Gila Gila Gila Gila

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Naima

I thrive off of exploring new areas.  When I dream I usually imagine traveling the world to see as much of it as possible.  The more I travel, the more I realize, there is sooo much out there.  This past weekend we were lucky enough to explore the Gila National Forest in New Mexico.  My guess is you have never heard of it.  The almost 3.3 million acres of land is an expansive wilderness with extremely diverse habitats from heavy pine forests to dry desert hills and some prairie in between.  But that was just the small portion we were able to view in our two days. 

Absolutely no cell service in the forest! Great!  Luckily I had this map pic to navigate.

We left late after work on Friday and arrived in a pitch black forest looking for a place to set up camp.  There are many campsites within the forest but we were looking for the primitive and free kind.  We found a great spot nestled among some evergreens and cliff sides.  Soon our fire was ignighted and just as fast it was out as we quickly fell asleep.  I could not sleep very well because it was FREEEZING and as I would doze off to sleep, my face would come out from under the blankets and the cold would wake me.  We woke in the morning to our water bottles, frozen.  It was in the teens that night.

The view from the campsite…
All snuggled up getting the coffee ready in bed.

 
Campfire coffee is the best.  In the percolator, strong as mud but very tasty. 
 

So many beautiful vistas.

We spent the Saturday exploring the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument.  The dwellings were carved into the cliff sides by the Mogollon people who lived in the area over 700 years ago. 

Gila Cliff Dwellings in the distance. 

The hike to see the dwellings is an easy one mile.

There are 5 dwellings.  The last two you can walk through.

What was most impressive about the Cliff Dwellings and the Ranger Station is the amount of volunteers, their knowledge, passion about the area and also offer suggestions and guide you through the entire Gila area.  The dwellings are in great shape with no graffiti and I bet that has a lot to do with the volunteers that truly care about the history of the area.  

Flowers – Spring!

 Although at this point it was the middle of the day and about 60 degrees F, there was still snow remnants to be found.  One volunteer mentioned it snowed just 5 days previous and was scheduled to snow the following day!

I did not know the Gila was one of the reintroduction sites. Awesome!

Too bad New Mexico recently pulled out of Mexican wolf reintroductions.  Yes, it’s true, read the article here.  You can help turn this around by contacting your local officials and urging them to support wolf reintroductions here. 

Why would you want to do this?  Mexican wolves number only about 50 individuals left in the wild and can use all of the help they can get.  It is disheartening how scared people are of wolves.  Wolves do not kill people.  There has never been a confirmed and documented killing of a human by a wolf.  Dogs kill more people than humans (about 20 people per year).  You are at greater risk of being struck by lightning than being mauled by a wolf.  Yet movies and tv establish a sense of fear in everyone’s brains.  Sad.  They are a necessary part of our environment and a great success story is how the gray wolf reintroduction into Yellowstone has balanced out the ecosystem.  Read about the yellowstone wolves here.  Want to do more to support Mexican wolves in the wild?  Buy cool Mexican wolf stamps here, proceeds support wolf conservation!

This was probably my favorite part of the trip.  We hiked to a HOT spring!  The water was steaming and was so hot you could not keep your skin in direct contact.  The picture above on the right, is where the water was coming out.  People have placed rocks along the stream path and in the river to make hot spring pools.  The hot spring water mixes with the freezing river water to create soaking baths!

On the hike to the spring you have to cross the freeeezing river multiple times!

Recreation lake.  This one was full of American coots.

 
I am hoping in the video you can really see how steep and huge the cliffs are. 

 Spring is in the air!  Even at high elevations.  The plant on the right smelled amazing!  Not sure what is was.  David did also find some wild mint. 

Waking up on day 2.
Lichen. I loved this lichen so much I could not put it in the fire. I am Ridiculous.

The campsite for night 2 was even more in the middle of no where.  No one was even in the same area with us.  We kept hoping some “friends” would join us so that if there were bears or big raccoons nearby we would have some fellow campers.  No such luck.  Oh and it was St. Patrick’s Day! But the campsite was beautiful, right on the creek.  The night was much warmer, thank goodness.  Dinner was hot dogs on a stick and luckily no animals showed up that night, or at least that we know of.

Snow and 70 degrees!

The National Park Service has super cute electric vehicles!

 We left the forest on Sunday morning and headed to the town of Truth or Consequences for a huge much anticipated breakfast at “Happy Belly Deli”.  Before we left town we decided to soak in local hot springs.  It was awesome!  We paid $10 per person to visit the springs at a nearby “resort”.  The resort was made of trailers but has a quirky eccentric vibe.  It used to be a hostel but is now a resort.  The water is pumped up from the hot springs overlooking the Rio Grande.  The resort used to be a minnow farm!  They have 5 public pools from 105 to 101 degrees.  Amazing.  I did not want to leave.

Hot springs… ahh.

One of the pools overlooking the Rio.

The drive home was helatious due to the high winds and dust.  Luckily I relaxed while the truck was pushed around. 

Everyone should get out to the Gila!  It is amazing.

Here are my quick lists:


Why go? 
1. It’s close
2. It’s enormous
3. Breathtaking vistas.
4. Easy access to sights and hiking trails.
5. HOT SPRINGS
6. Campfires, cliff dwellings, rivers, trees!


Things to know: 
1.  Bring cash.  I did not.  I really did not need the cash but it would have been great for hiking fee stations and camp fee stations and entrance fee into the cliff dwellings.
2.  Make sure to fill up on gas prior to entering wilderness area.  We did!  But we kept saying, thank goodness we filled up!
3.  Free camping!  There are several camp areas that charge $10 per night but you can easily find many that are free and offer a more wilderness setting.  Both nights we stayed in free camp sites but had we needed a shower, the ten dollar sites would have been worth it.
4.  No cell service.  It was a blessing in disguise for me.  I loved unplugging but I still used my phone for all the pics!
5.  Fire wood.  They say to bring your own.  The camp areas are very scarce with down wood so plan to pick up wood prior to the camping areas.  We stopped a few times along the road to harvest some down dry wood.  There was plenty of down wood.  As long as it’s on the ground it is ok to take for a campfire.  But beware, start collecting a lot and you need a permit.
6.  The entire Gila wilderness is a pack in, pack out park.  Meaning you must carry out all your trash.  At first you would think there would be more trash but it seems to be working! 

I hope everyone gets to explore the Gila.  I have plans to go back to explore the areas we did not get to and to do some longer backpacking.

As for now I will keep dreaming of future travels.

Tomorrow at work I will be wishing I was back here:

 Gila!

Posted in Camping, Free, Gila, Gila Cliff Dwellings, Gila National Forest, Happy Belly Deli, Hiking, Hot Springs, mexican wolves, Truth or Consequences | Leave a comment

El Paso: Earthquake or Fracking?

Posted on March 10, 2012 by Naima

The word fracking.  It used to remind me of the cooky show from the 80s: Fraggle Rock.  Now it only reminds me of a drilling process used to remove as much oil and natural gas from the Earth as possible.  Fracking is short for hydraulic fracking in which companies pump massive amounts of water and chemicals into the Earth to “fracture” and create new channels in the rock which can increase the extraction rates and ultimate recovery of fossil fuels.  When the water and used chemicals are drawn out they are left to sit in a retaining pool, either above ground or cemented closed underground.  The retaining pools many times are found to have leaks and chemicals are released into our environment.  Not all of the water and chemicals can be extracted back out, therefore the chemicals seep into our water supply.  Check out these numbers, “There are more than 50,000 disposal wells in Texas servicing more than 216,000 active drilling wells, according the the Railroad Commission. Each well uses about 4.5 million gallons of chemical-laced water, according to hydrolicfracturing.com.”  Insane.  Oh and the chemicals they speak of are a blend made mainly of water, salt and sand but also infused with a wide range of chemicals, including acids, alcohols and hydroxides, which aid in breaking the shale and coal formations.

To understand the process and health effects of these chemicals on the environment and human health I highly recommend watching the documentary Gashole.  www.gasholemovie.com/  The documentary is an eye opener to exactly what fracking is and the cost it has on human health!  It definitely makes you think twice about your water supply and what is in it. 

I was inspired to write this blog last week after a 2.5 earthquake hit El Paso.  It is not unlikely for this area to have small earthquakes.  After recently chatting with a seismologist that resides in this area, he mentioned many fault lines and recent small earthquakes in nearby Mexico.  So the 2.5 earthquake is not out of the question.  Or is it?

Now why am I talking about these two items together, fracking and earthquakes?  New research has linked fracking and earthquakes.  The earthquakes associated with fracking sites are generally low (2-3 on the Richter scale).  This is happening all over the country.  Check out this headline from today on MSNBC,  “A dozen earthquakes that struck Ohio in 2011 appear to have been induced by the workings of a wastewater well, the state Department of Natural Resources said Friday, as it announced new rules for the disposal of a fracking byproduct because of its apparent link to the tremors.”  These stories are everywhere and it is hitting El Paso!

We have several natural gas plants all around El Paso and our city buses run on “clean” natural gas.  It may burn cleaner than oil but the cost of fracking has a large effect on our water supply.  But I am making some assumptions.  I looked into a little bit of El Paso Natural Gas Company and other companies to find out if they are fracking in the area.  A bill passed in May 2011 makes companies list the chemicals they use on a website to monitor fracking.  I looked up if there were any in El Paso and did not find a listing.  But they only list since Jan 2011 and fracking has been going on since the 1940s!  I wonder what is going on now in our own backyards that we may not know about.   The companies are harvesting natural gas, how are they doing it?

At what point do we start to move away from fossil fuels?  Are we really going to go to every extreme measure (war, fracking) to utilize every drop of fossil fuel left in the earth?  We live in the sun city.  The city buses that run on “clean” natural gas energy are called the “Sun Metro”.  El Paso recieves about 300 days of sun per year.   Sun.  Sun.  Sun.  I think we all know where I am going with this.  Invest our efforts in solar.  Create technology that which increases solar panel efficiency and decreases cost. 

These thoughts ran through my head the other day when we were out exploring an old volcano in New Mexico.  It was beautiful and remote.   The area was so remote we drove about 30 minutes on dirt roads in the middle of the desert.  I blame the guidebook, because the only mention of what were slow moving, dirt, very remote, treacherous roads, was it said, “very few visitors to this area”.   The volcano was definitely worth the trip but on our way in and different way out we passed several natural gas company areas.  All of them from El Paso Natural Gas.  Perhaps we should be investigating their processes and making sure the public knows what is seeping into our groundwater before it is too late?   A story like this seems that it always has to get real bad with lots of evidence before something is done about it.  I don’t feel like waiting.

Here are some pics from Aden Crater Volcano in New Mexico:

Very remote roads!
Aden Volcano and my mom.

Rugged Terrain inside the volcano.

Exploring the 110 foot hole where the vent was. 

Oh and researchers found the remains of a giant sloth in this area that now resides at the Smithsonian Museum!  Cool!

I try and teach kids everyday to be curious and question things.  Well I am curious about this fracking and earthquake relationship.  I am more curious to find out exactly what the natural gas companies in this area are doing.  I will keep you posted on my finds.  I have a suspicion they won’t be pleasant.  The worst part about it, I will feel guilty about taking the city bus on my bike rides home!!!  I would venture to say, mass transit it still better than individual cars so I will not fret.

Aren’t you curious now too?

It was much easier when fracking reminded me of Fraggle Rock.

Fracking.

Posted in Aden Volcano, earthquake, el paso, El Paso Natural Gas, fracking, natural gas, New Mexico, oil | Leave a comment

"Caving" Carlsbad Caverns

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Naima

Caving.  It turns out there are several definitions for caving.  Here is mine:  Exploring an underground cave with tight passages, peanut butter mud, cold clear water, grotto salamanders and more all with the necessary gear of knee-pads, gloves, headlamps, helmet and bathroom materials (pee bottle and just in case “burrito” bag).  My definition is not even extreme!  The extreme cavers spend weeks underground without surfacing and pack in all kinds of gear including tents, sleeping bags, scuba diving gear and much more.  Now that is extreme. 

With that being said, caves are unique, delicate environments that everyone should be able to explore to appreciate.  The problem lies in not everyone can explore caves.  For example, not everyone can explore “picnic” cave in Arkansas because as its title shows, “its no picnic” to get through that cave.  The main part of picnic cave I remember is squeezing your body through a narrow passage only wide enough for your helmet to fit, on your stomach maneuvering like a snake for what seems like an eternity.  Exhausting.

After exploring many caves in Texas and Arkansas and having to basically drag a 12 year old hysterical and borderline hypothermic girl through a wet exit that I don’t really enjoy either, I decided to slowly stop caving.  It was kind of a been there, done that kind of feeling.  Caves are amazing and extremely fun to explore but really, I love the sun.

So this past weekend we headed to Carlsbad Caverns to experience the same thing about 300,000 people a year do, visit the caverns.  There are over 110 limestone caves within Carlsbad Caverns National Park with the most famous of Carlsbad Caverns.  All of these caves were dissolved by sulfuric acid.  Amazing.

While experiencing Carlsbad Caverns and listening to fellow “cavers” another definition of caving has been defined.  Anyone, no matter age or disability can explore Carlsbad Caverns.  Since it was discovered long ago, it has been a point of interest and intrigued people’s sense of exploration.  The park has a history of being explored back to prehistoric times and even being mined for guano!  As a tourist attraction, first stairs were built to give people relatively easy access into the cave and then later an elevator was installed!  Now there is a paved and railed path into the cave, two elevators and a restaurant inside the caverns.  What takes about 1-1.5 hours to walk down into the cave can be done in a one minute ride by the elevator. 

The caverns were amazing.  The walk down is steep, but not that bad.  I definitely recommend walking down!  There are lots of warnings to walking down because they want to make sure you are in alright physical condition and don’t lose it halfway down.  But really, it is not hard.  It is worth the walk down to explore and gain a deeper appreciation for how deep and extensive the caverns are.  The trail is paved and has stainless steel railings the entire way.  Oh and no need for a light because they have light throughout the entire cave.  Weird.  Well, it is weird to me.  Usually when you cave, the first thing you do is turn your light off and sit in complete darkness to let your eyes adjust.  There is no light in caves.  That means, you can put your hand in front of your face and not see anything.  That’s the fun of it!

Because of the lack of light in caves, many species have adapted to cave life.  One of the coolest examples of this is the grotto salamander that has adapted to not need pigment and almost looks see through.  So I wonder, because there are lights in this cave, over time will species be effected by the low levels of light?

The awesome amphitheater right outside the entrance to the caverns.  Great for bat emergence.
The start of the decent into the caverns.  It is steep but not bad.  You can do it.

The walk down was probably my favorite part as you are moving at a decent pace, and walking under and over beautiful cave features.  It is lighted the entire way and I took some pictures but the pictures in this area did not come out bright enough to see.  Around every bend we were “oohhing and awwwing” over what took millions of years to form.

The main part of the caverns. 

The hike down opens up into the Big Room which can also be accessed by the elevator.  The trail around the big room is about 1.5 miles of fairly level pavement.  The trail takes about an hour because of all the stopping, looking and pictures you feel you need to take.

The pictures really don’t do it justice.

 
And then in the middle of the cavern at the base, a gift shop and restaurant!  Throughout the entire cave, signs and park rangers stress the importance of caring for the cave and how delicate the cave environment is.  They even have several phones throughout to encourage guests to report any damages being done to the cave.  Here is my opinion:  Carlsbad Caverns allows people of all abilities to access a cave environment.  Through paved trails, safety railings, elevator access and restrooms, people can safely and comfortably enjoy a trip into a cave.  But a restaurant and gift shop should be kept outside the cave.  Let’s keep it as natural as possible.  Formations can take millions of years to form and the slightest oil from your hand can alter the process.  
Energy in a cave is scarce and highly valued.  Disrupting or adding to that energy with crumbs of food or chlorine from our water can have an effect that is not easy to measure or monitor.  I did find some scat along the side of the trail way at the base of the cave.  It was fairly old but looked like ringtail scat.  With the development down in the cave I wouldn’t be surprised if racoons ventured all the way down there as well.  Both ringtails and racoons can sometimes be found around the entrances to caves and in the twilight zone and both species and other mammals have been documented eating fallen bats in cave environments.  I think the human development has aided in mammals (besides bats) being able to reach further cave depths.
Gift shop and restaurant at the bottom of the caverns.
Beautiful soda straw formations.

We took the elevator up.  Lazies! 🙂

Bats in Carlsbad – yes there are a lot of Brazilian free-tailed bats that spend their day in the cave and emerge at dusk.  However the bats roost in a part of the cavern that is not open to the public so luckily they are fairly protected from us nasty humans.   The warm months are the best time to head to Carlsbad to watch their emergence.  Many people are not aware that there are 17 species of bats in the area of Carlsbad Caverns.  Not all species roost in cave environments, some roost in trees or on the ground.  

All in all, Carlsbad Caverns is a great place to explore.  No where else can you easily walk into a huge underground cave with high heels on!  Carlsbad also offers guided caving trips where you can get as extreme as you would like!  Rangers can lead you on a guided walking tour or a full blown caving experience.  For me, I LOVED taking the elevator back up!  And I can tell you, the young girl I dragged through the freezing wet exit of a cave would have LOVED the elevator as well.  By the way, wet exit means the water is so cold when you hit it, your breath is taken away and you have only the space to keep your head above water but squished by an overhead rock.  Sounds great huh! 

So for $6 per person it is definitely worth the trip.  Supporting our National Parks helps to support wild habitats, wildlife and conservation.

Happy “caving”!

Posted in bats, carlsbad caverns, caving, conservation | Leave a comment

Blame it on January.

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Naima

Are you stressed out?

Well let me just say that we all are.  The other day I decided to fight back and not let the stress get to me.  I went bopping in to work happy and ready to take on everything with the best attitude possible.  Disgustingly over the top happy.  Of course, I ended up walking out that day beaten down.  Well, I am back again and with more strength than before!  “Put your future in good hands, your own.”

So when you are feeling tired, exhausted, stressed and feel like there is too much on your plate; well take a bite and keep going.  Sometimes when you come out the other side of stressful times, if you look back it provides you with motivation that you can do it and you can move forward.  So here is my quick look back to push forward:

I know, it is a horrid picture.  This was my first organizing for a formal Teacher Workshop.  It was the third in a collaborative series with Region 19 and the El Paso Water Utilities Tech2O for K-5 teachers.  The topic was Biodiversity of the Chihuahuan Desert and thanks to some co-workers we made biodiversity interactive and fun.  What I loved about it, was being able to talk about the importance of biodiversity to our world and inspiring teachers to learn more about their own backyards and empowering them to make things happen in their classrooms.  I know some of them have already used the curriculum in their classrooms!  A success. 🙂

I took a little break after the workshop to wind down and have some fun.
 

Heather (my friend and co-worker) and I had the opportunity to attend the Texas Aquarium and Zoo Educators conference in Houston.  We spent a few days at the Houston Zoo and the close by Landry’s Downtown Aquarium.  It was a fabulous experience and I am grateful for the trip!  Probably the best part was interacting with fellow educators and discussing our challenges and how to overcome difficulties.  And to all my outdoors people, the Houston Zoo had a SWOP shop!  It is a place where kids and adults bring in what they find in nature and earn points based on the item and their research knowledge of the item.  They can trade in items for other awesome nature artifacts.  Definitely a place to encourage kids to get outside.  Oh and ps: I wrote on the zoo blog about the trip so to hear a bunch more about it view the blog here: www.epzooadventures.blogspot.com

Rhinos! You can support endangered rhinos in the wild by adopting a Rhino for Valentine’s Day! http://www.rhinos-irf.org/

Look at those eyes.  These two are brothers and boy did we get an up close look.  🙂

Heather and I enjoyed the nearby park.  Love the big green spaces in the city.  Part of it they even restored to native prairie.

Next up was the first zoo in the country’s Year of the Bat event at the El Paso Zoo!  The United Nations in collaboration with several conservation organizations including Bat Conservation International declared 2012 the Year of the Bat.   The goals of the event were to bring awareness to the plight of bat populations (an estimated 5.5 million bats have died since 2006), rid bats of their negative persona (less than 1% of bats carry rabies) and educate people about local bats and what they can do to help conserve bats.  The weekend started off slow with some cold weather but as the weather warmed up, lots of people came out.  The zoo was full of bat activities and bat speakers.  I am thankful for the collaborating organizations that came out to share their bat knowledge and engage people to attend their parks (Carlsbad Caverns, Franklin Mountains State Park, Hueco Tanks, Insights Museum and UTEP/Centennial Museum). 

Carlsbad Caverns rangers set up an interactive table and gave great presentations!

A local teacher hosts a contest every October for kids to create their own bats.  The bats are then given to Carlsbad Caverns who in turn sell the bats to raise money for their park.  They had over 100 entries in the bat contest last October, and displayed a lot of them at the zoo.  Several students came by to check out their art work on display.  A great teacher that does so much for her students and local organizations is such an inspiration.

Bat Houses!  So the truth comes out… I never built a bat house prior to teaching a workshop on how to build one!  I did a lot of research and there are several plans online on how to build them.  Thanks to David, who helped out and came the day of the workshop to help everyone out as well.  Participants paid $10 to learn about local bats, bat houses and build their own bat houses to take home and hopefully attract some bats.  My plan was to place some bat houses at the zoo, but lately I have been using the one I made for the zoo as a demonstration and tool.  It needs to go up quickly as bats will be returning from migration soon (in El Paso, that is). 

Lots of families enjoyed making bat puppets thanks to Rose.
Guess which one is mine…

So although it has been a rough past month or so, it has been successful.  I am ready again to continue to work hard and do the best I can.  So bring it on world.  I am about to save you.  🙂

A few upcoming big things:

Kaleidoscope Teachers Conference – attended by about 300 teachers.  I will be presenting a 45 min presentation on how to bring the outside into your classroom.  Excited!

POPPIESSSS! March 31.  A festival to help conserve Castners Range in its present state.  If you cross your fingers Mexican Poppies will bloom this year!  Poppies are out and need a bit more water to fully bloom.  So we need a bit of rain.  We have been planning this celebration for months and I am getting excited for the event to come together.  If you want to volunteer and help out… let me know!

I may have to give a presentation on my thesis research.   Something I have not looked at in three years!  But I would love to rekindle my love for ringtails.  It will give me a good reason to share the love with my bloggies as well!  I LOVE RINGTAILS!

Spring Break Camp and workshops!  I am excited for all of the activities we are going to do! Nature art, geocaching, backyard wildlife, investigating poop, tracks, and of course the addition of conservation and live animals. 

Coolest Conservation Classroom Eveeerrr.  I have some ideas to turn my classroom into an interactive conservation learning area for kids and adults.  If that sparks something in you and you have some ideas, send them my way! 

Until next time… if your stressed, tackle it full force!

Stress shmmesss.

Posted in bat houses, poppies, teacher workshop, year of the bat | Leave a comment

Its been way too long.

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Naima

It has been almost a month since my last blog post!  Lets just say things have gone haywire.  I am sure all of your lives have too.   It was holiday time for crying out loud.  Instead of boring you with the ins and outs of the last month and my conservation random thoughts over that time I will limit myself to three items.  I have challenged myself to only list three highlights from the last month.   May I mention how incredibly hard that is for myself.  On an hour basis my brain runs through a little over 1000 thoughts, multiply that by one month and now three seems like an incredible mystifying feat!  And even more phenomenal I will limit myself to a few pictures from the last month… GULP!  In traditional countdown form here we gooo:

3.  Turpentine Creek.  In December, while I was in Arkansas, I was set up with a special tour (Thanks Carrie) of Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge that takes in mostly big cats from around the country.  I lived in Arkansas for about three years and for about two of those years drove by Turpentine Creek on an almost daily basis en route to my job.  I never stopped.  I never went.  I was scared.  I have stopped at many “wildlife refuges” in the past that ended up to be more of a horrid roadside attraction in which I left in tears.  After a few of those experiences I am quite picky about the places I go to.   Although, I know they are not all bad.  I worked as a keeper at a place in North Carolina that housed some animals that were confiscated pets and the habitats were natural, extensive and beautiful.  Probably the best habitats I have ever seen.  I just did not want to run into another bad one again and feel as if there was nothing I could do. 

I went.  All of the animals have their individual story but the overall theme is the same.  Some dumbass (it’s my blog I can swear!) decides an exotic animal would be super cool in their house… and then the animal grows up and has to eat and be taken care of.  One lion was bought for a measly 150 bucks.  Turpentine takes in as many animals as it can house.  The director made a statement at one point: as soon as the habitats for these animals are built the current exhibits they are in now will be destroyed so that we physically can not accept more to fill the old exhibits.  The problem is, if they have room they can’t turn the cats down.  There are few sanctuaries that have the facilities to take in large cats and other exotic animals.  There are too many exotic animals that need a home.  Yet, you can buy all kinds of exotics online and some states have no laws against owning them!  Here is a summary of state laws regarding exotic animal ownership by private owners.  How does your state rack up? 

In some habitats mountain lions rotate days out in the big habitats.

Turpentine does have many old exhibits but they are working on building more natural habitats.  They have received many donations to build new habitats and have the space to do so.  It just takes time and they still need more donations.  They are starting to move towards a capital campaign where they will be able to collect the kind of money they need to make things happen and give the animals the habitats and space they need.  I will check back in often to see how they are doing.  But for now, check out their website.  If you live near Eureka, go visit and donate some cash.  I am pretty sure that locals get in free! 

What Turpentine really needs is more laws regulating the ownership of exotic animals.  Remember the ridiculous situation in Ohio recently, which is one of the most lax states when it comes to exotic animal laws.  Click here to sign a petition to ban the sale, ownership and harboring of exotic animals in Ohio. 

2.  Work Work Work.  Here is a quick update at the zoo:  It snowed over an inch and melted within a day.  The animals were all fine and probably enjoyed some snow. 

January:

Career Days – probably around 600 kids coming for career days at the zoo which is a day full of educational animal programs, career day presentation, scavenger hunt, animal encounter, conservation and of course fun!  For all of you that know me, I am a mammalogist, lots of experience wrangling bats, raccoons, gray foxes, mountain lions, black bears, ringtails… but not too fond of snakes.  I blame my two older brothers for tormenting me when I was young.  But I am becoming much more comfortable and here is the prooooof: Local newscast about the career day with miss snake and me. 

A Biodiversity of the Chihuahuan Desert Teacher Workshop.  Interactive activities, lesson plans, behind the scenes, and more to inspire teachers to engage their students with what is right outside their front doors!

Year of the Bat Kickoff Celebration – an event to bring awareness to the plight of bats, rid them of their negative reputations and educate people about local bats.  So much bat fun!  

1.  Arkansas.  Yes, I visited Arkansas for Christmas.  I love the trees but do not miss the bitter humid cold winter weather.  Although I hear that yesterday was 60 degrees!

This mailbox perfectly describes the town of Eureka Springs in Arkansas.

We spent the Xmas hanging out with family and friends.  Some of the kids got the all time BB gun for Xmas and everyone had a blast taking their turn hitting some cans.  I miss David’s family and I miss my friends from Arkansas.  I am extremely thankful for all of their kindness and hospitality and love that they are all in my life.  But… I will be back when its warm.  🙂

BB gun Christmas.

A walk down the road in Eureka.

I also got a chance to meet up with several friends from my old job.  I worked at the Ozark Natural Science Center (ONSC) for about three years.  It is a residential environmental education facility.  Kids embark on an overnight adventure to explore the great outdoors while being led by a highly knowledgeable, inspired and motivated Teacher Naturalist.  What I miss most about ONSC is the people and the campfires.  The people kept me thirsty for a quest for knowledge by always finding new plants and animals to discover while the campfires kept me sane and warm.  On this past trip, they gave me a scrapbook of my times at ONSC and I flipping LOVE it. 

Liz (ONSC co-worker) and Zac’s cute baby girl… or lamb?

Honorable Mention.  A future number 1:

Zoo Story.  Life in the Garden of Captives.  By:  Thomas French

I read the book in five days.  I had never heard of the book before it was in my mailbox thanks to my Aunt Mary!  The book takes you inside a zoo and inside the animals and keepers thoughts.  The author eloquently writes about the positive and negative of zoos and compares zoos to the wild and vice versa.  The book gets you thinking as it describes the rise and fall of the Lowry Park Zoo in Florida.  The author never takes a side although at times you think you know where his beliefs lie.   I loved the book for the story itself but also for the journalism.  I related to several stories throughout and reminded me of several zoos, coworkers and animals.  Even if you are not in the field it is still an important read as zoos are part of communities around the country and world. 

Although this deserves to be my number one, I am not ready to tackle my entire thoughts and opinion about zoos and the wild in this blog.  I will give you a chance to read the book first. 

Silly giraffe picture I snapped during a Behind the Scenes Tour.  Characters.

A busy busy past month and even more busy days ahead.

“Recognize the challenge and do something about it!”

Challenge.

Posted in biodiversity, christmas, el paso zoo, exotic animals, ozark natural science center, thomas french, turpentine creek, year of the bat, zoo story | Leave a comment

Can I convince you?

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Naima

Alright.   If you do not already know, I am very passionate about recycling.  A little to the point of crazy.  It just makes a lot of sense.  Recycling is an easy way for the everyday person to re use products and not have to do any of the work!  But it is excruciatingly hard to engage people to do it.  I must admit, my boyfriend sort of recycles, mostly because I am constantly watching him like a hawk.  Also, I have yet to convince my best friend who does not recycle.  If I can’t convince them then can I convince you?

Here is my attempt:

First of all, let us remember, the resources used to make everything you have whether your simple Kleenex box or your fancy car, all of the materials come from the environment.  Let’s trace something back… A watch.  What is your fancy watch made of and where does it come from?  Well your watch is made of stainless steel, gold, platinum, titanium and plastic.   Stainless steel is a mix of minerals such as chromite and nickel which are harvested from the ground in mainly Russia and Canada.  Gold, we all remember the “gold rush” from elementary school, so we can easily associate gold with harvesting it from the Earth.  Platinum is a chemical element found in some nickel and copper mined in mainly South Africa.  Titanium is a chemical element found in a number of minerals and widespread in the Earth’s crust.  Titanium is often mixed with iron to create a lightweight strong compound.  And guess what titanium is harvested from the Earth.  Lastly, plastic.  Everyday I am shocked by the number of people that do not know what makes up plastic.  Plastic is made from petrochemicals… OIL!  So if we think of plastic as oil we can easily associate it with drilling the Earth to harvest the raw material. 

Basically my point is, we harvest raw materials from the Earth, manufacture them and send them around the world to make the products we use everyday.  The process of collecting the raw materials from the Earth is environmentally degrading.  Have you heard of mountaintop removal?  Exactly what it states is what they do.  Companies remove mountain tops to expose coal.  The leftover hill is like a moonscape, no vegetation, no wildlife, no life.  By the way, this is happening here in the United States in the Appalachian Mountains.  Destructive mining has led to loss of biodiversity in many areas around the world.  Need more proof?  In East Africa mining is threatening the coastal forests that are considered a hotspot for biodiversity.  Don’t believe me?  Click here.

With every new product you buy, try and remember that you are adding to the mining and collection of the these materials.  It is extremely hard to connect to the Earth when you are standing in the middle of a mall, department store, grocery store or other building. 

But, if you recycle the product, or packaging, that means the materials will be broken back down into their raw materials and made into another product.  Taking out the need to mine for more raw materials, destroying more wild habitat. 

If we don’t recycle, where does your trash go?  I have asked this question to thousands of people, kids and adults and I would say about 25% know where their trash goes.  No one is hiding it, we just don’t want to think about it.  Your trash goes to a landfill or the ocean.  Yes, they load your trash on a boat and take it out into the middle of the ocean and drop it.  Anyone remember the “the solution to pollution is dilution.”  We still have that mindset.  The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, because of ocean currents their is an area in the Pacific ocean that is collecting trash in mass quantities, about the size of Texas.  Gross!  Or maybe you like the landfills better.  Here in El Paso we have more than one landfill in the area, but the biggest one is about 95 feet deep and covers about 600 acres!!  Now that is some trash!  In the United States there are 3,091 active landfills and over 10,000 old municipal landfills, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.  Landfills are hazardous sites that leach pollution into the air and ground which leads to our water supply. 

 

Trash washed up on a beach

But here is the thing.  We can easily reduce the amount of trash going to our landfills and ocean by recycling.  But most people don’t.  Less than 1% of plastic bags are recycled.  And don’t give me the “it’s hard” excuse.  Most cities have curb side recycling programs and if not they have drop off locations.  It is not hard to set up two bins in your house and put the recyclables in one and trash in the other. 

Ok still not sold on the idea?  Here are some eyebrow raising statistics that should put you over the edge.

  • Americans use 2,500,000 plastic bottles every hour! Most of them are thrown away!
  • Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures every year!  (I mean, surely when you read this your heart goes out to them.)
  • Mining and transporting raw materials for glass produces about 385 pounds of waste for every ton of glass that is made. If recycled glass is substituted for half of the raw materials, the waste is cut by more than 80%.
  • Every year, each American throws out about 1,200 pounds of organic garbage that can be composted.
  • The US population discards each year 16,000,000,000 diapers, 1,600,000,000 pens, 2,000,000,000 razor blades, 220,000,000 car tires, and enough aluminum to rebuild the US commercial air fleet four times over.
  • A single quart of motor oil, if disposed of improperly, can contaminate up to 2,000,000 gallons of fresh water.  Motor oil never wears out, it just gets dirty. Oil can be recycled, re-refined and used again, reducing our reliance on imported oil.
  • On average, each one of us produces 4.4 pounds of solid waste each day. This adds up to almost a ton of trash per person, per year. 

Approximately 60% of the garbage we throw away could be recycled!  If you are inspired to recycle please find out how to in your town.   The easiest way is google “recycle and the name of your town and city”.   If you have a smartphone the Treehugger app lists recycling in many places around the country.  It is free and has lots of other helpful information on it as well.

El Paso, Texas:  www.recycleelpaso.org

Or still too much work… ASK ME!  I will find out what you can recycle, where and if you have curbside recycling where you live for you!  Email, comment, facebook me… just contact me!

Recycling is step one and I hope that everyone feels a bit encouraged to participate.  My next step is to encourage you to buy recycled products and compost!  But baby steps.  Let’s recycle.

I am excited about an upcoming recycling/conservation project I am creating at my work that will hopefully inspire visitors and the staff to think, care and take part in our effort to recycle all we can!  Stay tuned. 

Recycle!

Posted in great pacifice garbage patch, landfill, minerals, mining, mountaintop removal, palm oil, recycle | Leave a comment

What are your little things?

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Naima

The little things really do make me smile, think, appreciate and laugh at life.  I am constantly noticing and yearning for a million little things!  Here are some of my recent little things that have inspired me in one way or another.

  • two old men playing dominoes at Whataburger today.  I can not help it, but I can not stop thinking about them!  I really hope that I have a dear friend when I am older that I can hang out with, drink coffee and chat with.  Honestly, I would love the opportunity to be accepted into their club right now.  To be able to sit and hear their stories and relax and enjoy the day would be amazing.  Although I fear my rambuctiousness would quickly get me kicked out of the club.  They remind me to slow down and take in life and just breathe. 
  • A lion stalk.  Not many people’s job allows them to step twenty feet outside their office door to be stalked by lions.  A playful pounce on the glass is all I need to make me giggle and take a step back from frustrations and realize what is important to me.   About a month ago, I received some very good advice that I hope to hold on to.  “Do not ever lose your spirit”.  And those lions definitely help me accomplish that.  I love animals, but more than just loving them I feel a pull to help conserve them in their natural habitats.  I am fortunate to feel the connection between conserving resources in our everyday lives and saving wildlife habitat.  The huge problem is not a lot of people feel that connection. 
  • Random rock in my coat pocket.  I am pretty sure that I picked up this rock in Denmark when I was there years ago.  It has stayed in the same coat pocket and whenever I put my hand in the pocket it surprises me.  It reminds me of the world and traveling and how much I want see, experience and explore every inch on our planet.  Not only do I want to explore the world but I want to see the health of the environment around the world and conservation initiatives on the ground.  If I could share those experiences with everyone, wouldn’t they feel inspired to?  But for now, every time I touch this silly rock, I imagine where I would go and what I would do.  Stupid little rock! 

So what inspires you?  I am fortunate to have many passions and am very easily distracted by “shiny things” that I desperately want to learn more about.  I love being inquisitive.   Are you?

my rock.

Inquisitive.

Posted in african lion, inspiration | Leave a comment

The dirty thirty

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Naima

Well it has happened.  I am 30 years young.

It is not so much the number that worries me, it is my ever pressing brain with all the ideas and activities and travels I must complete before it is too late that worries me.  If life was a race, I would be a little behind my planned pace, BUT I must remember that I always picked it up the second half of the race.

My friends and I took a fantastic trip to the mountains in New Mexico to celebrate the dirty thirty.  I am so happy that my friends were able to join me in such a unique environment.  We traveled from the dry, treeless desert, to the evergreen mountains in about 3 hours!  One of the best parts of living in El Paso is the close access to so many amazing areas.  The pictures really tell the story of this journey better than my words:

These silly kids could not get enough of the mountains and the pictures.
A cold hike at 11,000 feet.
Warmed up during the hike and all smiles!

 We stayed in a cabin with a wood burning fireplace in Ruidoso, New Mexico for two nights.  We trekked up to 11,000 feet to Ski Apache and braved the cold and wind for a short hike.  This winter we hope to make it back up to Ruidoso for some snowboarding!  Excited.

No view of the Mountain today.  Guess we will have to come back. 😉
A scary drive up to 11,000 feet.

Just outside of Cloudcroft, New Mexico we stopped on the side of the road to hike down to a beautiful creek: 

Beautiful cold mountain water.
Shan and I made it through this day.
Great friends make life great.

I am so happy this weekend came together!
It is like we are dressed for different climates! 
Nobody told me about the left arm memo.

Heading out of the mountains. The quick change of scenery. One minute trees and the next none to be seen.

On our way back to El Paso we made it to White Sands National Monument just before dark.  We paid $3 per person to explore for 45 minutes and it was well worth every penny.   The white sand is actually gypsum and this area is the world’s largest gypsum dunefield.  The dunes lie in the Tularusa Basin which are surrounded by Mountains.  Gypsum (soluble in water) is carried down from the mountains into the basins by rivers, and because the basin does not have a drainage the water evaporates and the gypsum remains.  The result is a beautiful 275 square miles of wind carved gypsum dunes.  What I found most interesting in this area is that evolution is happening right before our eyes!   The animals that inhabit the area have evolved lighter coloring than their counterparts elsewhere to be able to survive these extreme conditions.  A great example is the lesser earless lizards, which have evolved white coloration to better camoflauge and protect themselves from predators.  Take a look at a quick article with pictures on this phenomenon (evolution happening today).   Natural selection at its finest is displayed in the animals of White Sands.  

It’s like you are at the beach, but the gypsum is much softer than sand!
Climbing the dunes so we can slide back down.  Many people brought sleds.
Shan and David in the sunset.  Great picture.
Rough housing at the dunes.
I was trying to capture David and Shan sitting on the tailgate but ended up with this sweet pic instead.

Bridge to the unknown.

An inspiring quote on one of the signs in the park.

A world of gypsum.

In just three short days we were able to experience all of this!  Everyone’s life is extremely busy and it is hard to remember to take time to do the things you want to do.  For my next 30 years, that is what I am going to try and do better.  I have a life list and it is time to start checking some items off! 

By the way, are you looking for some adventure inspiration?  National Geographic has posted stories, interviews and pictures of the 2012 Adventurers of the Year.   From a woman that broke the Appalachian trail hiking record, to people that have summited Everest and para glided down to an extreme snowboarder, 19 year old champion woman surfer and more.  Check out their pictures and more here on the website.  

… oh to dream.  Well screw just dreaming, I am going to make things happen!

Dream and DO.

Posted in birthday, cloudcroft, dirty thirty, national geographic, Ruidoso, white sands national monument | Leave a comment

My green Thanksgiving. If we all do a little!

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Naima

Instead of posting things that you can do to be more green during Thanksgiving I am going to post things I will be doing!  These tidbits are simple and if I can do them than anyone can.

1.  Turn off your heat when you are not there.  Well at least turn it down.  We live in a place where we do not need much heat so I just turned off our heat.  Otherwise turn it down to a level good enough to keep the pipes from freezing (50-55F)

2.  Unplug appliances.  I ran around the house before we left making sure everything was unplugged.  Phantom power – when appliances are turned off they still take energy (coal/oil)!

3.  Make your own!  I will be making lasagna for the day before Thanksgiving and I have not bought a box of pasta in over a year (if not more).  If you make your own noodles it is easy and tastes 10 times better than those random hard noodles you buy in the store.  Home made actually soak up the tastes of whatever you make.  Next time you buy pasta in the store, read the ingredients.  The ingredients should be flour, eggs and water.  See what you find!  Lots of items that should not be in there.

4.  Pack a cooler.  Yes we are driving 16 hours for the Holiday.  Yes we are taking David’s gas guzzler but much comfier and more roomy truck.  So I do what I can and packed a cooler so we would not eat fast food.  I packed us some drinks to so we wouldn’t have to stop and buy styrofoam gas station cups.  I will recycle the cans of Hansen’s Natural Soda (total hipster).

So do what you can this Thanksgiving and make a commitment to do something! Think about your actions and make some different choices.  A little bit does add up.

Which reminds me:

I recently listened to a guest speaker who talked about climate change.  I found myself perplexed by some of what he was saying.  Most of his presentation was urging and demonstrating that climate change is real.  My opinion: Of course it is real, lets move on and talk about what we can do about it! 

At times during his presentation I felt like he was being persuaded somehow by the oil companies.  He stated that we can not live in a world without oil and argued that the Toyota Prius is more environmentally degrading than the Hummer.  Interesting point that I have heard before.  He stated that the hybrid battery used in the prius is made of nickel which is an extremely environmentally degrading process to harvest.  Click here to read a good article explaining the argument.  The nickel battery is shipped across the oceans to Japan and back before being used but guess what so are regular lead batteries.  Another part of this argument is that the Hummer lasts three times as long as a hybrid.  From the research I did that is not necessarily true.  Also – just like a lot of this gentleman’s presentation this Prius vs Hummer argument is old.  The article I linked to is from 2007.  Technology is fast moving.  Some car companies have started a loan process for the batteries so that they can recycle and continue to use the same batteries instead of harvesting new materials.  Climate change is a dynamic changing force with much going on day to day.  If you are so inclined to speak about it, you better have the most up to date info.  Many times during the presentation he mentioned that he needed to update his slides.

The other big problem I had with his talk is basically his debunking of my job and my viewpoint.  I truly believe that if we all do a little bit to help out the environment it will add up.  Just like if you save 25 cents per day it adds up, or if you work out a little bit every day your health gets better, or if you add trash to the trash can every day it adds up.  Well if you do something small to help the environment every day it will help.  It may not make a huge difference if just you do it, but there are 7 billion people in the world.  Together, even just 1/4 of that population can make a difference.  A huge difference. 

I think what happened is the speaker was a bit deflated about his work.  He needs some posititvity brought back into his life that we can make a difference.  I didn’t get a chance to speak with him after but I wish I did.  Smile buddy and go out and make a difference yourself.  You have the opportunity to speak to thousands of people.  Prep your slides, get back involved and make a difference.

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”  Ghandi.

You can make a difference.  Start small and dream big!

 I saw this pic and it got me thinking.  I hope it randomly inspires you as well.

Tidbits add up! 

Posted in climate change, every little bit adds up, Green thanksgiving, hummer, nickel, prius | 1 Comment

My top 5 favorite FREE "green" apps.

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Naima

Why yes, I did end up getting the iphone 4s and I love it!

“A thneed is a fine something that all people need!”  A quote from the book, The Lorax by Dr. Suess in which the Once-ler encourages people to buy a thneed, a product he has made from chopping down the truffula trees.  By the way the movie is coming out next year with Danny Devito as the Lorax.  Click here to watch the trailer.  But yes, my iphone is a thneed.  Something I don’t really need.  As humans, we are going to have an effect on the environment but do we have to have a huge impact?  I think not.  I always encourage kids and adults to make small changes in their lives that together will add up to make a difference.  Therefore, I will use my iphone for good!  So here is my list of helpful green iphone apps.  Let me know if you know of others I should check out!

1.  GoodGuide.  It is very hard to be an informed consumer and buy healthful as well as environmentally friendly products.  I always read the backs of labels and inspect the ingredient list but I am often surprised at how often companies will fool you.  GoodGuide, with a database of over 120,000 products makes it easy to find safe, healthy, green and ethical products.   It has a barcode scanner for easy access to the info!  Tonight at the grocery store I scanned the herbal detergent in the organic section and then Purex Natural Elements detergent and guess which one had a better rating?  Purex!!

2.  Twitter.  Yes that sounds funny but twitter has so much information in one quick place.  Here are some of my recent green favorites to follow: @huffpostgreen @inhabitat @grist @helprecycle_com @water @care2  – and of course @naimajeannette!

3. Locavore.  This app tells you what fruits and vegetables are in season and for how much longer in your area.  It also lists the farmers markets.  The more we support local farmers, the more all the food items they list will be available to buy.  For a crazy challenge, try just eating food items from within 150 miles of your area. 

4.  Seafood Watch.  Do you like seafood?  This easy to navigate app will warn you about what seafood to stay away from and what seafood is harvested in a sustainable manor and ok to consume.  Lately at my grocery store there has not been any seafood on the “green” list.  Availability must have something to do with seasonality as well so make sure to keep up with the app.  The general rule I use with seafood is stay away from farmed anything from Asia.  I also used the app in the tuna aisle today!

5. Treehugger.  For the ultimate in environmental info download this app.  It keeps you updated with environmental news around the world, recipes for sustainable food, energy efficiency tips and so much more.  There are also Podcasts from Treehugger radio!  They have guests from all over the world on green everything (architecture, green tv, green fashion, etc).  The app also can give you local info on where to recycle all kinds of products!

So download the apps and get to it!  They are FREE so you have nothing to lose.  Just remember you have them!  The apps work on the iphone 3G and I think they have equivalent droid apps.

ALSO – you do not have to have a smart phone to enjoy all of these tools.  They all have websites that you can visit as well!  

PS:  The iphone 4S has an awesome camera!  You should be on your toes for my next blog too!

Here is a pic tease for my next blog.  Any guesses where this is?

Thneeds!

Posted in GoodGuide, green cleaning, green iphone apps, iphone 4s, Locavore, podcasts, seafood watch, the lorax, thneed, Treehugger, twitter | Leave a comment