The federal workforce costs taxpayers $350 billion per year. That’s about 5% of the $6.5 trillion budget. The US Department of Interior employs about 63,000 people nationwide. The bulk of the federal budget goes to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the Department of Defense.
Tag: Valles Caldera National Preserve
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Valles Caldera, and Other Parks Face Peril Under Trump/Musk
The November 5 election was a disaster for public lands and conservation. Clearly the American voters were focused on widespread economic insecurity and voted their pocketbooks. Other issues like climate …
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Ancient Bison of New Mexico
Ancient bison, roamed New Mexico for thousands of years, even up into the forests and far down into the Mexican frontier. The animals looked like the bison of today, but they were frighteningly large, about 20% larger than today’s bison
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Attacks on National Park Service Budget are Intollerable
Since $150 million is a copper pocket change in the federal budget, the drive to cut the Park Service must be ideologically driven.
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Failed National Park Proposal Could Have Displaced the Manhattan Project
How many people know that there was a big movement to create a new national park in the Los Alamos area before the Manhattan Project
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Killing Eagles in the Jemez Mountains
In an unusual chain of events, the Pueblo of Jemez, a Native American community in Sandoval County, New Mexico, was granted a permit to kill one eagle on the Valles …
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Fixing the Valles Caldera National Preserve
Today we have a guest editorial from a former National Park Service employee who talks about the management problems at the Valles Caldera. This matters because the VCNP is one …
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Will Gray Wolves Come Into New Mexico Soon?
Gray wolves could disperse throughout the mountains of Colorado and move into the mountains of northern New Mexico in the near future given the Draft Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan now being finalized in Colorado.
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Trespass Cattle Damaging the Valles Caldera – Out of Control
But for the last few years, cattle from the Coyote District of the Santa Fe National Forest have spilled into the Valles Caldera through broken and cut fences. They have trampled the streams in the Valle Toledo and Valle San Antonio that volunteers and land managers spent years restoring from past livestock damage.
Planning for Disaster
Why did the Forest Service Start a Big Forest Fire in New Mexico? The recriminations have begun. The 320,000-acre Hermit Peak Fire in northern New Mexico has burned …