New Mexico’s lifeblood is in big trouble

In New Mexico, there is no more important resource than water. It replenishes the aquifers, lakes, rivers and streams that provide the source for drinking water and agriculture.

Trout fishing, waterfowl hunting and cross-country and downhill skiing are some of my favorite outdoor activities. They represent a way of life for me and many others throughout New Mexico. All require a healthy water supply that is fed by mountain snowpack. As a longtime member of Trout Unlimited and Ducks Unlimited, I have come to respect the work they do both in the field and with policy.

Both of these organizations have sounded the alarm about the potential devastating impacts of warming waters and the lack of a consistent water supply fed by mountain snowpack and the dried-up prairie pothole regions that serve as the breeding grounds for waterfowl.

I have seen entire cold-water fisheries just dry up. Last fall, my wife and I traveled to a remote area to a stellar brown trout fishery I had fished 10 years earlier, only to find the entire watershed completely dry. Other streams in New Mexico now have such low flows they no longer are able to support trout.

In northeastern New Mexico, a small lake near Raton was a favorite place for my family to hunt waterfowl. However, that lake is now dry more often than not, eliminating that as a refuge for waterfowl and impacting local water supplies.

It is not unique to waterfowl and trout, though, as even the local ski area is now closed more often than open and other ski areas in the state often suffer a similar fate. Livelihoods and lifestyles of entire communities depend on the ski areas’ existence.

Downstream, chile and pecan farmers in the Mesilla Valley rely on healthy mountain snowpack flowing down the Rio Grande to grow their crops. Ranchers depend on summer rains and winters snows to rejuvenate their range. Without grass for their cattle, their business literally goes away as many of these ranchers are often forced in dry years to sell off their herds.

The lack of winter snows and summer rains can cause wells to run dry and municipal water supplies to struggle or desperately seek out other sources of water. In the East Mountains, wells have increasingly gone dry over the past decade or so, causing residents to haul water. Aquifers throughout the state rely on snowpack from the mountains to replenish. Without water, agriculture, tourism, recreation, landscapes and our entire economy suffer.

Water is the lifeblood of New Mexico. Recognition and acceptance that our climate is changing is critical for us to move forward. And it is important for the citizens of New Mexico to make their voices heard with the state and their local representatives to address this critical problem.

We can’t afford to sit on the sidelines while our state’s most precious resource dwindles away and has such devastating impacts to the citizens and landscapes of New Mexico. The time to act is now.

Je≠ Young lives in Sandia Park.