The zoo has been a zoo!

The past two weeks at the zoo have literally been a zoo!  For the most part the weather has been great and it has been Spring Break!  Ahh, Spring Break, a time of relaxation and revitalization to push forward into a new year.  NO LONGER!  This spring break was an extremely busy yet creative time for me at the zoo. 

The first week of spring break we had our first ever Spring Break Camp from 9-12pm, Monday through Friday for kids ages 7-14.  It was a success.  Although I was crunched for time I loved coming up with activities for the kids to enjoy and at the same time be learning about wildlife and conservation.  The themed days were Nature Art, Geocaching, Nocturnal Animals, Backyard Wildlife and Tracks and Scat.  My two favorite activities for the kids was a home made nocturnal maze I built for them using materials we had at the zoo.  They were blindfolded and had to use their senses to navigate the maze.  The kids loved it but really loved leading each other through the maze.  My other favorite was chalk art, in which they were challenged to make their pavement box into an animal's habitat.  It took a while to set up but the kids enjoyed crawling around on the ground to create their masterpieces.  I am extremely thankful to the volunteers who helped me out during the week!  25 kids and no volunteers would have been horrible!  Luckily they also helped me break down and set up the zoo everyday. 

Nature Art: Chalk

Nocturnal Maze at the zoo!

Where are you?

To view all of the pictures from the camp thanks to Adrian Cisneros, take a look on the El Paso Zoo Facebook page here.  There are some really cute ones that will make you smile!

Most schools were off the second week in March but there were a decent amount that were off the third week.  For those kids and families we offered daily one hour workshops at 10am and 2pm everyday Monday through Friday.  There were families that joined us everyday and I grew close to them and looked forward to their arrival each day.  A one hour workshop was perfect to entice them with the activity for the day but also explore more that the zoo has to offer.  I loved the workshops.

One family thanked me for the week with this awesome potted plant! LOVE.

The second Saturday of my Spring Break was working at Kidspalooza!  Even without knowing what Kidspalooza is, it sounds like a madhouse... and it was!  The El Paso Zoological Society had a booth at the downtown El Paso children's event.  My station was making magical animal masks out of household materials (paper plates).  In my head the point was that you don't have to have all the supplies in the world to be creative and do a project with your kids.  There are tons of materials you can upcycle into beautiful works of art.  With 20,000 people attending Kidspalooza I don't think that message was passed along.  We probably had a few thousand come by our table and it was busy the entire day.  People were crazy about the masks but I don't think many of them thought, wow this is something I could do at home!  Throughout the day, I did manage to gather a few more emails for the email list at the zoo.  If you would like to know about upcoming programs or events or just see my dandy emails, sign up here.  No worries, I won't sell your emails and you will only receive about 1 per month unless there is so much going on I need to send 2!  Thank you to Renee, the Zoological society director, Darrel (volunteer), and the facilities guys that dropped off and picked up the tent and tables!

Our peaceful setup prior to the thousands of people!

My Spring Break continues... The 6th annual Poppies Festival on Castner Range is this upcoming weekend March 31st at the Museum of Archaeology!   The planning committee has been planning this event for months and this year the Mexican Gold Poppies are blooming!  I am the chairperson for this event and I have also never seen the poppies before so I am sooo excited for this Saturday!  The event is FREE and will include children's activities, about 30 unique art vendors and 30 educational exhibitors, live entertainment from local indian groups and musicians, a live wolf, nature talks, nature tours, food including local buffalo stew and so much more!  The event is 10-4 and parking is at the EPCC transmountain campus with shuttles provided.  

Spread the word about the Poppies Fest and join us to help preserve Castner Range.  The Museum of Archaeology is in the heart of Castner Range.  Castner Range is a former artillery range, owned by Fort Bliss, known for its cultural, geologic and unique biology.  Many consider Castner Range the crown jewel of the Franklin Mountains.  This is the reason I got involved in the event.  Often during my programs at the zoo urban sprawl comes up, and it is easy for people to picture urban sprawl happening around the world.  Many wild places are being destroyed for human use for homes, apartments, stores, roads, etc.  But what people don't realize is this is happening in our backyards.  The Franklin Mountains are part of El Paso but only the state park is preserved as a wild space.  The foothills of the mountains is being sought after by contractors to build houses, roads and more.  This area is extremely important for the rich biodiversity of the area.  If you want to learn more, come to the event!  The Franklin Mountains Wildnerness Coalition is a nonprofit dedicated to preserve the scenic beauty and wilderness character of the Franklin Mountains.  Even if you don't frequent hiking in the mountains, but just value being able to look up from downtown El Paso and see the mountains, come to the Poppies Fest! 

Castner range in all its glory!

Beautiful.

My Spring "Break" should really be called Spring Madness.  But the good kind: the fun, creative, exhausting Madness! 

Madness.

Gila Gila Gila Gila

I thrive off of exploring new areas.  When I dream I usually imagine traveling the world to see as much of it as possible.  The more I travel, the more I realize, there is sooo much out there.  This past weekend we were lucky enough to explore the Gila National Forest in New Mexico.  My guess is you have never heard of it.  The almost 3.3 million acres of land is an expansive wilderness with extremely diverse habitats from heavy pine forests to dry desert hills and some prairie in between.  But that was just the small portion we were able to view in our two days. 

Absolutely no cell service in the forest! Great!  Luckily I had this map pic to navigate.

We left late after work on Friday and arrived in a pitch black forest looking for a place to set up camp.  There are many campsites within the forest but we were looking for the primitive and free kind.  We found a great spot nestled among some evergreens and cliff sides.  Soon our fire was ignighted and just as fast it was out as we quickly fell asleep.  I could not sleep very well because it was FREEEZING and as I would doze off to sleep, my face would come out from under the blankets and the cold would wake me.  We woke in the morning to our water bottles, frozen.  It was in the teens that night.

The view from the campsite...

All snuggled up getting the coffee ready in bed.

 

Campfire coffee is the best.  In the percolator, strong as mud but very tasty. 

 

So many beautiful vistas.

We spent the Saturday exploring the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument.  The dwellings were carved into the cliff sides by the Mogollon people who lived in the area over 700 years ago. 

Gila Cliff Dwellings in the distance. 

The hike to see the dwellings is an easy one mile.

There are 5 dwellings.  The last two you can walk through.

What was most impressive about the Cliff Dwellings and the Ranger Station is the amount of volunteers, their knowledge, passion about the area and also offer suggestions and guide you through the entire Gila area.  The dwellings are in great shape with no graffiti and I bet that has a lot to do with the volunteers that truly care about the history of the area.  

Flowers - Spring!

 Although at this point it was the middle of the day and about 60 degrees F, there was still snow remnants to be found.  One volunteer mentioned it snowed just 5 days previous and was scheduled to snow the following day!

I did not know the Gila was one of the reintroduction sites. Awesome!

Too bad New Mexico recently pulled out of Mexican wolf reintroductions.  Yes, it's true, read the article here.  You can help turn this around by contacting your local officials and urging them to support wolf reintroductions here. 

Why would you want to do this?  Mexican wolves number only about 50 individuals left in the wild and can use all of the help they can get.  It is disheartening how scared people are of wolves.  Wolves do not kill people.  There has never been a confirmed and documented killing of a human by a wolf.  Dogs kill more people than humans (about 20 people per year).  You are at greater risk of being struck by lightning than being mauled by a wolf.  Yet movies and tv establish a sense of fear in everyone's brains.  Sad.  They are a necessary part of our environment and a great success story is how the gray wolf reintroduction into Yellowstone has balanced out the ecosystem.  Read about the yellowstone wolves here.  Want to do more to support Mexican wolves in the wild?  Buy cool Mexican wolf stamps here, proceeds support wolf conservation!

This was probably my favorite part of the trip.  We hiked to a HOT spring!  The water was steaming and was so hot you could not keep your skin in direct contact.  The picture above on the right, is where the water was coming out.  People have placed rocks along the stream path and in the river to make hot spring pools.  The hot spring water mixes with the freezing river water to create soaking baths!

On the hike to the spring you have to cross the freeeezing river multiple times!

Recreation lake.  This one was full of American coots.

 

I am hoping in the video you can really see how steep and huge the cliffs are. 

 Spring is in the air!  Even at high elevations.  The plant on the right smelled amazing!  Not sure what is was.  David did also find some wild mint. 

Waking up on day 2.

Lichen. I loved this lichen so much I could not put it in the fire. I am Ridiculous.

The campsite for night 2 was even more in the middle of no where.  No one was even in the same area with us.  We kept hoping some "friends" would join us so that if there were bears or big raccoons nearby we would have some fellow campers.  No such luck.  Oh and it was St. Patrick's Day! But the campsite was beautiful, right on the creek.  The night was much warmer, thank goodness.  Dinner was hot dogs on a stick and luckily no animals showed up that night, or at least that we know of.

Snow and 70 degrees!

The National Park Service has super cute electric vehicles!

 We left the forest on Sunday morning and headed to the town of Truth or Consequences for a huge much anticipated breakfast at "Happy Belly Deli".  Before we left town we decided to soak in local hot springs.  It was awesome!  We paid $10 per person to visit the springs at a nearby "resort".  The resort was made of trailers but has a quirky eccentric vibe.  It used to be a hostel but is now a resort.  The water is pumped up from the hot springs overlooking the Rio Grande.  The resort used to be a minnow farm!  They have 5 public pools from 105 to 101 degrees.  Amazing.  I did not want to leave.

Hot springs... ahh.

One of the pools overlooking the Rio.

The drive home was helatious due to the high winds and dust.  Luckily I relaxed while the truck was pushed around. 

Everyone should get out to the Gila!  It is amazing.

Here are my quick lists:


Why go? 
1. It's close
2. It's enormous
3. Breathtaking vistas.
4. Easy access to sights and hiking trails.
5. HOT SPRINGS
6. Campfires, cliff dwellings, rivers, trees!


Things to know: 
1.  Bring cash.  I did not.  I really did not need the cash but it would have been great for hiking fee stations and camp fee stations and entrance fee into the cliff dwellings.
2.  Make sure to fill up on gas prior to entering wilderness area.  We did!  But we kept saying, thank goodness we filled up!
3.  Free camping!  There are several camp areas that charge $10 per night but you can easily find many that are free and offer a more wilderness setting.  Both nights we stayed in free camp sites but had we needed a shower, the ten dollar sites would have been worth it.
4.  No cell service.  It was a blessing in disguise for me.  I loved unplugging but I still used my phone for all the pics!
5.  Fire wood.  They say to bring your own.  The camp areas are very scarce with down wood so plan to pick up wood prior to the camping areas.  We stopped a few times along the road to harvest some down dry wood.  There was plenty of down wood.  As long as it's on the ground it is ok to take for a campfire.  But beware, start collecting a lot and you need a permit.
6.  The entire Gila wilderness is a pack in, pack out park.  Meaning you must carry out all your trash.  At first you would think there would be more trash but it seems to be working! 

I hope everyone gets to explore the Gila.  I have plans to go back to explore the areas we did not get to and to do some longer backpacking.

As for now I will keep dreaming of future travels.

Tomorrow at work I will be wishing I was back here:

 Gila!

El Paso: Earthquake or Fracking?

The word fracking.  It used to remind me of the cooky show from the 80s: Fraggle Rock.  Now it only reminds me of a drilling process used to remove as much oil and natural gas from the Earth as possible.  Fracking is short for hydraulic fracking in which companies pump massive amounts of water and chemicals into the Earth to "fracture" and create new channels in the rock which can increase the extraction rates and ultimate recovery of fossil fuels.  When the water and used chemicals are drawn out they are left to sit in a retaining pool, either above ground or cemented closed underground.  The retaining pools many times are found to have leaks and chemicals are released into our environment.  Not all of the water and chemicals can be extracted back out, therefore the chemicals seep into our water supply.  Check out these numbers, "There are more than 50,000 disposal wells in Texas servicing more than 216,000 active drilling wells, according the the Railroad Commission. Each well uses about 4.5 million gallons of chemical-laced water, according to hydrolicfracturing.com."  Insane.  Oh and the chemicals they speak of are a blend made mainly of water, salt and sand but also infused with a wide range of chemicals, including acids, alcohols and hydroxides, which aid in breaking the shale and coal formations.

To understand the process and health effects of these chemicals on the environment and human health I highly recommend watching the documentary Gashole.  www.gasholemovie.com/  The documentary is an eye opener to exactly what fracking is and the cost it has on human health!  It definitely makes you think twice about your water supply and what is in it. 

I was inspired to write this blog last week after a 2.5 earthquake hit El Paso.  It is not unlikely for this area to have small earthquakes.  After recently chatting with a seismologist that resides in this area, he mentioned many fault lines and recent small earthquakes in nearby Mexico.  So the 2.5 earthquake is not out of the question.  Or is it?

Now why am I talking about these two items together, fracking and earthquakes?  New research has linked fracking and earthquakes.  The earthquakes associated with fracking sites are generally low (2-3 on the Richter scale).  This is happening all over the country.  Check out this headline from today on MSNBC,  "A dozen earthquakes that struck Ohio in 2011 appear to have been induced by the workings of a wastewater well, the state Department of Natural Resources said Friday, as it announced new rules for the disposal of a fracking byproduct because of its apparent link to the tremors."  These stories are everywhere and it is hitting El Paso!

We have several natural gas plants all around El Paso and our city buses run on "clean" natural gas.  It may burn cleaner than oil but the cost of fracking has a large effect on our water supply.  But I am making some assumptions.  I looked into a little bit of El Paso Natural Gas Company and other companies to find out if they are fracking in the area.  A bill passed in May 2011 makes companies list the chemicals they use on a website to monitor fracking.  I looked up if there were any in El Paso and did not find a listing.  But they only list since Jan 2011 and fracking has been going on since the 1940s!  I wonder what is going on now in our own backyards that we may not know about.   The companies are harvesting natural gas, how are they doing it?

At what point do we start to move away from fossil fuels?  Are we really going to go to every extreme measure (war, fracking) to utilize every drop of fossil fuel left in the earth?  We live in the sun city.  The city buses that run on "clean" natural gas energy are called the "Sun Metro".  El Paso recieves about 300 days of sun per year.   Sun.  Sun.  Sun.  I think we all know where I am going with this.  Invest our efforts in solar.  Create technology that which increases solar panel efficiency and decreases cost. 

These thoughts ran through my head the other day when we were out exploring an old volcano in New Mexico.  It was beautiful and remote.   The area was so remote we drove about 30 minutes on dirt roads in the middle of the desert.  I blame the guidebook, because the only mention of what were slow moving, dirt, very remote, treacherous roads, was it said, "very few visitors to this area".   The volcano was definitely worth the trip but on our way in and different way out we passed several natural gas company areas.  All of them from El Paso Natural Gas.  Perhaps we should be investigating their processes and making sure the public knows what is seeping into our groundwater before it is too late?   A story like this seems that it always has to get real bad with lots of evidence before something is done about it.  I don't feel like waiting.

Here are some pics from Aden Crater Volcano in New Mexico:

Very remote roads!

Aden Volcano and my mom.

Rugged Terrain inside the volcano.

Exploring the 110 foot hole where the vent was. 

Oh and researchers found the remains of a giant sloth in this area that now resides at the Smithsonian Museum!  Cool!

I try and teach kids everyday to be curious and question things.  Well I am curious about this fracking and earthquake relationship.  I am more curious to find out exactly what the natural gas companies in this area are doing.  I will keep you posted on my finds.  I have a suspicion they won't be pleasant.  The worst part about it, I will feel guilty about taking the city bus on my bike rides home!!!  I would venture to say, mass transit it still better than individual cars so I will not fret.

Aren't you curious now too?

It was much easier when fracking reminded me of Fraggle Rock.


Fracking.

"Caving" Carlsbad Caverns

Caving.  It turns out there are several definitions for caving.  Here is mine:  Exploring an underground cave with tight passages, peanut butter mud, cold clear water, grotto salamanders and more all with the necessary gear of knee-pads, gloves, headlamps, helmet and bathroom materials (pee bottle and just in case "burrito" bag).  My definition is not even extreme!  The extreme cavers spend weeks underground without surfacing and pack in all kinds of gear including tents, sleeping bags, scuba diving gear and much more.  Now that is extreme. 

With that being said, caves are unique, delicate environments that everyone should be able to explore to appreciate.  The problem lies in not everyone can explore caves.  For example, not everyone can explore "picnic" cave in Arkansas because as its title shows, "its no picnic" to get through that cave.  The main part of picnic cave I remember is squeezing your body through a narrow passage only wide enough for your helmet to fit, on your stomach maneuvering like a snake for what seems like an eternity.  Exhausting.

After exploring many caves in Texas and Arkansas and having to basically drag a 12 year old hysterical and borderline hypothermic girl through a wet exit that I don't really enjoy either, I decided to slowly stop caving.  It was kind of a been there, done that kind of feeling.  Caves are amazing and extremely fun to explore but really, I love the sun.

So this past weekend we headed to Carlsbad Caverns to experience the same thing about 300,000 people a year do, visit the caverns.  There are over 110 limestone caves within Carlsbad Caverns National Park with the most famous of Carlsbad Caverns.  All of these caves were dissolved by sulfuric acid.  Amazing.

While experiencing Carlsbad Caverns and listening to fellow "cavers" another definition of caving has been defined.  Anyone, no matter age or disability can explore Carlsbad Caverns.  Since it was discovered long ago, it has been a point of interest and intrigued people's sense of exploration.  The park has a history of being explored back to prehistoric times and even being mined for guano!  As a tourist attraction, first stairs were built to give people relatively easy access into the cave and then later an elevator was installed!  Now there is a paved and railed path into the cave, two elevators and a restaurant inside the caverns.  What takes about 1-1.5 hours to walk down into the cave can be done in a one minute ride by the elevator. 

The caverns were amazing.  The walk down is steep, but not that bad.  I definitely recommend walking down!  There are lots of warnings to walking down because they want to make sure you are in alright physical condition and don't lose it halfway down.  But really, it is not hard.  It is worth the walk down to explore and gain a deeper appreciation for how deep and extensive the caverns are.  The trail is paved and has stainless steel railings the entire way.  Oh and no need for a light because they have light throughout the entire cave.  Weird.  Well, it is weird to me.  Usually when you cave, the first thing you do is turn your light off and sit in complete darkness to let your eyes adjust.  There is no light in caves.  That means, you can put your hand in front of your face and not see anything.  That's the fun of it!

Because of the lack of light in caves, many species have adapted to cave life.  One of the coolest examples of this is the grotto salamander that has adapted to not need pigment and almost looks see through.  So I wonder, because there are lights in this cave, over time will species be effected by the low levels of light?

The awesome amphitheater right outside the entrance to the caverns.  Great for bat emergence.

The start of the decent into the caverns.  It is steep but not bad.  You can do it.

The walk down was probably my favorite part as you are moving at a decent pace, and walking under and over beautiful cave features.  It is lighted the entire way and I took some pictures but the pictures in this area did not come out bright enough to see.  Around every bend we were "oohhing and awwwing" over what took millions of years to form.

The main part of the caverns. 

The hike down opens up into the Big Room which can also be accessed by the elevator.  The trail around the big room is about 1.5 miles of fairly level pavement.  The trail takes about an hour because of all the stopping, looking and pictures you feel you need to take.

The pictures really don't do it justice.

 

And then in the middle of the cavern at the base, a gift shop and restaurant!  Throughout the entire cave, signs and park rangers stress the importance of caring for the cave and how delicate the cave environment is.  They even have several phones throughout to encourage guests to report any damages being done to the cave.  Here is my opinion:  Carlsbad Caverns allows people of all abilities to access a cave environment.  Through paved trails, safety railings, elevator access and restrooms, people can safely and comfortably enjoy a trip into a cave.  But a restaurant and gift shop should be kept outside the cave.  Let's keep it as natural as possible.  Formations can take millions of years to form and the slightest oil from your hand can alter the process.  

Energy in a cave is scarce and highly valued.  Disrupting or adding to that energy with crumbs of food or chlorine from our water can have an effect that is not easy to measure or monitor.  I did find some scat along the side of the trail way at the base of the cave.  It was fairly old but looked like ringtail scat.  With the development down in the cave I wouldn't be surprised if racoons ventured all the way down there as well.  Both ringtails and racoons can sometimes be found around the entrances to caves and in the twilight zone and both species and other mammals have been documented eating fallen bats in cave environments.  I think the human development has aided in mammals (besides bats) being able to reach further cave depths.

Gift shop and restaurant at the bottom of the caverns.

Beautiful soda straw formations.

We took the elevator up.  Lazies! :)

Bats in Carlsbad - yes there are a lot of Brazilian free-tailed bats that spend their day in the cave and emerge at dusk.  However the bats roost in a part of the cavern that is not open to the public so luckily they are fairly protected from us nasty humans.   The warm months are the best time to head to Carlsbad to watch their emergence.  Many people are not aware that there are 17 species of bats in the area of Carlsbad Caverns.  Not all species roost in cave environments, some roost in trees or on the ground.  

All in all, Carlsbad Caverns is a great place to explore.  No where else can you easily walk into a huge underground cave with high heels on!  Carlsbad also offers guided caving trips where you can get as extreme as you would like!  Rangers can lead you on a guided walking tour or a full blown caving experience.  For me, I LOVED taking the elevator back up!  And I can tell you, the young girl I dragged through the freezing wet exit of a cave would have LOVED the elevator as well.  By the way, wet exit means the water is so cold when you hit it, your breath is taken away and you have only the space to keep your head above water but squished by an overhead rock.  Sounds great huh! 

So for $6 per person it is definitely worth the trip.  Supporting our National Parks helps to support wild habitats, wildlife and conservation.



Happy "caving"!