but what about the pollinators, how do you count them, I asked. DO you count them? How many butterflies? How many bees?

Katherine explained: “We probably won't get to the species of bees, that's pretty hard, but we can get the family possibly.The important thing is not only what bee do you see, what butterfly do you see, but what plant are they on? Some adult butterflies may be nectar feeders and and visit a lot of different plants, but most butterflies are very specific about where they will lay their eggs, and that will be important. Do we have the plants so that they can multiply?”

“The monarchs, famously, lay their eggs on milkweed because that’s what the caterpillars will feed on. Many other butterflies are just as specific. Just mallow plants or aster family plants or mint, because the caterpillars are very specific.”
​
The Army Corps of Engineers has started a pollinator garden in the campground, and the  Abiquiú Lake Amigos are helping with that. Katherine clarified: “We do some cross referencing, what butterflies are we likely to see in a grassland kind of area, because that's what it is up there? What native plants can we plant there to attract them? One of the  activities this Sunday will be to work on a pollinator garden.”

“We want to get really good with these two groups, the Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths) and Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, etc.). Then we can spread out into Coleoptera (beetles), and there's a lot of interest in lightning bugs – fireflies. It's only a couple of weeks that you'll see them up at the lake, and there's one place in particular at the river where I find them and we want to monitor them as well, because they’re also in decline.”

​I remember the time when I lived near the river. There were two weeks in June when the fireflies would provide an absolutely magical spectacle at night: like tiny, sparkling stars, they would blink around the bushes close to the water.  I’m so grateful that there are people who are concerned about these fascinating insects and try to preserve them. Actually, everything Katherine and her Abiquiú Lake Amigos do is immensely important and may help to stop the further decline of all these creatures which not only deserve to live in peace but also play a significant role in humanity’s food security. Thank you, Katherine, for sharing this meaningful endeavor with the Abiquiú News.

A Manly Humanities Man's Guide to Auto Maintenance
​
​By Zach Hively

The oil warning light came on in my girlfriend’s car the other day, and she wanted me—me!—to Do Something About It.
​
I cannot be the only English major this has happened to.

Sensing the Call to Adventure at this point in our romance, I agreed to take a look. I may have a degree in literature, but I am not otherwise an idiot. I know, deep down, that after I take a look—and if I am a very lucky man—I will get to use some of that gritty orange hand soap that smells so nice.

My struggle must not go unchronicled. Not if it can help thousands of other Manly Humanities Men—maybe even dozens of them—to get to use the gritty orange hand soap that smells so nice.

Here, in MLA style, is how I Did Something About It:

1. I read the manual. The ENTIRE manual. Because I have this affliction where I cannot see words without reading them. It’s bad. It’s how I, alone among my classmates, finished Paradise Lost.

​BONUS TIP: Read the manual while seated in the car itself. It provides the same thrill as reading the Narnia books while visiting England.

2. I determined, using my advanced training in critical reading, that the oil warning light indicates a warning in the oil system. Probably a lack of oil pressure. This can be caused by a misalignment in one of the variables in the equation PV=nRT, which I cite at parties to prove that Manly Humanities Men pay attention in physics class too.

3. I translated this knowledge across disciplines. In humanities-speak: Check the oil, you dipstick.

4. After some setbacks in applying theoretical knowledge in a practical setting, I located the car’s engine.

5. I inspected the long flimsy metal testing rod whose name I can’t think of. This thing required graduate-level interpretation. Oil is a viscous substance that clings to long flimsy metal testing rods and leaves room for culturally filtered nuance even upon subsequent readings. But I concluded that the car did, in fact, need oil.

​6. I hoofed it to a gas station convenience store to buy some oil. I chose the gas station over the auto parts store because I felt that I, and the ascot I was wearing, would face less unfriendly criticism there.

​BONUS TIP: Turn down the offer to buy a funnel. Lie that you already have one. A Manly Humanities Man can take only so much abuse before breaking.

7. I made certain my girlfriend was watching from the window when I opened the hood in the driveway. I knew that this time, I could do so on probably the first try.

8. I poured the oil into the place I am fairly confident oil goes. I glugged only a few glugs in other places. Doing so is just fine. I mean, have you SEEN one of these engines before? Oil is EVERYWHERE in there.

9. My girlfriend made it directly to the dealership’s service center and spent $1400. I’m happy to say that nothing critical exploded or caught fire on her way there, leastwise not that she’s mentioned.

​And THAT is how I earned the privilege of using the gritty orange soap. But I made sure to leave just a bit of dark grease under my fingernails. This will help me intimidate my fellow elbow-patchers by showing them what a real Manly Humanities Man can do.