(Press Staff Photo by Geoffrey Plant)
Heart of the Gila Outdoor Equity Program educator Elysha Montoya, left, and Heart of the Gila Chairperson Patrice Mutchnick, pointing, led about 12 volunteers who came out to pick up trash in Cameron Creek in Santa Clara on Saturday. The event was organized in collaboration with the Santa Clara Action Committee.
Grant Countians picked up a lot of trash this weekend: About 120 volunteers filled approximately 200 trash bags along U.S. 180 from Silver City to Hurley on Saturday, as well as along several creeks, in honor of Earth Day, which was April 22.
The Gila Resources Information Project has been celebrating Earth Day throughout April, and in lieu of its usual big celebration in Gough Park, a few volunteers hosted a single information booth beside the Murray Ryan Visitor Center on Saturday. The booth served as headquarters for a Big Ditch cleanup project, a Continental Divide Trail scavenger hunt and information about migratory cliff swallows
April 16, 2021
(Press Staff Photo by Geoffrey Plant)
A view of Gold Gulch Road, near one of the mineral exploration drilling sites proposed by Tucson-based Bronco Creek Exploration near McKnight Peak, in the Burro Mountains on the Gila National Forest west of White Signal.
A mineral exploration project in the Burro Mountains south of Silver City is unlikely to result in actual mining anytime soon, according to Silver City District Ranger Beth Ihle and representatives of the company that’s proposing to look for copper, gold, silver, lead and zinc underneath the southern part of the Gila National Forest.
“We had a lot of folks who interpreted this exploration project as a mine permit, but that’s not even a twinkle in the company’s eye right now,” Ihle said. “That’s a whole separate proposal.”
By Gila Resources Information Project
• Mar 13, 2021 Gila Earth Day will be celebrated throughout April, providing a variety of opportunities to take action on behalf of our planet. The international theme for this year’s event is “Restore Our Earth”, and the Gila Resources Information Project (GRIP) and Gila Earth Day planning committee are organizing multiple activities: virtual programming from participant organizations, classrooms, and individuals throughout the month of April; a virtual book tour discussion with Laura Paskus author
of At the Precipice New Mexico’s Changing Climate on Thursday, April 22; and small, COVID-safe community actions around the region on Saturday, April 24.
February 8, 2021
Bill to preserve mine cleanup funds moves ahead Written by Geoffrey Plant on February 8, 2021
The New Mexico House Committee on Energy, Environment and Natural Resources voted unanimously last week to advance a bill that would establish a “Mining Act Forfeiture Fund,” with the aim of ensuring that, in the event a mining company defaults on its promise to clean up a closed mine site, the financial assurance put up by the company would be used “only to complete the reclamation plan or closeout plan to which the financial assurance had been dedicated.”
The bill’s sponsor, District 36 state Rep. Nathan Small, a Las Cruces Democrat, said that he worked with Freeport-McMoRan, environmental advocacy groups, the New Mexico Mining Association and state agencies like the N.M. Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department “to ensure this legislation is acceptable by all parties.�
February 1, 2021
Air Force opts not to fly F-16s over Gila Written by Geoffrey Plant on February 1, 2021
(Press File Photo by Geoffrey Plant)
Mike Ferris, shown testifying, was one of more than 500 people who showed up to a December 2019 public hearing at the Grant County Veterans Memorial Business and Conference Center regarding the draft environmental impact statement related to the proposed expansion of military training flights in southern New Mexico. The hearing was one of eight that were held in affected communities across southern New Mexico.
According to a final environmental impact statement released last week, the U.S. Air Force has determined that expanding military airspace over the Gila National Forest and Silver City in order to accommodate an annual 10,000 F-16 training flights out of Holloman Air Force Base is not the best way to fulfill its goal of “optimizing the training airspace