From the morning paper: The last time New Mexico was (by at least one measure) this dry, Billy the Kid was shooting up the state and pueblo crops in the Rio Grande Valley were wilting. The “one measure” in this case is consecutive dry years on the Rio Grande: From 1873 to 1883, the …
Continue reading ‘Stuff I wrote elsewhere: New Mexico drought, Billy the Kid edition’ »
One of my favorite Albuquerque views is from the bike trail by what we call the “Big I”, the interchange of two interstates in the middle of town. The trail runs along the northwest bank of a flood control channel, and the geography is such that you’re at the highest point around, including (mostly) the …
Given the tension from Texas’s legal complaints against New Mexico regarding the impact of New Mexico groundwater pumping on Texas Rio Grande supply (see Texas v. New Mexico and Colorado), this El Paso Water Utilities pump house feels to some like a middle finger raised in New Mexico’s direction. It’s just inside the Texas border, …
From the morning paper, Norm Gaume’s critique of a proposal to divert water from the Gila: New Mexico is overestimating the amount of water available from a proposed Gila River diversion and underestimating the cost and technical difficulty of the project, according to the former head of the state agency involved. The project, as currently …
Continue reading ‘Stuff I wrote elsewhere: a critique of the Gila diversion’ »
Danger. Journalist doing math. There be dragons: Otowi is the Rio Grande’s gateway to central New Mexico. Located between Santa Fe and Los Alamos, it’s the point where the river has picked up pretty much all the snowmelt it’s going to get, absent some minor contributions from the Jemez Mountains. It’s also a key point …
From this morning’s newspaper, we appear to be headed toward Endangered Species Act litigation this year on the Rio Grande: Human water diversions have left the Rio Grande ecosystem with too little water to maintain the minnow and other species that depend on the river’s flow, including the valley’s iconic cottonwoods, said Jen Pelz, Wild …
Continue reading ‘Stuff I wrote elsewhere: headed toward ESA litigation on the Rio Grande’ »
One more from yesterday’s road trip to the Bosque del Apache, the National Wildlife Refuge 90 minutes’ drive south of Albuquerque. As I’ve written before, snow goose overpopulation is an ecological disaster. But when they take flight? Yowza.
Lunch today sitting in the car at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, with a pond of snow geese, pintails and assorted other water fowl wintering here in one of the few broad wet spots in the Middle Rio Grande Valley of central New Mexico. A birder friend explained once that the car makes …
Continue reading ‘Water in the desert, Bosque del Apache plumbing edition’ »
The question of how tumbleweeds got to America keeps coming up in conversation, but I can never quite remember the details, so I’m typing this up here so I can Google it later as needed. Here’s the version from Tim Egan’s terrific book The Worst Hard Time, a gripping narrative history of the Dust Bowl. …
From this morning’s newspaper: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said Texas can go ahead with its lawsuit that claims groundwater pumping in southern New Mexico is draining the Rio Grande and depriving Texas users of water to which they are legally entitled. Texas cleared a major hurdle with the decision, which could set the …