Conservation News

Are there conservation issues in your area? If so, please email our Conservation Committee Chair, Sylvan Kaufman, at: conservation [at] npsnm [dot] org and your local chapter under the Chapters menu.

The conservation news archive is here.

Conservation Corner, Sylvan Kaufman, January 1, 2025

This year I think it is important to remember author William deBuys' talk on hope at the annual meeting in Taos. Quoting from his book, The Trail to Kanjiroba, he said, “Earth’s beauty is inexhaustible,” and we must do what makes sense irrespective of outcome. There may always be significant challenges from those who don’t care about our amazing diversity of plant life in New Mexico, but the NPSNM will continue to do what it can to conserve and celebrate New Mexico flora.

Support for Forest Service Old Growth Forest Amendments
The NPSNM submitted a letter of support in September for amending Land Management Plans (LMPs) to "institutionalize climate-smart management and conservation strategies that address threats to mature and old-growth forests on Federal Lands”. The amendments would put more emphasis on sustaining existing old growth forests and on managing mature forests so that they will eventually become old growth forests. You can read the letter here: https://www.npsnm.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Old-Growth-Amendment-comments-2024.pdf

Biodiversity and Climate Change
There were two significant global conferences this fall: COP16, the United Nations Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and COP29, the UN Climate Change Conference. As usual, there were mixed results from these conferences. According to the New York Botanical Garden (https://www.nybg.org/plant-talk/moving-toward-peace-with-nature-nybg-at-cop16/), the CBD established a new fund that “would shift profits from companies who profit from genetic information into a fund that would support global conservation efforts” and “established rights for indigenous people, who received a permanent body for future negotiations,” two positive changes. There was less agreement on how to fund and implement biodiversity monitoring and protection projects. COP29 proposes that developed nations pay into a fund to help less-developed nations with projects to reduce the impacts of climate change, but to what extent those funds will ever be forthcoming is questionable.

Closer to home, check out the Southwest’s Climate Hub ‘s cool StoryMap (https://storymaps.arcgis.com) and “Come Rain or Shine” podcast (https://www.climatehubs.usda.gov/hubs/topic/come-rain-or-shine-podcast-series). The talks from the Botanical Society of America’s November online conference, Plant Resilience and Conservation for a Changing Climate, had several speakers on alpine plants (https://climatesymposium.botany.org/plant-resilience-and-conservation-for-a-chang-ing-climate).

Vanishing Botany Programs
Meanwhile, the number of universities offering a degree in Botany has dropped to just 59 in 2023. By comparison, there were 76 in 2002. The demand for botanists has not declined, with many federal agencies and private companies seeking to hire people with plant identification skills and other botanical knowledge. Fortunately, New Mexico has botany programs through UNM, NMSU, and WNMU. Your donations to the NPSNM Carter Conservation Fund help keep botany research going in our region through our annual grant awards. Please consider making a donation to share your enthusiasm for plants with younger generations!

2025 NM Legislative Session
The State legislature will meet from January 21 through March 22 this year. Look for a bill to be introduced about the Department of Fish and Game that would update rules, secure funding, and modernize the department to enable it to do more to conserve and restore habitat (and that would include plants) for wildlife. Funding for EMNRD’s Forestry Department, for university education and research, and for the Extension program also helps with plant education and conservation in our state.