Crowded trails spur rising ‘off-road rage’ - SantaFeNewMexican.com
Critics point out ATV riders account for 10 percent of visitors to public land, at most. Yet their impact whining engine noise, dust clouds visible for miles and nuisance driving, especially by young operators profoundly affects the other 90 percent.
"You can’t recreate with these machines around. It will ruin your day," said Bob Clark, a Sierra Club regional official who was knocked to the ground by a dirt bike in the Great Burn Roadless Area in eastern Idaho two summers ago.
Clark declined to discuss the episode after the biker was penalized with only a misdemeanor $72 fine. But according to witness accounts, the dirt bike’s front wheel was in line to come down on Clark’s head when Clark deflected it, spilling the rider atop another hiker. Clark had been trying to get a photo of the biker, who was on a trail barred to motorized vehicles.
"If you’re out there, just about every time you’ll run into off-road vehicle conflict," said Mike Eisenfeld, a Farmington environmental activist who often mountain bikes in nearby Glade Run, the sort of demi-urban recreation zone under the most pressure.
"It’s the norm, not the exception," he added.
Trail tensions are not driven exclusively by ATVs. Hikers are irked at having their solitude broken by careening mountain bikes. And everyone has to get off the trail to let horses pass. But along with their noise, recreational off-roaders often are preceded by their reputation.
"It’s totally about culture," said Bethanie Walder of Wildlands CPR, which opposes off-roading. "I think that’s where the problem derives. They prefer to ride off-trail. They want to blaze their own trail. The culture’s one of ‘I can do whatever I want.’ I think the Forest Service is afraid of them. I wouldn’t confront an ORV rider."
Crowded trails spur rising ‘off-road rage’ - SantaFeNewMexican.com
August 14th, 2008
In Uncategorized
Almost two weeks ago, I accepted a big project from Wiley Publishing. I’m co-authoring a book on digital cameras and photography. The schedule is crazy — crazier than my Vista book, in fact. (If such things can be measure, it’s 4 times crazier.) I’ll report more about the project in a few weeks — when it’s over.
Immediately upon accepting a killer schedule, I left town to go camping. (Wiley knew.) Six of us went camping just north of Chama in a favorite spot. It rained several times every day and every hike ended in the rain — one ended in hail. It was green, cool, and wet, none of which New Mexico is right now, as the monsoon pauses.
The high point of the trip was having hummingbirds sit on my finger for up to a minute at a time as I held my hand over my head, next to a feeder. Pure delight — one of those top ten joys, though, I suspect, anyone could get the hummers to do the same with enough hummers, food and patience.
The second great thrill of the trip was sighting a magnificent hummingbird, both a description and the species name. The magnificent is two to three times larger than its cousins. Our trip ornithologist (we know how to travel) says the farthest north the Mexican magnificents have been reported is the Gila, in New Mexico. This female was way off-course.
There are pictures and more commentary, all of which have to wait a few weeks.
peace,
mjh
[cross-posted to all my blogs]
July 30th, 2008
In Uncategorized
Coexisting with Cougars (NM Wilderness Alliance www.nmwild.org)
New Mexico Game Department Regulations
Permit the Overkill of Cougars
Cougars count—let’s count them all. New Mexico Department of Game and Fish (NMDGF) regulations allow for the liberal killing of cougars. Make your voice heard and send a free fax to the New Mexico Game Commission, telling them you want to see cougars protected in New Mexico!
Send your fax here
Talking Points
Over 40% of all the cougars killed in New Mexico are females. Females in the crosshairs result in many uncounted orphaned kittens. This is biologically unsustainable and ethically indefensible.
Cougars killed on private lands, in big horn sheep areas, or for livestock conflicts are not counted as part of the total hunting quota. Some landowners exploit the public’s wildlife for private profit.
The state pays a private trapper tens of thousands of dollars each year to kill cougars in certain game units to “prevent” livestock losses; a system that’s ripe for corruption. Those in agribusiness should rely on non-lethal animal husbandry practices, not expect a state-sponsored handout.
PLEASE SEND A LETTER BY July 22, 2008, to the New Mexico Game Commission. http://www.wildlife.state.nm.us/
July 21st, 2008
In newmexico wildlife
Wildlife Agency Is ‘Collaborating’ Gray Wolf to Death, By Michael J. Robinson, Center for Biological Diversity
One runs a risk rejecting a call for a "reasonable compromise" issued by a public official inveighing against "polarized groups." But the endangered Mexican gray wolf has been compromised so many times, and consequently is so close to extinction, that we must scrutinize any proposed compromise. …
The recovery area’s carrying capacity was analyzed in the 2001 three-year review, also known as the Paquet Report for its lead author, Paul C. Paquet of the University of Calgary. Paquet is one of the world’s leading wolf biologists, and his three colleagues in the review brought additional expertise in wolf recovery, population demographics and statistical analysis.
Unlike the authors of the five-year review, none of the authors of the three-year review are affiliated with government agencies, and three of them are in academia. The Paquet Report concluded, looking at elk and deer availability and not counting bighorn sheep, pronghorn, javelina and beaver, all of which wolves eat, that the recovery area could support between 213 and 468 wolves.
But this past January, a year after the area was projected to reach the reintroduction project’s goal of 100 wolves with an estimated 18 breeding pairs, a count revealed only 52 wolves and three breeding pairs.
- - - - -
Win-Win Possible for Wolf Recovery, By Benjamin N. Tuggle, Southwest Regional Director, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
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Federal agency gets 13,000 comments on wolf plans - Las Cruces Sun-News
The Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—Many of the more than 13,000 people commenting on how to improve U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to reintroduce the Mexican wolf into the wild either strongly support or object to the program. Problem is, that’s not the question.
The federal agency took public comments from Aug. 7 to Dec. 31 on how best to pursue the wolf reintroduction program, not whether or not the program should exist.
The agency received comments from 13,598 people after its call for public input and divided the responses into 26 topics.
July 21st, 2008
In newmexico wildlife
Santa Fe National Forest: Proposal cuts road use in half - SantaFeNewMexican.com
With 4,924 miles of existing roads, the Santa Fe National Forest had the first or second highest density of roads per acre of any national forest in Arizona or New Mexico, depending on if wilderness areas are counted. The proposal calls for leaving 2,309 miles of road open to vehicular use. [1.5 million-acre forest] …
All national forests are creating similar, so-called Travel Management Plans to control increasingly popular off-road recreation under a 2005 Forest Service rule. Unmanaged recreation was identified as one of four major threats to national forests, along with fire, loss of open space and invasive species.
Reaction to the proposal was swift and emotional in both directions.
Santa Fe National Forest: Proposal cuts road use in half - SantaFeNewMexican.com
July 11th, 2008
In newmexico
Take a hike! : Hiking : The Rocky Mountain News
Scenic treasures await in Colorado’s backcountry when you feel like hoofing it
By Jan McKinney, Special to the Rocky
An ancient forest, a wilderness river, a gentle mountain lake, a desert canyon and a dark canyon all await you in the backcountry reaches of Colorado this summer. Colorado is laced with hundreds of great hikes, but here are a few to get you started.
Take a hike! : Hiking : The Rocky Mountain News
July 3rd, 2008
In colorado
peace, mjh
Results of poll on feelings about wolves in NM, AZ - Las Cruces Sun-News
By The Associated Press
Article Launched: 06/16/2008 12:03:33 PM MDT
ALBUQUERQUE—A look at results from a poll of 1,000 residents of New Mexico and Arizona, half in each state, about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 10-year-old program to reintroduce the Mexican gray wolf on public lands in the two states.
—Sixty-seven percent of Arizonans and 57 percent of New Mexicans favor giving wolves greater protection under the Endangered Species Act; 14 percent of Arizonans and 25 percent of New Mexicans oppose the idea.
—Fifty-one percent of Arizonans and 49 percent of New Mexicans believe livestock grazing is good for the environment; 16 percent of Arizonans and 19 percent of New Mexicans disagree.
—Sixty-two percent of Arizonans and 53 percent of New Mexicans support letting wolves migrate to suitable habitat in the states; 17 percent of Arizonans and 24 percent of New Mexicans oppose migration.
—Sixty percent of Arizonans rate their overall feelings about wolves as positive; 13 percent are negative and 22 percent are neutral. In New Mexico, 48 percent have overall positive feelings, 19 percent are negative and 26 percent are neutral.
—Sixty percent of Arizonans and half of the New Mexicans surveyed want ranchers to be required to remove or render inedible the carcasses of cattle that die of non-wolf causes—something environmental groups have pushed for.
—Fifty-one percent of Arizonans and 48 percent of New Mexicans support reimbursing ranchers who volunteer to give up their grazing leases.
A portion of the poll calling for respondants to state the first thing that came to mind when thinking about wolves found:
Arizona:
—21 percent: beautiful animal
—14 percent endangered species
—12 percent wild
—6 percent dangerous
—4 percent kill livestock
—13 percent don’t know or won’t say
New Mexico:
—9 percent endangered species
—7 percent beautiful animal
—6 percent wild
—4 percent kill livestock
—3 percent dangerous
—13 percent don’t know or won’t say
———
Information from poll done in April and May by Research & Polling Inc. of Albuquerque. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
Results of poll on feelings about wolves in NM, AZ - Las Cruces Sun-News
June 17th, 2008
In arizona newmexico wildlife
peace, mjh
ABQjournal NM: Fight Over Mountain Emotional
By Leslie Linthicum
Copyright © 2008 Albuquerque Journal; Journal Staff Writer
Mount Taylor and its mesas rise from the desert, and its peak— often capped with snow— reaches 11,301 feet. The mountain can be seen from Albuquerque, 80 miles away, and beckons hikers, hunters, piñon gatherers, and skiers and bikers for an annual quadrathlon.
Members of Acoma Pueblo call the mountain Kawesktima, "a place of snow." To the Navajo it is Tsoodzil, or "turquoise mountain." The Zunis call it Dewankwi Kyabachu Yalanne or "in the east snow-capped mountain."
Members of those tribes, along with the Hopis and Lagunas, made the application for a traditional cultural property distinction for the mountain.
The tribes hold the mountain sacred, and it plays a part in their traditional lives. It is a place where their deities live; where shrines are visited; where feathers, plants and soils are collected for religious uses; and where pilgrimages are made for prayers.
Members of the tribes said they asked for the state designation after they saw a flurry of uranium exploration permits for the mountain and after some exploration activities disturbed religious shrines and ancestral graves.
ABQjournal NM: Fight Over Mountain Emotional
June 17th, 2008
In Other Peoples newmexico wildlands
Be sure to read Judy’s latest. Follow her around the edge of the Gila in a great birding expedition. peace, mjh
Following New Mexico’s Southwest Birding Trail « Judy’s Jottings
Further along we are startled when a flash of red and orange shoots from the foliage and lands briefly in the branch of a cottonwood before heading across the river. As we pull out our field guides hoping it is a Flame-colored Tanager, we are equally delighted to identify it as a first spring Summer Tanager.
June 13th, 2008
In newmexico wildlife
New Mexico, Gutierrez Canyon Open Space Expanded to Over 800 Acres (NM): The Trust for Public Land
The property is accessed by a small strip of land just south of the Cedar Springs post office. It is surrounded on the north and east sides by residential development, and abuts Gutierrez Canyon Open Space on the south. Its protection brings the total acreage of Gutierrez Canyon Open Space to 700 acres, and creates the first public access from N.M. 14, the Turquoise Trail.
The property offers hikers and equestrians impressive views from its high ground, and includes oak filled side canyons. Residential development was a very real threat in this scenic part of Cedar Springs, but decisive action from community activists and local and state government ensured its conservation as open space.
New Mexico: The Trust for Public Land
June 12th, 2008
In daytrips newmexico
New Mexico Heritage Preservation Alliance
The New Mexico Heritage Preservation Alliance is a statewide, private non-profit organization that promotes, protects, and advocates for New Mexico’s heritage.
June 12th, 2008
In newmexico
Save La Bajada Mesa!
Mission Statement
The mission of Save La Bajada Mesa is to protect the cultural, environmental and economic resources of of Santa Fe County from the adverse impacts of strip mining La Bajada Mesa.
NMHeritage.org: Resources: NM Preservation Resources
La Bajada Mesa and Escarpment, Santa Fe
Significance: La Bajada represents a key landscape demarcation between what the Spanish colonial world termed the Rio Abajo and Rio Arriba regions of New Mexico–the lower and upper lands with their distinct ecologies and climates. It also represented the greatest single obstacle for movement across the land as signified by the many pathways that early travelers used to climb or descend the escarpment. These various paths stretch for miles along the escarpment eastward beyond the Cerrillos Hills to the Galisteo Basin and westward to the Canon Santa Fe. The wagon and, later, automobile roads passing near the village of La Bajada recall historic (and prehistoric) north and south movement. Early engravings and, later, postcards celebrated the escarpment and the challenges it posed to transportation. Many of these early images convey a sense of the grandeur of undisturbed open spaces, altered only by the engineering feats of modest roadways scaling the escarpment.
Threat: Mining and development could disturb the view shed of the entire escarpment. Any disturbances of the land (including cell towers) will diminish the capacity to appreciate the significance of the space. Retaining an undisturbed as possible view shed is essential to retaining a feeling for this important landscape and what it has meant historically for defining New Mexico’s southwestern character.
June 12th, 2008
In newmexico
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