​New Mexico Environmental Department
​
Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)PFAS contamination in New Mexico is one of the New Mexico Environment Department’s top priorities, as is the protection of human health and the environment. 

PFAS are a group of human-made chemicals that have been used for a large number of purposes since the 1950s. PFAS have been used in food packaging, cleaning products, stain resistant carpet treatments, nonstick cookware, and firefighting foam, among other products. While PFAS have made our lives easier – they come with the cost of adversely impacting our health and the environment.

Due to the widespread use of PFAS and the fact that they bioaccumulate, they are found in the bodies of people and animals all over the world, as well as ground and surface water. New Mexico has some of the highest documented levels of PFAS in the world with respect to wildlife and plants around Lake Holloman which is next to Holloman Air Force Base and White Sands National Park. In addition, the City of Clovis and rural Curry County have been suffering with PFAS pollution caused by Cannon Air Force Base. As a result, 3,600 dairy cow that were euthanized from PFAS poisoning after the herd consumed the groundwater that the U.S. Department of Defense contaminated and failed to clean-up.

Health Impacts

With an estimate 19,000 different forms of PFAS circulating through our economy in consumer goods, these chemicals are in your home in everything from food packaging, cookware, carpet, furniture, and more. In addition, living around a military base where PFAS-containing fire fighting foams were used for jet fuel fires increases your risk of exposure through drinking water. Once exposed to PFAS, there are many ways in which these chemicals can hurt your health, including:

• Cancer: Linked to kidney, testicular, and breast cancers.
• Endocrine Disruption: Interference with thyroid function, leading to hypothyroidism or other thyroid disorders.
• Immune System Suppression: Reduced vaccine response and weakened immunity.
• Liver Damage: Elevated liver enzymes, leading to liver toxicity and potential damage over time.
• Developmental Issues: Impaired fetal development, low birth weight, skeletal variation, and developmental delay.
• Cholesterol Elevation: Increased levels of total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL).
• Reproductive Effects: Disrupted fertility in both men and women, menstrual irregularities/lower sperm quality.
• Kidney and Liver Disease: Increased risks of chronic kidney disease and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

​Drinking Water
Public water systems in New Mexico are regulated by the New Mexico Environment Department’s Drinking Water Bureau. However, water quality for private wells, also known as domestic wells, is not regulated under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. Therefore, private well owners are responsible for testing the quality of their drinking water and maintaining their wells.

On April 10, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the first-ever national drinking water standards for several PFAS in drinking water. The final rule establishes maximum contaminant levels for PFOA, PFOS, PFNA, PFHxS, and HFPO-DA (also known as GenX chemicals) as individual contaminants, and will regulate PFNA, PFHxS, HFPO-DA, and PFBS as a mixture through a Hazard Index. This new rule will significantly reduce the level of PFAS in drinking water across the United States. However, these standards do not apply to private wells.

Although the New Mexico Environment Department’s Drinking Water Bureau does not regulate water quality for private wells, we tested a limited number of private wells for PFAS with the U.S. Geological Survey. Results showed that PFAS occur in some private wells in New Mexico, but no PFAS were detected in the majority of wells that were sampled. Other organizations may have conducted or are in the process of conducting PFAS studies as well.

Private well owners who would like to collect their own water samples for PFAS testing may contact a certified drinking water laboratory. Laboratories can provide instructions for collecting water samples.
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To learn more, please see the New Mexico Environment Department’s Drinking Water Bureau factsheet PFAS and Your Private Well (English) (Español). Other useful links for private well owners are provided below:

• Certified Drinking Water Laboratories – A PDF file of laboratories around the United States that can perform PFAS testing.

• Drinking Water Bureau – General Guidance for Owners of Private Wells – Link to a New Mexico Environment Department webpage with additional resources for private drinking water well owners.

• New Mexico Environmental Public Health Tracking – Private Wells – Link to a New Mexico Department of Health webpage with additional resources for private drinking water well owners.

• US Environmental Protection Agency – Private Drinking Water Wells – Link to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency webpage with additional resources for private drinking water well owners.

Testing Initiatives

In the fall and winter of 2024, the New Mexico Environment Department offered residents who live around Cannon Air Force Base an opportunity to have their private drinking water wells tested for PFAS contamination. The testing was available to anyone who lived in areas around Cannon Air Force Base on a first come, first serve basis (up to 150 households). To inquire about future private drinking water well testing, please email us at [email protected] with your full name, email address, street address, and phone number.

• State offers free private well water tests for PFAS near Cannon Air Force Base

​SANTA FE – The New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) confirms that a deceased resident of Lea County, who was unvaccinated, tested positive for measles.

The official cause of death is still under investigation by the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator. However, NMDOH Scientific Laboratory has confirmed the presence of the measles virus. The individual did not seek medical care before passing.

Measles is a highly contagious respiratory illness that can cause severe complications. One in five cases requires hospitalization, and approximately three in every 1,000 cases result in death.

The only prevention for the highly contagious respiratory illness is vaccination. With ongoing exposures in Lea County, NMDOH urges residents to get vaccinated to protect themselves and their families.

“We don’t want to see New Mexicans getting sick or dying from measles,” said Dr. Chad Smelser, NMDOH Deputy State Epidemiologist. “The measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine is the best protection against this serious disease.”

To support community protection, NMDOH has scheduled free measles vaccination clinics in Lea County on Tuesday, March 11:

• 9 a.m. — 3 p.m. at the Hobbs Public Health Office, 1923 N. Dal Paso. 
• 9 a.m. — 3 p.m. at the Lovington Public Health Office, 302 N. 5th Street.

If you have symptoms, call before visiting. Staff will provide guidance based on symptom severity:

• Hobbs Office (575) 397-2463. 
• Lovington Office (575) 396-2853.

Anyone with measles-related questions – such as about symptoms or vaccinations – is asked to call the NMDOH Helpline at 1-833-796-8773. The Helpline is staffed by nurses able to provide guidance in English and in Spanish.

More information is available on the NMDOH website at http://measles.doh.nm.gov.

The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum sends its deepest condolences to Anna Marie Hamilton, their sons, and the entire Hamilton family after the passing of Juan Hamilton.
 
A talented artist, Mr. Hamilton’s ceramic and sculpture works are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian, and many others, including the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.
 
After coming to New Mexico in 1973, Mr. Hamilton had an undeniable presence in Georgia O’Keeffe’s life. For 13 years, he became a companion both at home and in travel, a studio assistant, and a trusted administrator of O’Keeffe’s business affairs. He served as a special consultant to the Museum’s Board of Trustees since the Museum’s inception in 1997.
 
After her death, he became an ardent steward of her legacy, generously gifting many of O’Keeffe’s personal belongings to the Museum, which remain significant pieces of O’Keeffe’s story as an artist and a person. These objects and her story continue to inspire the thousands of people who visit the Museum and the Home & Studio in Abiquiú each year. Juan will be remembered as a dear friend of the Museum and our namesake artist. 

By: Patrick Lohmann
​Source NM

As Albuquerque and the rest of the state gear up for another wildfire season, a 22,000-square-foot building housing a wildfire dispatch center is on the list of lease terminations announced by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
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The building at 2113 Osuna Road Northeast in Albuquerque is the office for the Cibola National Forest Supervisor and also the headquarters of the Albuquerque Interagency Dispatch Center, which coordinates fire response among dozens or potentially hundreds of people from different agencies responding to a wildfire. 

According to the local broker for the lease between California-based EKF Properties LLC and the United States Forest Service, the property is the same one mentioned in the DOGE lease termination list. Property tax records also show the building has the same square footage as the one on the DOGE list. 

Emails and calls to the dispatch center or the National Interagency Fire Center, which oversees the dispatch center, were not returned or were returned undeliverable Tuesday. Several federal agencies, including the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, cooperate with the dispatch center, but did not respond to a request for comment. 

New Mexico State Forestry is also a partner. Forestry Spokesperson George Ducker declined to comment on the potential closure of the dispatch center but, in an emailed statement, called its work “critical” and “paramount” for  successful wildfire suppression. 

Dispatch centers coordinate fire suppression efforts between federal, state and tribal agencies, including monitoring radio traffic between hand crews, and air support. They also facilitate communications between incident command during larger and more complex wildfires, Ducker said. 

​“This kind of coordination is critical during emergencies where homes, lives and natural resources are at risk from wildfire,” Ducker said. “Because each wildfire requires an all-hands response, and that response can include from 100-1,000 people, maintaining good communication between all the different resources is paramount.”

The Albuquerque dispatch center, one of six in the state, covers the state’s biggest city, as well as hundreds of square miles in Central New Mexico, stretching south toward Truth or Consequences, west to Zuni Pueblo and east to Encino. Communications about wildfires that spark in that area, regardless of agency, flow through the dispatch center, as well as communications about ongoing prescribed burns. 

PEH

A new general surgeon has joined Presbyterian Española Hospital (PEH), expanding the care options close to home in northern New Mexico.

Dr. Antonio Brecevich will provide surgical treatment for a variety of conditions. He earned his Doctor of Medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and completed his general surgery residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, Texas.
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"I am excited and honored to join the general surgery team at Presbyterian Española Hospital and to serve this community,” said Dr. Brecevich. “I am committed to providing high quality care and I look forward to the opportunity to serve my patients for all of their surgical needs."
Brecevich will join surgeons Dr. Blair Hough and Dr. Miguel Iturregui at PEH in providing inpatient and outpatient surgical care, as well as emergency surgeries. Surgeries offered include minimally invasive surgery of the gallbladder and colon, hernia surgery, colorectal and gastrointestinal surgery, anorectal surgery, hemorrhoid surgery, colonoscopy, gastrointestinal endoscopy, surgery for skin cancer, and wound management. Our general surgeons and healthcare team members will care for you before, during and after your surgery. For more information, visit phs.org.

Stanford University's a cappella group, Talisman, is headed to New Mexico for their 2025 Spring Break Tour.  They will be visiting Santa Fe on March 24 & 25; and they will be at Ghost Ranch and in Abiquiú on March 26 & 27.  
 
Stanford Talisman shares stories and songs from around the world.  
 
Talisman will perform at the Agape Center at Ghost Ranch on Wednesday, March 26 at 7pm.  The show is free,  and donations are always appreciated.  They will be visiting Abiquiú Elementary on the 27th , as well as exploring the local area.  Casa Manz (David, Andie & Maxmiño Manzanares) are their New Mexico host family. 
 
Stanford Talisman just celebrated their 35th Anniversary. Last year, they traveled to Thailand, and when Maximiño  Manzanares was a member from 2018-2019, they traveled to Mumbai and Udaipur, India.  Generations of members have had the opportunity to perform locally, nationally (including at the White House and the 1996 Olympics), and internationally (multiple times in South Africa). Further, they have performed with such artists as Bobby McFerrin and Joan Baez.  
 
http://www.stanfordtalisman.com/about.html 
 
 We truly believe that they will leave all of us here in New Mexico with something very special.   Their voices will uplift all of our hearts and spirits!
 
Just a couple of their songs:
 
Prayer Song (Blackfoot & Cheyenne): 
https://youtu.be/-TXk28YUZxQ?si=PcpGJkRysMJpJoBI&t=2184
Amazing Grace: 
https://youtu.be/-TXk28YUZxQ?si=LV2-Ic6yWb-SIFPc&t=5929
 
Questions?  Call 505-469-2015 or [email protected]

By Felicia Fredd
Images Courtesy of Felicia Fredd

While it’s still winter, I’d like to share a few garden photos that illustrate great ‘winter interest’ in a minimalist natural garden. In this case, it’s all about magical lichen covered boulders that happen to perfectly compliment a small aspen grove in a shady entry area - the sight of which gave me a good jolt of inspiration. I think one could actually make a career as a garden rock specialist, as a kind of Japanese master of form, placement, texture, light effects, color, etc. Of course you’d probably end up killed by a giant boulder, but it could be an otherwise beautiful life.

The unprofessional photos below (mine) were taken in the garden of Krista Elrick, a professional photographer and environmental activist who lives on the northwest edge of Santa Fe, NM. Her project began 20+ years ago with some large expanses of what I call scorched earth. She started with placement of very large boulders (via crane) to begin developing a sense of here vs. there - of garden space, or garden islands. It was a great instinct, and we have since been finding more and more transformative uses for even common grades of “crushed rock” to cool and protect soil, retain moisture, slow sheet flow of intense stormwater events, and shelter plants - many of which are native volunteers. We aren’t done, and there will be more documentation of the project in my Xtreme Design SW BLOG files.

AKA New Mexico for second-graders.
By Zach Hively

More than once, I’ve been accused—to my face!—of coming from a fake, made-up, incomprehensible place called New Mexico.

“You live in a not-real part of the world,” someone has told me.

This was rich, considering the circumstances: we stood on a platform in a train station in Cologne, a very few steps from both a monstrously tall dark and handsome medieval cathedral and a Lego store. If any place belongs in a fantasy novel, it is this one. (Especially once you spell the city the proper local way, Köln; only fantasy realms have little eyes above their vowels.)

The accusations have truth to them, though.

I do come from New Mexico. It is incomprehensible. And a limited number of people have at least heard of it. This is usually enough to make a New Mexican like me feel a bit of validation.

So imagine my delight when a friend of a friend asked me if I, as a New Mexican, would write a letter to her friend’s friend’s second-grade classroom in New Jersey. The letter needed to be about—what else?—Arizona.

Kidding! That would be like me calling New Jersey “New York,” which no one can get away with unless one is an NFL team.

The class project, simply enough, is to collect interesting facts from different places around the world, thereby saving the teacher from a bit of lesson planning.

Now, you might think that writing to a roomful of eight-year-olds is easy for me, a professional writer. You might be wrong.

This classroom is not, in professional writer parlance, my target audience. Most of the students do not themselves have the purchasing power to make book-buying decisions for their households.

Also, they live in New Jersey, a place I have never been and thus is fake, made-up, and incomprehensible. I need them to write me a letter about New Jersey first, so that I know what will best stun them about New Mexico.

However, they—being students in the USA—may not yet know their alphabet well enough to draft such a letter. So I am left unguided to compile a set of Interesting Facts about my home state.

These Interesting Facts are based on my actual responses to actual accusations I have received from possibly well-meaning ignoramuses around the world but especially around the country:

• Green chile is one of our state vegetables. It is a delicious member of the pepper family and not, in fact, a Dr. Seuss/St. Patrick lovechild chili stew that is colored green. You can put green chile in a bowl of chili, though, because you can put green chile in literally anything here. Green chile is our pumpkin spice.
• Red chile is green chile that grew up. You can also put this in literally anything. But not in any of the same ways as green chile. Like, at all. Except to put it in chili. (This makes it less Texan.)
• Our identity extends far beyond chile, I swear.
• For instance, we also have water. Not much of it, after we irrigate our chile crops! But yes, it is safe to drink.
• I mean, the ground water at my house specifically should not be used for drinking or cooking. But this is not because it’s New Mexican water! Even though it is New Mexican water. Generally speaking, though, you have less to fear from the water than from the chile.
• Not kidding about that. Green chile put my brother-in-law in the hospital.
• Granted, he comes from another made-up place named “Tennessee” after the famous playwright. Tennessee has an average humidity of 98%, an average elevation of five feet, and the cumulative spice level of Wonder Bread.
• New Mexico is none of those things.
• Our English is very good, thank you—almost as good as our Tiwa, Tewa, Keres, Towa, Zuni, Navajo, Mescalero Apache, Jicarilla Apache, and Spanish, all of which have been spoken here since long before New Jersey was even a colony.
• Yes, you can mail us packages at domestic rates from anywhere in the United States, no matter what your local postal employee says.
• In fact, we quite enjoy getting mail, ever since we began receiving postal service around 2011 or so.
• You can get on our good side if you send us products from IKEA or In-N-Out Burger, which we do not have here despite being, ostensibly, a United State.
• Nor will we ever get them, in case this influences your decision to attempt relocating here.
• But we will ship you some green chile in exchange.

A mild green chile sunset.

In summation, you second-graders and other people: we New Mexicans live in a very real, very non-made-up place, as actual and verifiable as roadrunners and jackalopes.
And no—as much as I wish I did, I don’t have a New Mexico passport to prove it.​

By Peter Nagle
 
The Market volatility continues! Markets are about 7% off their highs. Which is not a tremendous amount. But many popular stocks - think Magnificent 7 - are off a good deal more. 
 
Nvidia is down 24% from its high. Even Meta and Tesla (couldn’t happen to a nicer guy) are way off their highs. And I would say, absent a Market meltdown which I don’t think is happening, this volatility is a good thing. It creates buying opportunities and resets things. 
 
Many analysts attribute this ongoing volatility to the misguided tariff policies the current administration is promoting. When you do things that hurt your friends, you have to wonder what’s behind it. 
 
Nonetheless, most Analysts I listen to think we’re still solidly in a Bull Market and that this is temporary volatility. Time will tell. But for the equities in your portfolio, assuming they are part of your portfolio and not all of it, looking out to the long term, they should be ok. 
 
At the same time, not all of any portfolio should be in equities, unless you’re 25. There should be some fixed and guaranteed investments in there too. A balanced portfolio is always best, especially as we age. 
 
I provide financial advice to individuals in our Abiquiu community at no charge as a way of giving back. If you have questions in that area feel free to contact me. I’ll do the best I can to help you sort through the issues. 
 
Peter J Nagle
Thoughtful Income Advisory
Abiquiu, NM
505-423-5378 (mobile)
[email protected]

By Karima Alavi
 
My last article, The Search for a New Home, recounted the quest for just the right place to build a mosque, and the purchase of Abiquiu land that had previously been used for cattle ranching. Having obtained the land, a small group of American Muslims were determined to situate the mosque at the center of the mesa overlooking the Chama River and Abiquiu pueblo. Once the center was marked, the next step was the actual construction of the mosque which was the first building to go up as part of a plan to eventually create a school, a retreat center, homes, and businesses on the site. The designer hired for this project was Hassan Fathy, the Egyptian architect revered for his dedication to bringing back traditional mud construction as opposed to the use of western architectural designs and materials.

To facilitate the construction of the Dar al Islam mosque two men, Nooruddeen Durkee and Omar Cashmere traveled to Egypt to study ancient adobe-brick construction with several Egyptian masons. Accompanying them was Nooruddeen’s wife, Noora Issa. They returned to New Mexico with a treasure—Mr. Fathy’s architectural drawings.

The next item that needed attention was to gather a crew of Muslims and non-Muslims to begin the first step of construction: laying the foundation. Local workers were hired, with Dexter Trujillo being the first non-Muslim to join this remarkable enterprise.

The most critical part of building a new structure is laying the foundation. A seemingly small miscalculation can prove disastrous later on. These young builders, many of them with construction experience, some of them learning as they went along, were ready to start.

There was, however, a significant issue to consider. Something that could be seen as a challenge, or as a blessing, depending upon the level of one’s determination and religious fervor.

Construction was set to begin during one of the holiest months of the year for Muslims, Ramadan. (Which will be the focus of my next article.) This time of fasting, extra prayers, and religious reflection follows the Islamic lunar calendar of 354 days and hence, makes an annual shift of 11 days. In 1980, Ramadan stretched from mid-July to mid-August, the hottest time of the year in New Mexico.

Undeterred, even spurred on by what was seen as an auspicious time to bore the first shovel into the ground, the young, excited Muslims moved ahead with digging the foundation.
By hand.
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No backhoes for these folks. They were determined to work with traditional construction methods, using picks and shovels the way mosques had been built for centuries. 

Fasting during Ramadan meant that the Muslim workers could have nothing to eat, or drink, during daylight hours. In those long thirsty summer days, beneath the unforgiving New Mexico sun, one discovery offered these people relief: a large metal water trough left over from the days when this property served as a cattle ranch.

They rigged up a long black pipe that sourced water from a wind-driven pump on the land, and filled the trough. When the heat became unbearable, the workers submerged themselves in the water to cool off. In this way, they were able to make it to the evening prayers and the breaking of the fast, which moved from 8:20 pm at the beginning of Ramadan to 8:03 on the last night of the month. 

The crew faced an additional challenge at this time. Where would they sleep? Local people went home each night, but many workers, especially the Muslim converts from other towns, had no where to live while pursuing their desert dream. As Rahmah Lutz told me during an interview, this project appealed to those who had a strong sense of religious purpose as well as a leaning toward an alternative lifestyle. Pretty soon the obvious solution to the housing problem arose. Spend the nights outside in sleeping bags, build a small roofed ramada for shade, and cook outdoors. They even rigged up a solar-heated shower.

Khadija Cashmere, wife of Omar who had traveled to Egypt to study adobe masonry, told me she alternated between staying in their Santa Fe home, and sleeping and eating on site. Pregnant, and caring for their three-year-old son, she managed to assist with cooking on a gas camp stove.  When locals told her to burn cow paddies to ward off bugs she thought, at first, that they were kidding. Then she tried it. Life in the ramada became more pleasant. 

Another couple, Abdur Rahim and Rahmah Lutz, lived “in luxury” at the time. They had a house on County Road 155, the place they still call home. With electricity, a functional bathroom, and a telephone, the Lutzes found themselves hosting and feeding lots of wet visitors when rainstorms made the ramada and outdoor campsites uninhabitable. According to Rahmah, “We were all in a special spiritual place. This whole thing was fueled by Islam.” And food. Lots of food.
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It was that sort of energy and commitment that inspired workers to gather, pray, and start digging once the mesa had been leveled and the foundation was staked out. In the words of Abdur Rahim Lutz, “Building the Mosque was fun!” 

All was right with the world. Then…it wasn’t.

An inspector from the New Mexico Construction Regulation and Licensing Department made a surprise visit. Out came the red flag.
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Construction of the Dar al Islam mosque came to an immediate halt.