Conservation
New Mexico Trout joined with several other conservation organizations as a signatory to a letter to Gov Susana Martinez asking her to oppose the controversial Gila River diversion project in favor of long-term solutions that protect rivers. The Interstate Stream Commission is studying engineering, cost and environmental impact of 16 alternative projects to balance protection of fish and wildlife habitat while complying with the Arizona Water Settlements Act (AWSA). These studies are intended to inform the state's 2014 decision on whether or not to use Gila River water under the AWSA. The AWSA is a congressionally approved bill intended to ... Read More
The New Mexico Supreme Court has rejected an attempt by the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association to reverse historic water quality protections put in place by the state Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) in December of 2010. The ruling puts to rest an extended legal battle over the WQCC's decision to designate rivers and streams located in Wilderness Areas as Outstanding National Resource Waters (ONRWs). In their unanimous decision the court "quashed" the Cattle Growers last ditch legal maneuver to reverse the protections. The Court found that the cattle growers did not demonstrate "adverse harm" by the protections and thus ... Read More
The draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Landscape Restoration and Stewardship Plan (Stewardship Plan) is available for public review and comment! This 10-year plan is being created for the restoration and management of the forest, grassland, shrubland, and riparian ecosystems on the preserve. Proposed activities include, forest thinning, wildland fire management, road closure, decommissioning, maintenance and repair; riparian restoration, erosion control, and noxious weed eradication and control.
- Move the structure, composition, and function of the preserve's natural systems towards the reference condition.
- Reduce the potential for wildland fire to burn with uncharacteristic severity or extent.
- Reintroduce wild land ... Read More
In a collaboration between the Department of Game and Fish, Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife, Vermejo Park Ranch and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Rio Grande cutthroat trout will have protected habitat long into the future. A Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances (CCAA) for Vermejo Park Ranch, recently approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, will help conserve and restore the New Mexico State Fish and other native fish in the Costilla watershed. At Vermejo Park Ranch, non-native trout were removed and Rio Grande cutthroat were stocked. Non-native trout will continue to be removed from the ... Read More
Ron Loehman Conservation Chairman New Mexico Senators Udall and Heinrich and Representative Lujan have reintroduced legislation to add the Columbine-Hondo area in northern New Mexico to the Federal Wilderness system. The proposal will create a 45,000-acre wilderness adjacent to the present Wheeler Peak Wilderness in the Carson National Forest north Of Taos. You can access a map of the area here. The Columbine-Hondo was designated a Federal Wilderness Study Area in 1980. Conservationists, outdoor organizations, and many others have advocated for its transfer to the Federal Wilderness system since that time, but for one reason or another it never happened ... Read More
Ron Loehman The Santa Fe National Forest (SFNF) has rolled out a comprehensive Travel Management Plan that makes a lot of changes in the road and trail network in the forest. The process started in 2005 when the USFS adopted a rule that required each National Forest and Grassland in the US to identify and designate the roads, trails, and areas that would be open to motor vehicle use. Once implemented, all motor vehicle use off the designated system would be prohibited. That process is now complete for the SFNF following years of planning, environmental impact analyses, and input from ... Read More
Ron Loehman, Conservation Chairman June 1st was the date for New Mexico Trout's annual volunteer project day and BBQ. This year the project location was a spot near where FR 376 passes over the Rio Cebolla in the Jemez District of the Santa Fe National Forest (SFNF). Our task was to build vehicle barriers to help close off an old, informal road that has been eroding and contributing to the degradation of the creek and its surrounding meadow. Earlier, SFNF personnel had built a gate across the old road to allow access only by emergency vehicles. We were there to build ... Read More
by Ron Loehman Last Saturday, May 11, I assisted Dave Menicucci with an eyeball survey of the fish population in the fourteen-mile stretch of Rio San Antonio in the Valles Caldera. Dave has gotten approval for a study to determine if trout can be relocated to even out the apparent patchy distribution of fish in the San Antonio in the aftermath of the Las Conchas fire. See article below for a fuller description. We each walked upstream along a seven-mile stretch with a GPS and recorded the fish we saw in each quarter-mile section. I had the lower half, Reaches ... Read More