Life in New Mexico in the Era of Climate Change

 The Cerro Pelado Fire in the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico is threatening Los Alamos because of unprecedented, sustained and extremely severe northeast winds. Here at Cochiti Lake, we are still not in immediate danger. But that is no guarantee should the wind change because the southern edge of the fire is only about 6 miles from town.

 Planes and helicopters have been scooping water from Cochiti Lake to fight the fire. They have been at it all day long for days. The fire is expected to burn for several weeks or more. Drought is also severe and coupled with the strong wind, the situation is dangerous all over the state.

 

 

Photo taken by a neighbor two nights aago

 Speaking of drought...the hubs, Ranger Leon was helping with trail maintenence in an area west of us and putting up botanical signs to identiy the plants along the trail. They could not find a living specimen of prickly pear cactus on the trail and actually had to go to a greenhouse that specialized in native plants to purchase a prickly pear cactus to plant along the trail. The drought is pretty bad when cactus are dying in the desert for lack of water.

Our Neck of the Desert

 Here on the reservation between Albuquerque and Santa Fe life is pretty good. Cost of living is much lower than in the cities and we have pretty much unlimited water. It is a 30 minute drive to Santa Fe for just about everything other than what is available at the convenience store, gas station, a post office, a mom & pop grocery store a few miles down the road. 

So I took a few photos from just outside of town today on my way back from Santa Fe.

And while there are fewer Ponderosa  Pines and lots of junipers the danger of fire is still a reality. The Las Conchas Fire in 2011 came frighteningly close to our little town. That was several years before we moved here.

Right now in New Mexico there are several wild fires buring out of control. The extremely dry conditions, gale force winds at times and dry thunder storms which produce lightening but no rain on the ground are making this season a very dangerous one.

The Cerro Pelado fire is less than 20 miles from us. It is burning in the Ponderosa Pine forest in the Jemez Mountains. We can see, and depending on the direction of the wind, smell the smoke, and at times, even see the flames. So far we are safe and there are no calls for evacuation.

The fire fighters are incredible. I don't know how they do what they do for many hours day and night. We thank them for their bravery and hard work.

Exploring the Petrified Trees in Leon's Office (Again)

 We have visitors from Connecticut (Joyce and Robin and their dog Manny) this week and Leon was excited to show them around his office at the Bureau of Land Management. So we went to the area where there are petrified trees. 

 It is not an easy ride or an easy place to find. We took our 25 year old four wheel drive Ford F250 diesel.  The land is located between the Santo Domingo and San Felipe Pueblos. Down miles of rocky, rutty, hilly, and rough dirt road. Leon knows just about every square foot of the territory. He spends hours on patrol, cleaning up after inconsiderate visitors, mending barbed wire, and "ground truthing" (something like checking out the actual on the ground satellite images of unidentified structures, roads, features and documenting his findings). I must say that I am so happy for him that he has such a great job. Somehow our move to New Mexico almost seven years ago has been a fortunate decision.

We've been here in the petrified forest of New Mexico before and I've posted about the place before but it is always a fun and interesting place to explore. What makes it special is that it is on public land, free, no where near an Interstate or highway and remote enough and difficult enough to get to so that there are few if any human visitors.

So, in case you may have missed a previous post about our New Mexico petrified forest here is a recap from today. Glorious sunshine and blue skies made it a great outing. Enlarge the photos for a more intense experience. Even then, they do not do justice to the views or the fossils.

Hubby, my Wilderness Ranger on his day off

Petrified Wood

The Long Log

Me and Hubs sitting on the petrified log

Sandia Peak in the background

Large petrified specimen on the right

Gnarly Juniper

Another Tree Rock

Prehistoric Desert Dweller

Cholla Fruit

Need to get a close-up of this tree on a rock