I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
The Santa Fe Reporter this week has an update on the recovery of the endangered Mexican gray wolf, and an interview with the program’s new coordinator, Bud Fazio.
After several years of stalled recovery, things may be looking up for New Mexico’s lobos.
Recently, after one wolf got caught with his hand in the cookie jar for the third time (cookies being ranchers’ cows), federal officials decided not to kill the male wolf, which was an option under the program’s three-strikes rule, but to allow him to continue raising a litter of pups with his mate. The move has given hope to some wolf supporters.
Here are some more updates from the story:
Currently, the service is trying to establish an interdiction program that would offer ranches incentives to manage cattle differently — specifically, to manage cattle in a way that would allow wolves to exist in the wild. The program might also compensate ranchers for cattle lost to wolves.
The agency also is at work on two documents: a conservation assessment evaluating what has — and has not — worked within the program and an environmental assessment, which is exploring whether the wolf release area might be expanded from a small portion of the recovery area in eastern Arizona to a larger area that includes New Mexico.
The agency also hopes to redefine the term “breeding pair” — a term crucial to how the reintroduction plan is evaluated. The program’s original goal was to have at least 100 individual wolves and 18 breeding pairs. Breeding pairs — different from mated pairs — are currently defined as an alpha male and alpha female who have successfully bred and reared pups through the end of the calendar year.
