Tagged: Conservation Beat

A developer is suing Rio Rancho for $5.6 million. At issue are credits it earned for infrastructure it built at a large planned community in the city and a new ordinance that slashes or eliminates impact fees.

New Mexico has a long history of leading solar development. This continues to be true, despite the closure of Schott Solar earlier this summer. A new company hopes to start manufacturing again at the Schott plant. It faces significant challenges from offshore competitors. But there are many other companies in the solar industry here that are finding success.

Western wildfires have gotten bigger—and the wildfire season is getting longer. That’s according to a new report from the nonprofit organization Climate Central.

Since the 1970’s the average number of large fires each year has doubled in many western states, including  New Mexico.

The bigger fires are due in part to how forests have been managed.  For much of the 20th century, forest fires were suppressed—and dry timber and vegetation built up to dangerous levels.

But climate scientists say warmer temperatures are also responsible.

This week, the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish announced it’s keeping a closer eye on southern New Mexico, where some deer are infected with chronic wasting disease. That disease attacks the brain and spinal column of deer and elk, causing them to become emaciated and eventually die.  

Chronic wasting disease isn’t widespread in New Mexico, but there are some hot zones near Cloudcroft and Alamogordo.

We're used to putting the blame for climate change on industrial plants and gas-guzzling cars and trucks. But Santa Fe architect Edward Mazria says it's actually the buildings we live in that are the worst offenders.  

Mazria is the author of the Passive Solar Energy Book used by builders worldwide.  He'll  be speaking tonight in Albuquerque.  KUNM's Conservation Beat reporter Megan Kamerick caught up with Mazria for a sneak preview of his talk.

Here, where the Alameda Bridge crosses the Rio Grande on the north side of Albuquerque, you can see what New Mexico’s weak monsoon season looks like on the ground.

The water is braided around sandbars and islands. It’s so shallow that even where the river is flowing, sand is visible just a few inches below the surface. Two Canada Geese honk beneath the bridge, then take off. When they land again, their feet are barely covered by the water.

After more than two weeks, the Fox Mountain Pack alpha female wolf is still on the loose, foiling The Fish and Wildlife Service’s best efforts to trap and move her to an Arizona Sanctuary. For wolf advocates this is good news, because it's another day she can spend raising her pups. But for ranchers, it means a habitual livestock killer is still an active threat to their cattle. The Mexican Gray Wolf reintroduction program has been controversial since its inception, but a new coexistence plan seeks to fix that...through compromise.