Top Conservation Stories of 2014

Here are a few of the most important conservation stories from 2014:

--Gila River Proposed Diversion approved by ISC

--Mexican Gray Wolf critical habitat expanded to include most of NM and AZ south of I-40

Zone 1 is where Mexican wolves may be initially released or translocated.  Zone 2 is where Mexican wolves will be allowed to naturally disperse into and occupy, and where Mexican wolves may be translocated.  Zone 3 is where neither initial releases nor translocations will occur, but Mexican wolves will be allowed to disperse into and occupy....where Mexican wolves will be more actively managed...to reduce conflict with the potentially affected public.  However, in AZ east of Highway 87 there will be a "phased approach" to managing wolf populations.

--U.S. Congress Omnibus spending bill approves the Resolution mine landswap in AZ, grazing lease terms expanded to 20 years, and Valles Caldera becomes newest National Park

--Drought in CA (7% snowpack) ... and NM.  (e.g. Heron Lake resevoir levels fall, fail to make San Juan-Chame deliveries to Rio Grande)

-- US EPA and NRCS try to regulate agriculture under CWA....and fail.  The problem of increasing toxic algae problem in Ohio lakes came to a head in 2014 when Cleveland had to turn off their city water intake from Lake Eerie due to a toxic algal bloom. The proposed rule would have allowed EPA to regulate "non-point source" water pollution from farms that did not have a NRCS-approved conservation practices in place.  But apparently the outcry was too much, and early in 2015 the rule was amended.  Note that the final rule, even though it no longer contained this provision, was still vehemently protested in 2015.

--  Gunnison Sage Grouse listed as "Threatened" under the ESA, Colorado appeals.

-- Colorado River Pulse....mostly just grows more tamarisk.

--  Pleistocene megafauna extinction due to meteor impact, new study finds.  

-- Wilderness turns 50 years old

-- New "stacked trait" GMO potatoes and soybeans approved in the U.S.

And a random tidbit:  rabbits eat more forage in utah than bison...leading ranchers to question the state's continued bounty for coyote skins.

Protecting the rare Bog Birch

Sponsored by Albuquerque Wildlife Federation, NM Wilderness Alliance, and Native Plant Society of NM with support from NM Environment Department and Los Amigos de Valles Caldera

THE PLACE: The Valles Caldera National Preserve was a private ranch until 2000,

when Congress created it from the "Baca Ranch" in New Mexico's volcanic Jemez Moun-

tain Range. This 89,000 acre property is studded with eruptive domes and features

Redondo Peak (11,254 feet). Though open to the public, access to the preserve is

strictly controlled. Coming on this project is a great opportunity to stay on the preserve

without charge and see areas not generally available to the public.

THE PROJECT: This project occured at a fascinating location — Alamo Bog! See

the Earth shake under foot as you walk across the bog (Hydrosol). Smell the fumes of

Purgatory (sulfur gas bubbling up through opal-colored acidic pools). See sphagnum moss.

Alamo Bog is home to the rare Bog Birch (Betula pumila(?)). This is the species' only known

location in New Mexico. We built small exclosures to protect the largest patches, each with about 40 to 60 plants. The structures exclude elk, which have heavily browsed the bog birch. Digging holes, setting untreated fence posts, is not permanent, but nothing is. Our restoration work is premised on the idea that future management changes will render our structures superfluous.

Interesting species also include a couple Orchids, Checker Mallows (Sidalcea neomexicana), and Sphagnum Moss, a rare species this far south!