Environment

WIPP: Bryson Named Acting Manager For CBFO

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New Acting Manager of DOE Carlsbad Field Office Dana Bryson
 
WIPP News:

Mark Whitney, Acting Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM), today named Dana Bryson the Acting Manager for the DOE Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO).

He is replacing Joe Franco, who recently returned to a position in DOE’s Richland Operations Office in Washington. Bryson has more than 30 years of experience in the nuclear industry and served as the CBFO Deputy Manager since December 2013. 

Previously, Bryson was the

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What’s Eating The Aspens?

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Aspens at Big Tesuque Campground defoliated by western tent caterpillars. Courtesy/SFNF

Western tent caterpillars on the Santa Fe National Forest. Courtesy/SFNF

SFNF News:

Visitors to the Santa Fe National Forest’s popular aspen groves along N.M. 475 (the road to the Santa Fe Ski Basin) are wondering what’s happening to the trees.

Although the aspens may appear to be dying, the bare branches can be blamed on hungry western tent caterpillars that are stuffing themselves on one of their favorite foods. The tent caterpillar is a native defoliator whose larvae feed on a variety of hardwood trees Read More

Legal Agreement Reached To Reduce Power Plant Pollution Damaging Southwest’s National Parks

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NPCA News:
 
WASHINGTON ― The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) and other clean air advocates, represented by Earthjustice, reached an agreement today with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the owners of New Mexico’s Four Corners Power Plant to reduce the plant’s pollution and improve the health of surrounding communities and national parks.
 
“For far too long, the irresponsible management of Four Corners has denied the Navajo people the basic human right to clean, healthy air in our communities,” said Lori Goodman, board member of Diné
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NMDOH: Tularemia Kills Cat In Los Alamos

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American dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis). Courtesy/CDC

 

By CAROL A. CLARK
Los Alamos Daily Post

The New Mexico Department of Health reports there have been 20 cases of the severe infectious bacterial disease tularemia in animals since Jan. 1 in New Mexico.

Cases include two cats from Los Alamos County as well as dogs, cats and or rabbits in Taos County, Santa Fe County and Bernalillo County.

Confirmatory testing was conducted at the Department’s Scientific Laboratory Division, NMDOH officials said.

A White Rock resident residing near Pinon Elementary School reported finding two Read More

Star Party At Los Alamos Nature Center June 30

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Stargazing at the former PEEC facility. Courtesy/PEEC

PEEC News:

The community is invited to a star party at 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 30 at the Los Alamos Nature Center, 2600 Canyon Road.

First, visitors will start the evening off in the planetarium to get oriented. Next, everyone will head outside to observe the night sky through telescopes. The summer sky shows off the Milky Way, which is the galaxy seen edge-on from its center way out into its spiral arms.

During the program, Chick Keller will talk about what is known of the galaxy’s spiral shape and show where dust clouds obscure much of it. Read More

PEEC Holds Downtown Bird Walk July 2

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Lesser Goldfinch. Photo by David Yeamans

PEEC News:

Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of running errands we forget to stop and notice the natural world that surrounds us.

To give local residents a chance to pause and appreciate the birds that live in and around town, David Yeamans will lead a brown bag dinner and birdwatching evening. Follow Yeamans from Ashley Pond Park to the Rose Garden behind Fuller Lodge before continuing on to the soccer field and heading back to Ashley Pond Park for dinner. At each site everyone will stop to observe what birds can be identified, and have a chance to ask Yeamans Read More

Harrell House Bug Museum Visits Nature Center

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Harrell House Bug Museum on a previous visit to PEEC. Courtesy/PEEC

PEEC NEWS:

Summer Family Evenings returns with the Harrell House Bug Museum at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 1 at the Los Alamos Nature Center.

There will be an amazing selection of live critters on display including tarantulas, scorpions, insects, centipedes, crabs and more. Wade Harrell, founder of the Bug Museum, will be on hand to answer questions and share facts about these unusual animals.

Harrell has been keeping strange animals as pets since he was six years old. He graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University Read More

Meet PEEC Volunteer Selvi Viswanathan

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Selvi Viswanathan
PEEC Featured Volunteer

Selvi Viswanathan is a friendly fixture at PEEC. Not only does she volunteer every week as a docent at the center and serve on the Board of Directors, but she also meticulously tends to the colorful and serene butterfly garden outside of the center.

Viswanathan is always happy to share her vast knowledge of gardening and the local wildlife, among other topics, and she is very passionate about making Los Alamos a certified Community Wildlife Habitat.

PEEC sat down with Selvi to learn more about her, and how she gets those amazing wildlife shots with her Read More

PEEC Earth Day Series: White Rock Community Garden

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Preliminary design for the White Rock Community Garden. Courtesy/PEEC

White Rock Community Garden Gets Underway
By LAURIE HIXSON

Amid the howling winds that constitute a sign of spring in Los Alamos, a White Rock Community Garden is making progress toward reality.

The original site for the garden has been overtaken by the new public library that will be built in the next few years. But the garden has a new location – on N.M. 4 between Time Out Pizza and the arroyo.  It’s right across from the new Visitors’ Center parking lot, a much better site.

This one has everything we need, plus Read More