SANTA FE – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and state behavioral health officials highlighted resources Oct. 27  to support New Mexicans during the ongoing health emergency.

“For many, the pandemic is a source of fear, anxiety, and uncertainty – but there is plenty we can do to take care of ourselves and our loved ones,” the governor said. “And it’s essential that we take time for genuine self-care. That’s how we’ll find the calm and stability to weather this time – together.”

“Even when we’re quarantining, we’re still all in this together,” New Mexico Behavioral Health Collaborative CEO Bryce Pittenger said. “Please reach out to mental health providers...

Week ending Friday, October 23, 2020

Pre Dust Bowl?

A new study finds dust levels are rising in the American Great Plains due to farming practices and climate trends that scientists say are reminiscent of the lead-up to the 1930s Dust Bowl period. The University of Utah research finds that the amount of dust has risen up to 5percent per year, which coincides with the expansion of cropland and seasonal crop cycles. Writing in Geophysical Research Letters, the scientists suggest farming practices could now be exposing more soil to wind erosion, albeit much less than when 1920s Midwestern farmers were tilling the topsoil with mechanical plows. This led to the Dust Bowl after severe...

Path to recovery for Mexican spotted owls

Everybody’s smiling, even the Mexican spotted owls, after WildEarth Guardians, the U. S. Forest Service and the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service reached an out-of-court agreement Oct. 27 to resolve a major legal dispute over the threatened owls and national forest protection in New Mexico and Arizona.

A federal court issued an injunction on tree cutting in national forests in the Southwest in response to a lawsuit originally filed by WildEarth Guardians in 2013. It has been in place since Sept. 2019.

This agreement requires the USFS to comply with the Endangered Species Act by conducting annual population trend monitoring of the Mexican...

The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the Secretary of the Interior for protection for the Temblor legless lizard on Oct. 20. The lizard, which swims through sand, only survives in four places, one of them is central California’s Kern County, more than 98 percent of which is open to oil and gas development.

“Rampant oil drilling is causing double damage to the legless lizard by destroying habitat and accelerating climate change,” Center conservation advocate Jeff Miller said.

“We can’t continue to allow habitat loss and increased wildfire risk at the hands of fossil fuel developers whose sole concern is profit.”

The entire range of the Temblor legless lizard...