Feds Release Mexican Wolf Asha Back to the Wild

Feds return Mexican wolf to the wild

The US Fish and Wildlife Service last week returned Asha—also known as Female wolf 2754—back into the wild in Arizona, the agency announced yesterday. As environmental journalist Laura Paskus reported for SFR last January, the wolf left her pack—disbursed—last year and walked out of the Mexican Wolf Experimental Population Area and 500 miles to New Mexico, where New Mexico Department of Game and Fish employees tracked her via helicopter and captured her on private land not far from Angel Fire. The decision to move this wolf back to the MWEPA at the time was consistent with policies outlined in the agency’s recovery permit, the agency says. “In addition, the lack of other wolves in the area meant there was no chance for female wolf 2754 to breed and contribute to Mexican wolf recovery.” The agency temporarily held Asha at the US Fish & Wildlife’s Sevilleta Mexican Wolf Management Facility outside Socorro, “where she was paired with a male in the hopes of her breeding and producing pups this spring. Her new mate was selected based on potential genetic contribution to the wild populations.” The agency says it had planned to release Asha, her mate and pups in Mexico “in support of recovery efforts in the southernmost wild Mexican wolf population,” or in the Mexican Wolf Experimental Population Area, “where they could help provide a genetic boost to the US wild population.” However, they did not successfully breed, and the agency decided to return her to Arizona rather than relocate her to Mexico. She will continue to be monitored via radio collar. While wildlife advocates cheered Asha’s return to the wild, they continue to object to the agency’s confinement of wolves in the MWEPA, which limits their movements to the areas of Arizona and New Mexico south of Interstate 40. “Asha was simply following her wild instincts to find unoccupied suitable habitat,” New Mexico Wild staff attorney Sally Paez says in a statement. “Agency policy that restricts the natural expansion of the Mexican gray wolf population is counterproductive to the recovery of these critically endangered animals and the overall health of our southwestern ecosystems.”

Credit rating agency removes Santa Fe from risk list

The City of Santa Fe no longer is under a negative credit watch, S&P Global Ratings recently announced. In March, S&P—which rates the creditworthiness of local governments around the country—listed Santa Fe as “CreditWatch negative,” signaling the city’s AA bond rating could be adversely impacted in the future. State Auditor Joseph Maestas also raised concerns last spring about the possible hit to Santa Fe’s bond rating due to the city’s ongoing late audits. While the city’s work on its late audits continues, S&P writes that “changes implemented by the city should enable timely reporting and [it expects] future delays will be unlikely.” Removing the city from its negative credit watch “reflects the receipt and our review of information that we deem timely and sufficient, notably the city’s financials for fiscal years 2021 and 2022,” S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Joshua Travis said in a statement. S&P also affirmed its AA long-term rating on city’s general obligation (GO) bonds. The AA rating, S&P says, reflects its view of the city’s: strong economic profile; solid financial performance; good financial management practices and policies; and strong debt burden. In a statement, Mayor Alan Webber said he was “extremely gratified that S&P has given the city a clean bill of health…our finance team is doing an outstanding job and we should all feel good about this S&P announcement.”

County approves raises for public safety employees

To try to tackle staff shortages and improve retention, the Santa Fe Board of County Commissioners this week approved a new pay scale and benefits for employees of the Regional Communication Center and the Adult Detention Facility. According to a news release, the county negotiated the raises and improvements with the unions representing the employees. Positions at the Regional Communication Center covered by the union received an average increase of 8%, in addition to the scheduled 6% cost of living increase that will take effect on July 1. Employees at the Adult Detention Facility received an average increase of 11%, and will also receive a scheduled 6% cost of living increase starting on July 1. Detention officers also will receive a pay increase, with the range starting at $26 and going up to $28.88, depending on their experience. The new agreements also include: a referral bonus program where employees can earn up to $1,000 by referring people to vacant positions at Santa Fe County and retaining those individuals at Santa Fe County for one year; and elimination of the sick leave incentive program which discourages the use of sick leave by rewarding employees with eight hours of annual leave for refraining from using sick leave during a specified six-month period. “The vacancy at the RECC is a high risk to Santa Fe County,” Commissioner Justin Greene said in a statement, “so anything we can do to bring people up to a competitive pay scale. I especially love the incentive program by awarding employees from recruiting others.” The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s deputies also will receive a 6% raise. According to a news release from the sheriff’s office, the agency has 94 positions and 16 vacancies, which is working “vigorously” to fill: “Being a law enforcement officer is a very difficult job and requires people who have a unique set of skills,” Sheriff Adan Mendoza said in a statement. “It’s a job that not very many people can do aptly.”

City introduces online public financing portal

For the first time in Santa Fe’s history, voters can now use an online portal to sign nominating petitions and make qualifying donations for candidates seeking public campaign financing in the Nov. 7 election. The city joins Albuquerque as the only two municipalities in the state to offer an online option for the processes (albeit one that loads a little slowly). City Clerk Kristine Bustos-Mihelcic describes the new portal as “exciting,” saying it has been on her priority list since taking office about a year and a half ago. As for concerns about sharing private data online, Bustos-Mihelcic acknowledged the “very valid fear,” but said the city has taken steps to ensure data security. “There were measures that were put in place; we worked very closely with our IT department and our finance department,” she says, “and we also still have options for people who just don’t feel comfortable sending an online nominating petition.” The city also recently generated a QR code that will be sent to candidates who plan to go door to door and can also be included on promotional items like handouts.

Listen up

Rolling Stone magazine seems primarily interested in Americana/folk singer Christian Lopez’s return to Harpers Ferry in Lopez’s native West Virginia, in a video for the song “Harpers Ferry,” off his new album Magdalena. We were more interested in Glide Magazine’s interview with Lopez about the New Mexico location after which the album is named: Magdalena, the small village in Socorro, where Lopez and his wife lived while he was creating the album: “I think the settings show through on this album,” Lopez says. “I think there’s a raw, roomy sound. A lot of this was written about the highway, and there are long, hundred-mile roads there. There’s also the magic that you get from the sky and the mountains.” The official video for the track “Girl & a Gun” is intended to reflect that desert environment, although it was shot in Joshua Tree, California.

Watching the river flow

“Never Say Never with Jeff Jenkins,” premiering July 9 on National Geographic TV, will feature Jenkins attempting various travel challenges in order to inspire others—the raison d’etre behind his “Chubby Diaries” online community for plus-sized travelers. “I already have people from my audience telling me that they’ve never seen someone that looks like us have a travel show, and it gives them a sense of pride and inspiration,” Jenkins tells Travel + Leisure magazine. “It means a great deal, because being with the networks like National Geographic only helps to amplify my message that we as people can live life now and travel no matter our size, race, or backgrounds.” Among the various physical challenges Jenkins undertakes for the show, he tells T&L, the scariest was whitewater rafting in New Mexico: “I’ve done a lot of kayaking in my day, but whitewater kayaking was totally different,” he says. “It involves a lot of balance, and being a big guy, I felt like I was going to flip multiple times, but the scariest part was actually falling out and figuring out how was I going to survive going down this raging river.” We’re not sure precisely when Jenkins visited the state, but at present the raging Rio Grande certainly will provide rafters with a thrilling excursion; the river also presents potential dangers, as the Albuquerque Journal recently reported, with several fatalities already occurring in Taos this season. And, as long we’re thinking about the river, the state Film Office announced earlier this week that filming for a commercial showcasing the state’s rivers is underway and will continue in Chama and Taos through September; Cisco Guevara, owner of Los Rios River Runners (and quoted in the Journal’s story) is the commercial’s principal talent.

Always in fashion

Elle magazine profiles the all-star designers who will be a part of Project Runway’s 20th season, which premiered yesterday, including Santa Fe native Hester Sunshine, who first competed in the show’s 17th season in 2019. “It’s an amazing opportunity for me to explore my creative abilities, and I get to share my new brand [HESTA] with the world,” Sunshine, who currently lives in Brooklyn, tells Elle. “I also never turn down the chance to test myself against other top-tier artists.” Sunshine also partnered with Meow Wolf for its MW + HS fashion apparel line, which you can scope here. Also on the fashion beat, the Zoe Report recently visited Santa Fe courtesy heritage sheepskin brand Overland, and has the low-down on “how to pull off Western style as a New Yorker.” Associate Fashion Editor Kelsey Stewart provides a look at the outfits she donned during her stay at Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi, which include: a pink suede vintage jacket, cream sweater vest and denim Bermuda shorts for horseback riding; a “fringe-heavy jacket” for sightseeing (plus jeans); and a white one-shoulder dress from the RHODE x Target collection for dinner. Overland mules and a straw hat also featured in her fashion choices.

Red flag warning

The National Weather Service has Santa Fe and portions of central and east-central New Mexico under a red flag warning today from noon until 9 pm due to very low humidity, strong winds and an “unstable atmosphere.” Santa Fe may see isolated sprinkles today before 3 pm, but will be otherwise mostly sunny with a high temperature near 81 degrees and north wind 5 to 10 mph becoming west 15 to 20 mph in the afternoon.

Thanks for reading! Harper’s Weekly Review propelled The Word to read about German researchers’ new paper on ChatGPT’s most common jokes…which appear to mostly fall under the category of “dad” jokes (that’s The Word’s conclusion, btw, not the German researchers’ thesis).