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Northern NM voters weigh officials’ disaster response and stance on climate change
While people in Mora County continue to recuperate from the state’s largest wildfire and ongoing floods, the General Election looms. Officials’ disaster-recovery efforts are fresh on people’s minds as early voting starts up in October. After the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire tore through northern New Mexico, candidates’ positions on the environment and how to secure […]
Feds begin air-dropping seeds and mulch over the burn scar in northern NM
Watersheds have been threatened and damaged for months by the largest wildfire in the state’s recorded history and the flooding that followed. This week, the Natural Resources Conservation Service got a start on land restoration, dropping seeds by helicopter and mulch by plane onto private land. The Emergency Watershed Protection Program is a federal recovery […]
Fire crews clean up land they damaged while fighting Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire
From mending fences to planting seeds, firefighters are nearly done fixing the damage they caused while battling the largest wildfire New Mexico’s ever seen. With suppression efforts like bulldozing vegetation and trees, as well as igniting controlled burns, crews tore up land and damaged property on and around the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon burn scar. They’ve […]
Northern NM residents piece together rough housing solutions when FEMA aid doesn’t come
One Mora County resident has been living out of his car or with friends for months after New Mexico’s largest fire burned his home down. Another couple has been living in a donated trailer behind the gas station. Another fled to her barn for safety, which ended up flooding. Someone else, unsafe at his house […]
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to halt some flood mitigation help in northern NM at end of the month
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers helping northern New Mexico counties grappling with wildfire and flooding disasters for months will be gone from a number of projects by October. Then, it’ll be up to the state, county and other organizations to keep up the work that the Army Corps started. Heavy rain has caused major […]
Northern NM ranch wants to use wildfire to educate children, people with disabilities
CLEVELAND, N.M. – Lessons from the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon wildfire could soon be taught to people with disabilities and students at a ranch that was saved by fire suppression efforts. Collins Lake Ranch, a 300-acre property surrounded by forest in Mora County, is a full time home for people with disabilities and their coaches. Steve […]
NM to expand broadband in rural and tribal areas that were ‘left behind for a long time’
With millions of dollars in funding from the federal government, New Mexico is trying to expand high-speed internet access across the state, especially in rural and tribal areas, where many have unreliable or out-of-date infrastructure and feel they get largely ignored. Local, state, federal and tribal officials met on Wednesday in Los Ranchos to discuss […]
Mora County still struggling amid flooding disasters
With bridges threatening to collapse from flooding, destroyed roads trapping people in or away from their homes and poor cell service, Mora County still has a long way to go in recovering from the state’s largest wildfire. After the immediate threat from the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire ceased, County Commissioner Veronica Serna thought Mora would […]
FEMA assistance application deadline extended for another month
Victims with damaged property or homes caused by the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire and flooding-related disasters now have until Oct. 7 to apply for Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance. FEMA extended the deadline for another month, spokesperson Angela Byrd said Tuesday. It was previously set to end on Tuesday, Sept. 6. In addition to damage […]
Complaint says Cibola detention and ICE neglected an asylum-seeker, leaving him injured by shackles
Deportation seems imminent for a man seeking asylum in the U.S. who is being detained in New Mexico. A legal fight was launched in mid-August to get him released or at least delay his case on grounds of medical neglect, physical abuse and due process violations while he’s been held in Cibola County. But the […]
State allows asphalt plant construction in south Santa Fe despite concerns about health impacts
Santa Feans fought for a year to prevent an asphalt company’s expansion into the city’s South Side, but New Mexico’s Environmental Improvement Board voted unanimously Friday morning to allow the operation to proceed. The Environment Department gave Associated Asphalt and Materials, LLC, a permit in July 2021 to consolidate two asphalt plants in Santa Fe […]
Judge: Cannon Air Force Base is subject to NM’s hazardous waste laws
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by Cannon Air Force Base last week that challenged demands for the base to clean up PFAS contamination in New Mexico. The case was dismissed without prejudice and can still be heard in state court, according to the ruling. Spreading pollution is threatening groundwater sources in and around the […]