Activity Report Explorer

Rio Grande Valley Broadband • Entered by Susan Ostlie on April 30, 2023

All other educational webinars

February 1, 2023 – April 26, 2023

Key Issue: Multiple apply
Activity Type: Trainings (WALTS, CAREs/GLOWs, research, conferences, workshops, etc.)
Key Partners: Oregon Wild, American Trails, ABQ Open Space, National Wilderness Stewardship Alliance, North American Invasive Species Management Assn., Dave Parsons – Mexican Gray Wolves History, National Park Conservation Assn. (NPCA), Rewilding institute, Sempervirens, Wildlife for All.Pesticide Action Network.

Short Description of Activity

2/1 – Oregon Wild – Earth Week Action Plan – 1 Hour.
2/2 – American Trails Mainstreet to Mountaintop; Economic Impact of the Continental Divide Trail in the Rocky Mountain West – 1 Hour.
2/14 – Albuquerque Open Space – Elena Gallegos Education Center – Virtual meeting – 1 hour.
2/14 – National Wilderness Stewardship Alliance (NWSA) – Conversation with Katie Armstrong – Driector of Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers – 1 hour.
2/21 – NAISMA – Infrastructure Law and the Effects of Climate Change on Invasive Species – 2.5 hours.
3/16 – The Saga of El Lobo – Dave Parsons – History of the return of Mexican Gray Wolves – 25th Anniversary – 1 hour.
4/6 – NPCA – Climate Change and Cultural Resources – 1 Hour.
4/11 – NWSA – Dan Abbe, USFS – Toolbox for Wilderness Management techniques and practices – 1 Hour.
4/13 – Rewilding Institute – Rewilding with Beavers – Improving Hydrology, Biodiversity, and Climate Resiliency – 1 hour.
4/25 – From Wildlife Policy to Social Justice – Rethinking Wildlife Management in the US; Kevin Bixby, Wildlife for All and Michelle Lute, Project Coyote – 1 Hour
4/25 – Under the Redwoods – Sempervirens – Beauty, History, Science and Benefits of Redwood Forests. -Jared Farmer – Redwoods as Elderflo Creera. 1 Hour.
4/26 – The Pesticide Action Network (PAN) – Anna Lappe’, moderator. The Problem with Pesticides – Connections between pesticide use, public health, the climate crisis, and biodiversity. This launches the US Edition of the Pesticide Atlas – 1 Hour.

Reflection/Evaluation

Many of these webinars were informative and useful. I especially liked the pesticide webinar because it had a global outlook in the discussion.
The wildlife management webinar with Bixby and Lute took a deep dive into indigenous wildlife policies.
I love thinking about the beavers because there are probably beavers in Bluewater Creek in the Zuni Mountains, and they could be instrumental in reinvigorating the Shush Kin Fen. As far as I have been able to determine, it
is the only true fen in New Mexico. Of course that would mean fencing the cattle out, which is planned for this spring and summer, as soon as the county roads are passable.
Unfortunately, The Education Center that was under discussion for Elena Gallegos Open Space has been canceled due to neighborhood objections. (NIMBYism in action.) I was one of the few that supported this because it is a different ecology from the Bosque and other Open Space Education facilities. It had an amazing diversity of native plants and trees, including many with medicinal uses. I think that the people who live in this area also use the bosque, and they should be willing to share the space with people from less privileged neighborhoods and schools.
The other webinars were useful but not as applicable – invasives covers many issues that aren’t applicable to this state, and the trails trainings discussed grant writing for trail development, but the dollar matching requirements are way too onerous for a non-profit like the collaboratives of which I am a member.