My column in the morning paper on a rift between the state of New Mexico and the feds over water for the endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow. Because it’s not really about a fish: As has been happening for more than a decade on the Rio Grande, the minnow is merely one of the first …
One of the briefs (pdf) in the voluminous filings in the water rights adjudication on the Lower Rio Grande makes this fascinating assertion regarding water for irrigation in southern New Mexico: The irrigators find themselves in a constant state of drought as compared to the demands of their crops. Perhaps, then, the word “drought” is not …
I went back two weeks ago to the Las Conchas fire zone, where an unprecedented blaze tore through New Mexico ponderosa forests that will never be the same – “Not in our lifetimes,” as one forester put it. My story: During a daylong hike last week across an area that once was dominated by ponderosa …
Continue reading ‘Stuff I wrote elsewhere: Las Conchas, 10 months on’ »
The authors acknowledge that the result when they looked at the effect of piñon die-off from the Four Corners drought a decade ago seems counterintuitive: Basins with the most tree die-off showed a significant decrease in streamflow over several years following die-off, and this decrease was not attributable to climate variability alone. The results are counterintuitive …
Continue reading ‘drought kills seem to be reducing streamflow in the arid southwest’ »
Ed Kandl from USBR: If you want the one-word synopsis, it’s going to suck pretty bad.
We’ve got a fascinating border water fight going on between Mexico and irrigators in the United States over water from the Rio Grande right now. But rather than the usual issue – who gets how much – this one’s over when the water is used. Under US-Mexico treaty, Mexican irrigators are entitled to a set …
Continue reading ‘A border water fight – not over how much, but rather when’ »
From the morning paper, the latest on efforts to corral jet fuel that leaked from Kirtland Air Force Base and is now spreading through Albuquerque groundwater: Kirtland Air Force Base’s efforts to determine the extent of jet fuel groundwater contamination are “inadequate,” according to the New Mexico Environment Department, which is demanding new, deeper monitoring …
This feels a bit unseemly, but I’m frankly enormously proud to have won a Society of Professional Journalists “Top of the Rockies” award for my work last year on forest health, fire, politics and policy in the mountains of the West: The driest January through June in New Mexico history came down to this: For …
Continue reading ‘unseemly bragging and links to my award-winning work’ »
If Kelly Redmond had a nickel for every time I’ve quoted his definition of drought, he’s have enough money for lunch today: Wet years have a way of covering up a multitude of water management sins. Drought exposes them for all to see. Back in the 1990s, we had all the same underlying water management …
I’m kicking myself thinking I may have already missed the Rio Grande’s runoff peak. Earlier in the week, the river’s flow jumped up over 2,000 cfs through Albuquerque, which ain’t much as rivers go, but there’s at least a chance that’s the best we’ll see this year. The peak usually comes much later, late May-ish, …