Conservation
New Mexico Trout has a tradition of welcoming the Spring opening of FR 376 between the Gilman Tunnels and Porter's Landing with a volunteer trash pickup. That Forest Service road provides access to our Rio Guadalupe home water and it accumulates a lot of roadside trash over a season's heavy use by the many people who visit that corridor ... Read More
A diesel tanker truck overturned on 27 December, spilling hundreds of gallons of fuel into the Cimarron river near Eagle Nest. New Mexico Environment Department and Game and Fish Department assisted in the cleanup, using absorbent booms to stem the downstream flow of the contaminant, and allowing the fuel to be pumped from the river. Four days later, authorities reported that the spill had been cleaned up, but that monitoring of the river would continue for several months. Link to ABQ Journal article. ... Read More
The Santa Fe National Forest has installed eight signs along the Jemez river to educate the public on the importance of the streamside vegetation and unrestricted river flown suitable habitat for trout ... Read More
The New Mexico Game and Fish Commission approved catch and release regulations on a portion of the Rio Chama at its November 2016 meeting, due in large part to the tireless efforts of Noah Parker over several years ... Read More
The Upper Colorado River Commission is offering $1.8 million in funding for pilot projects in which users in the upper basin states of Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico voluntarily reduce their demand on the Colorado River. Drought is turning the nation's largest reservoir dry - Lake Mead reached its lowest levels this summer since the 1930s - and Lake Powell is limping along, just a little over half full. The major tributary in New Mexico to the Colorado River and Lake Powell is the San Juan River. The idea for these pilot projects is to test what works and ... Read More
SANTA FE, NM – July 25, 2016 – For Immediate Release. While Forest Service crews were constructing a fence to protect critical habitat for the endangered New Mexico meadow jumping mouse, a 10-person team of researchers from Northern Arizona University (NAU) confirmed that the Santa Fe National Forest (SFNF) is home to the species. Wildlife ecologist and NAU School of Forestry professor Carol Chambers, Ph.D., and her crew surveyed 10 sites in or near suitable habitat for the mouse and confirmed its presence in eight of the 10. Dr. Chambers' team used Sherman traps, which are box-style traps used for live ... Read More
WHAT: For the past several months the lower Jemez Creek has been the site of a major Forest Service stream restoration project. Old, ineffective stream structures have been replaced, pools and meanders have been constructed, and willows and cottonwoods have been planted along the stream banks. The forest Service has asked us to do some follow-up work on the plantings, primarily to do some deep watering to help them get through this extremely dry period until we (hopefully) get some summer rain. Cecil Rich, the SF National Forest fisheries biologist, will give us a brief overview of the project as ... Read More
Ron Loehman, Conservation Chairman The 1.3 miles of the Rio Guadalupe from Porter's Landing to Llano Loco Spring is designated as a Special Trout Water by the NM Game and Fish Department (NMG&FD). These regulations restrict anglers to single barbless hooks on artificial flies or lures and require any fish caught to be released unharmed. Over the years, the signs posting these regulations have deteriorated or been knocked down so that many anglers seem not to know that they apply to the Guadalupe. Mike Maes (NM Trout Membership Chairman) recently observed this situation, which prompted an offer from us to the ... Read More