Thursday, September 13, 2012

September 2012

Newsletter

Franklin Mountains State Park Update

by: Adrianna Weickhardt
Park Interpreter/Ranger/Volunteer Coordinator

We are proud to welcome our newest member of the Franklin Mountains SP team, Matthew Truax! He comes to us as a local El Pasoan with a strong desire to learn about the park and all of the important duties that come with being a park maintenance ranger. The guys have been showing him the ropes and so far haven’t run him off J. Welcome Matt!

Our Park Superintendent, Dr. Cesar Mendez, attended the El Paso County and Dona Ana County Conservation Cooperative meeting with the ultimate purpose to establish a group that can make recommendations on the direction of conservation efforts in both counties. The City of El Paso and Texas Parks and Wildlife signed an Inter Local Agreement that will allow Franklin Mountains State Park to install signage and iron rangers at specific trailheads within City property to legally access the State Park.

As we are rounding out the summer, the park has been chock full of visitors attending various activities such as the Women’s Only Hikes, Peak Fitness Challenge hikes, and FREE movie nights in the Franklins – all new programs that started either earlier this year or as special summer programming. During the month of August, the park offered 4 FREE movie nights all supporting the theme of Water Conservation and included special guest speakers Diane Perez and Norma Guzman, both from the TecH20 Center. We showed the movies “Texas the State of Water” and “Rango” drawing adults, children, dogs and even a surprise viewing of some deer during one evening.

We just offered our 6th Women’s Only Hike (a once a month offering) in August and have been meeting some wonderful ladies with vivacious spirits and passions for getting more familiar with the outdoors and the desert. We also had our 3rd Peak Fitness Challenge Hike (a once a month offering as well) in August and with a group of 10 people and one loveable dog, hiked to the top of North Franklin Peak. FMSP partnered with the folks from GeoBetty, Texas Mountain Trail Region and Guadalupe Mountains National Park for this one of a kind and exciting program! Check out the link at: http://beta.geobetty.com/peak/. Sign up for a fun new challenge, log your miles, win prizes and reach new peaks and goals with us.

On August 25, 2012, we held our 2012 Volunteer Orientation for about 15 volunteers. It was a wonderful day-long training presented by Dr. Cesar Mendez, Park Police Officer Fernie Rincon, Volunteer Richard Love and Park Interpretive Ranger Adrianna Weickhardt. We are so happy and appreciative to all of the new and “renewed” volunteers for the dedication and passion that they share with the park and all of the visitors – we couldn’t do it without you!
On September 1, 2012, the much anticipated Chihuahuan Desert Chili Cook Off will be commencing. Volunteers and park staff have been planning this event all year; sure to be a fun day for the whole family, this Chili Cook-Off is Chili Appreciation Society International (CASI) sanctioned. “CASI raises money for charity through the promotion of American red chili. CASI sanctions over 500 chili cook-offs internationally each year as qualifying events for the Terlingua International Chili Championship. This grand spectacle is held the first Saturday of November each year at the society’s grounds in Terlingua, Texas.” -- www.chili.org. There will be free chili tasting, music by Slackabilly, door prizes and more.

Park staff, volunteers, and community service did general maintenance to Tom Mays Unit and McKelligon Canyon HQ. Park staff requested wooden signs to be installed across the park. Park volunteer R. Newman continues to work on the trail rerouting of a bike loop north of the Lower Sunset trail. Volunteer Richard Love and park staff did maintenance to the Wildlife Viewing Area. A couple of rattlesnakes hanging out by the Wildlife Viewing Area were relocated by park staff to an area out of public use. Other Wildlife sightings during the month of August: a Hoary Bat, a Javelina, Deer, Gray Fox, a Leopard Lizard (rarely seen in Texas) and a Ringtail; all but the Javelina and Leopard Lizard were seen in McKelligon Canyon. The Javelina was spotted out in the Hitt Canyon area of the park, and the Leopard Lizard was seen on the Lazy Cow trail.

Hop on over to the 8th Annual Chihuahuan Desert Fiesta, Saturday, September 15


The Annual Chihuhuan Desert Fiesta at Tom May’s Park sponsored by Franklin Mountains State Park will take place again this year in northwest El Paso on the west side of the Trans Mountain (Loop 375) road. Everyone is invited to come out and enjoy the day and explore the area with park staff, volunteers and partner conservation education organizations including the El Paso Zoo, El Paso Water Utilities, Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coaltion and many other local organizations. There will be short easy walking guided walks, speakers, educational exhibits, horse and hay rides and demonstrations.
If you are an experienced desert goer the event makes for a great time to renew friendships with other members of the community and to make new friends. If you are a novice with little or no experience attending the event will help you connect with the Chihuahuan Desert and its amazing biodiversity, geology and cultural resources.

Texas Master Naturalists Screens Documentary
“Mother: Caring for 7 Billion”


Texas Master Naturalists invite you to a special screening of “Mother: Caring for 7 Billion”, a  documentary about population, held at El Paso Museum of Archaeology, 4301 Woodrow Bean  Transmountain Road El Paso, TX 79924 at 11 am on Saturday October 13, 2012. This is a  courageous and sensitive new film that shows how population silently fuels our largest  environmental, humanitarian, and social crises. Since the 1960’s the world population has nearly doubled, adding more than 3 billion people. At the same time, talking about population has become politically incorrect because of the sensitivity of the issues surrounding the topic- religion, economics, family planning and gender inequality. The Green Revolution that has fed billions will
soon come to an end due to the diminishing availability of its main ingredients -oil and water. This film highlights this issue with some eye opening facts and personal life accounts.”

FMWC Seeks Event Coordinator


The Franklin Mountain Wilderness Coalition is seeking an Event Coordinator for Poppies
2013. Other volunteer opportunities include: Volunteer Coordinator, Event Day Security,
Children’s Activity Leader, and more.

The Event Coordinator is responsible for organizing the Planning Meetings, setting the agenda, and coordinating with other event leaders.

Please ask your organization’s members and friends, and spread the word. If anyone is interested, please notify Judy Ackerman, (jpackerman53@gmail.com, 915-755-7371) not later than 15 Oct 2012. Response to this request will determine IF 2013 Franklin Mountains Poppies Celebration on Castner
Range happens. Tentative event date is Sat 30 Mar 2013.

SWEC Steps Up Efforts to Get More Mexican Wolves on the Ground

By Kevin Bixby
Contributor/ Executive Director of the Southwest Environmental Center


The Southwest Environmental Center in Las Cruces has been at the forefront of recent efforts to  convince federal officials to release more endangered Mexican wolves into the wilds of New Mexico  and Arizona.

In February, we ran six full-page ads in the Las Cruces Sun-News, each consisting of a letter signed by more than 1500 people calling on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Regional Director Benjamin Tuggle to use his authority to revoke an outdated and politically- motivated rule that prohibits the direct release of wolves into New Mexico.

Most of the best remaining unoccupied wolf habitat is located in New Mexico’s Gila National Forest, yet current rules stipulate that wolves from the captive breeding population must first be released into a relatively small area of Arizona before they can be subsequently relocated into New Mexico. Releasing suitable wolves from the more than 300 in captivity directly into New Mexico is the quickest and most effective way to boost numbers and genetic diversity in the wild population, and ensure that Mexican wolves do not go extinct in the wild again.

At the same time, we circulated an online petition calling for direct releases that garnered more than 26,000 signatures. Each time somebody signed, Tuggle received an email message urging him to clear the way for direct releases of Mexican wolves into New Mexico.

Finally, SWEC’s Executive Director Kevin Bixby helped to author a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, signed by 30 conservation organizations, calling for more wolves to be released into Arizona to prevent further loss of genetic diversity in the wild population, as well as a rule change allowing for releases into New Mexico.

A copy of the newspaper ad, online petition and Salazar letter can be found on our website at www.wildmesquite.org.