Click an event below to view more information and details on how to register.
May 24, 2012
Wilderness Stewardship Inventory
NM Wilderness Alliance Volunteers are helping the Smokey Bear District of the Lincoln National Forest with their Wilderness Stewardship Inventory
Thursday, May 24 to Saturday, May 26. We will be back in the White Mountain Wilderness. Our camping and starting location will depend on whether the Forest Service Campgrounds on the East side have opened for the season.
What inventory work? As we hike in the wilderness, we use nifty mobile mapping units to record our GPS position, take photos, and fill in the map database with touch-screen dropdown menus. Folks from middle-schoolers to grandmothers have learned how to collect wilderness data with us.
The Lincoln National Forest is required to complete their wilderness inventory by 2014. They really need help, and NM Wilderness Alliance Volunteers are helping.
PLEASE JOIN US, and have a great time in the wilderness too! Learn more on our Wilderness Stewardship Challenge homepage.
Folks from the local area of Ruidoso, Roswell, Alamogordo, Carizzozo and Capitan may choose come for day hikes.
To sign up and to get more information, contact:
Lynne Uhring
GIS Specialist
NM Wilderness Alliance
Albuquerque Office
lynne@nmwild.org
505-843-8696 ext.110
June 1, 2012
Rio Chama Rafting
Date: June 1-3, 2012
Cost: $1,000 for members, $1,200 for non-members
Experience three days and two nights floating down America’s Wild and Scenic Chama River with experts, scientists, and philosophers from the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance. Rio Chama in northern New Mexico is a dam-controlled stream, impounded by El Vado Reservoir. The twenty-five-mile Rio Chama begins in alpine wood-lands as a clear, rushing trout stream rainbow cliffs so typical of the Four Corners region. Lovely, wooded campsites and lively but easy rapids make the Chama one of the best family river outings anywhere.
June 2, 2012
Ute Mountain Hike
Date: June 2, 2012
Cost: $10 for members, $20 for non-members
Our group will enter Ute Mountain on its north face. Since Ute Mountain is true wilderness, and no developed trail system is in place, we will utilize game trails to scale the mountain, so wear good walking shoes!
We will have beautiful views of the Rocky Mountains in southern Colorado, so bring your camera.
The hike will be 4-6 miles and will last 6-8 hours.
Maximum participants: 12
June 8, 2012
Dalton Canyon Hike
Date: Friday, June 8
Cost: $10 for members, $20 for non-members
A magical place, especially in the spring. Dalton is a deep canyon in the Santa Fe National Forest, north of Pecos. The canyon features lush meadows, a clear, cool stream,
wild columbines, old-growth trees, and lots of wildlife.
The endangered Mexican spotted owl lives here, along with hawks, eagles, bears, and elk. The hike climbs gently, until you reach a sparkling waterfall. Wear water sneakers for the many stream crossings and expect lots of clambering over fallen trees. Along the way you’ll spot fish in the pools; Rio Grande cutthroat trout live above the waterfall.
You can extend the hike by continuing above the falls into rarely visited areas where wildlife abounds.
Hiking distance is 6 miles round trip, and will take about 4 hours.
Maximum participants: 8
June 15, 2012
Rio Chama Rafting 2
Date: June 15-17, 2012
Cost: $1,000 for members, $1,200 for non-members
Experience three days and two nights floating down America’s Wild and Scenic Chama River with experts, scientists, and philosophers from the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance. Rio Chama in northern New Mexico is a dam-controlled stream, impounded by El Vado Reservoir. The twenty-five-mile Rio Chama begins in alpine wood-lands as a clear, rushing trout stream rainbow cliffs so typical of the Four Corners region. Lovely, wooded campsites and lively but easy rapids make the Chama one of the best family river outings anywhere.
Registration Fee: $1,000 for members, $1,200 for non-members
Cancellation policy: Trip cancellations made at least one month in advance of the trip departure are eligible for a full refund. If for any reason we cancel a trip, we will also give a full refund.
June 22, 2012
Help Inventory Lincoln National Forest
THIS TRIP IS specifically planned for CNM GIS students, but if it doesn’t fill, regular folks are welcome to come along.
NM Wilderness Alliance is helping the rangers of the Smokey Bear Ranger District near Ruidoso, NM to complete their Wilderness Stewardship Inventory. This is the third year that NM Wild has received funding to get our volunteers out into the wilderness to inventory human impact on the wilderness.
We volunteers hike around carrying nifty mobile units loaded with mapping software. When we find a campsite, eroded trails, initials carved on trees, or invasive plants. We record the data, the GPS location and take photos. We log the Forest Service signs or lack of signs. Then we log all the “oh wow!” locations – beautiful views, animals, majestic trees, springs, caves, and anything else that makes the wilderness special and worth preserving.
The wilderness is big so we are working on this inventory all season long. Planned group trips and mobile unit training will also occur in the beautiful White Mountain Wilderness on:
Thursday, May 24 to Saturday, May 26th — THIS TRIP IS FULL, but you can sign up for the wait list. People change their plans at the last minute a lot.
Friday, July 27th to Monday, July 30th — lots of openings for this trip. If you are interested in clomping around in the desolate and isolated Capitan Wilderness, looking for thistles, you can stay until August 1st with me.
Thursday, August 30th to Monday, September 3rd (Labor Day Weekend) – planning is starting for this trip. I also plan to stay another couple of days after this group trip to look for thistles in the Capitan Wilderness.
Cost: Your own travel expenses and campground fee. To find out more about the National Forest Stewardship Wilderness Inventory and NM Wilderness Alliance participation, go to:
http://www.nmwild.org/2012/uncategorized/wilderness-stewardship-challenge-homepage/
To sign up for any of these group trips, or to get more details, please contact:
Lynne Uhring
NM Wilderness Alliance
GIS Specialist
505-843-8696 ext 110
June 23, 2012
San Pedro Parks Wilderness 1
Date: Saturday, June 23
Cost: $10 for members, $20 for non-members
Often referred to as New Mexico’s gentle wilderness, the San Pedro Parks Wilderness offers a complex matrix of forests, meadows, and streams.
Huge stands of quaking aspen are found throughout the region, and during the summer months large arrays of wildflowers will be in bloom. Averaging an annual rainfall of thirty-five
inches, the San Pedro Parks Wilderness is easily the wettest wilderness area in New Mexico, which in turn provides ideal habitat for elk, deer, black bear, mountain lions, and bobcats. This lush oasis doesn’t have any major peaks or sweeping vistas, but it will most certainly take your breath away.
Maximum participants: 12
Hike will be 8 miles and will take about 4 hours.
July 14, 2012
San Pedro Parks Wilderness 2
Date: Saturday, July 14
Cost: $10 for members, $20 for non-members
San Pedro Parks Wilderness (SPPW) is very special, and the flora here is unique. One, because it is a high, wet place and two, because it was once a cooler place and thus had alpine plants.
After the last Ice Age about 10,000 years ago, these plants were “trapped” at lower altitudes, around 10,500 feet. So, when those same species retreated to higher elevations in the higher mountains, those in SPPW had to adapt instead to warmer temperatures.
As a result, plants now found above Taos at nearly 12,000 feet occur in San Pedro Parks.
At the first stage of the hike, we will pass through forest with many fascinating plants. A four-foot-high delphinium was just discovered. In about two miles we’ll come to our first wet meadow with orchids, yellow paintbrush, buttercups, sedges, and other colorful plants. Here we can see a blue polemonium that looks like a bedraggled Jacob’s ladder not found elsewhere in New Mexico. How far we get after that will depend on weather and people’s interest.
Maximum participants: 12
The hike will be 4-5 miles and will take 5 hours.
Hamilton Mesa-Pecos Wilderness
Date: Saturday, July 14, 2012
Cost: $10 for members, $20 for non-members
Hamilton Mesa sits in the heart of the Pecos Wilderness, just outside of Santa Fe. The trail climbs gradually through forest until we emerge on the mesa itself, where we will be afforded views of all the major peaks in the Pecos, as well as the largest wild iris field in the
state of New Mexico. There are also numerous meadows and stands of aspen groves along this portion of the trail. This is one of hike leader Nathan Newcomer’s favorite hikes in the
entire state. See page 40 for a view of Hamilton Mesa in the fall, taken by photographer Tony Bonnano.
The hike will be 7 miles and will take about 4 hours.
Maximum participants: 12
Noxious Weed Identification: Villanueva State Park
Date: July 14-15
Cost: $10 for members, $20 for non-members
A noxious weed identification field trip lead by Don Heinze, professional botanist, member of the New Mexico Native Plant Society, and retired BLM invasive plant expert.Knowing how
to distinguish invasive plant species from native plant species is vital for NMWA volunteers who participate in our wilderness surveys funded by the National Forest Foundation. At
Villanueva State Park, we will identify cheat grass and spotted knapweed. There are many native wildflowers that grace this area in midsummer, and we will identify them also. On
Sunday we will proceed to the Pecos Canyon, north of the town of Pecos to see Scott’s thistle.
We will camp at Villanueva State Park, south of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. This charming riverside park, straddling the Pecos River is surrounded by red and yellow sandstone cliffs. A footbridge gives hikers access to trails along the river, to a prehistoric
Indian ruin, and a cliff-top vantage point. Note: The campground where we will be staying has showers.
NMWA will provide lunch when you arrive Friday July 14, and supper in the evening. On Saturday July 15, NMWA will serve breakfast and lunch.
Maximum participants: 15
