Laura Robbins Mosaics

Artists Laura Robbins, Cirrelda Snider, Pat Halloran, Joan Hellquist, Riha Rothberg, Sara Rose, Ricardo Guillermo, other community members and Placitas Elementary students worked on this panel which was added to the Recycling Center Wall in May, 2009.

Our Wildlife Corridors

Members and supporters of our local group Pathways-Wildlife Corridors of New Mexico and all who have been involved in the “Protect Our Wildlife Corridors” mural project on the Recycling Center wall feel supported by recent events in our government. A Memorandum of Understanding signed by Governor Richardson and Governor Ritter of Colorado formalizes the intent to cooperate along the shared state borders regarding wildlife corridors. This MOU states that the respective wildlife management agencies (New Mexico Department of Game and Fish and Colorado Division of Wildlife) will recognize the two states as part of the Western Governors Association initiative to identify and protect key habitat connectivity, travel and migration corridors across the Western United States, irrespective of political boundaries. Scientific data will be collected and evaluated, Native American tribes will be consulted, geospatial mapping systems and consistent protocols will be developed, existing and potential land use changes that may limit or eliminate the viability of key wildlife corridors will be identified. Shared strategies will be developed.
“Wildlife Corridors” and “connectivity” are terms that are beginning to enter our common consciousness and speech. Secretary of the Interior, Salazar, when recently speaking in Copenhagen on climate change stated,”Entire wildlife corridors are changing” and “Through the use of landscape and seascape-level conservation initiatives, we will strengthen the connectivity and resiliency of our parks and protected areas and the wildlife and ecosystem services they support. These efforts will prove critical.”
There are many groups in New Mexico and neighboring states working to these ends. Some are beginning to share information through a new umbrella, New Mexico Wildways. Core members of NMW include: Wildlands Network, Earth Works Institute, Wildlife Habitat of NM, Rewilding Institute, NM Wildlife Priority Linkages, Pathways: Wildlife Corridors of NM and New Mexico Wilderness Alliance.
Many individuals and groups work towards meaningful changes: from backyard habitats  to passageways for animals through interstates. We need to protect or reintroduce many plant and animal species so to restore the balance of our public lands monitored by the BLM. We are growing more aware and knowledgeable regarding our own carbon footprints and are paying attention to the local and global uses/protection of water. We humans have jurisdiction over our own behaviors and each small change towards respecting and honoring all who share the gifts of this planet shifts the weight on the fulcrum.
Our thanks to Governors Richardson and Ritter for sending a positive message that wildlife corridors exist, are important and are worth protecting. We look forward to future advancements from the Western Governor’s Association.
Check out the Pathways Blog: pathwayswc.wordpress.com

 

 

Detail of 8 1/2 footh high mosaic about gray water.

This mural of the high land animals was completed at Cirrelda’s studio in Alameda.

Hundreds of Placitas community members have been involved with creating mosaic panels depicting animals who live and travel between the Jemez, Sandia and Sangre de Cristo mountain ranges. We hope to identify and protect the corridors these animals use as passageways.

There will be seven panels when completed. Each panel is approximately 6 1/2 feet high by 9 feet wide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Artists gather together to grout the second panel which is located on the Placitas Recycling wall.

By identifying and protecting wildlife corridors in the Placitas area we will maintaining habitat for friends like this bobcat! Reid Bandeen took this picture recently near his home in the Village of Placitas.

I’m working on a Gray water piece that will probably take a year or so to finish. Also Turtle Beings and a Placitas Water Meter Mandala

 

We are very excited to announce that a community mural entitled “ Protect Our Wildlife Corridors” will be created on the Placitas Recycling wall off Highway 265. We express our gratitude to the Placitas Recycling Board members for unanimously approving this huge endeavor which will take at least two years to complete. We hope to include every person who is interested in working on the project. Laura Robbins and Cirrelda Snider will spearhead the mural and are asking artists who have experience with clay and/or mosaics to be involved in creating the initial large animals. If you are an interested artist and have not already been contacted, please let us know.

 

Linda Hughes, will coordinate the Placitas Elementary Arts in the School program to involve children in creating flora and part of the landscape.  Also, Albuquerque’s Bosque School art teacher, Ann Dunbar and science teacher, Dan Shaw, have offered to help with this project during the 2008-9 school year. Students at Bosque School have been intimately involved with monitoring Las Huertas Creek for years and have been providing data to UNM, BEMP, and elsewhere. Students will help to create  cacti and other native plants, etc. We will announce workshops for the general community in the future, but if you are a teacher or leader of a group (whether they be Seniors or Scouts) in Placitas or Bernalillo and would like to get involved, please let us know. We are especially in need of a person who would be willing to work on fund-raising.

 

We believe that the clay and mosaic mural will enhance the Placitas Community by:

 

• Engaging and educating the community about local wildlife needs and preservation so that this awareness becomes part of the culture of Placitas.

 

• Involving community members in an artistic project. Placitas and Bernalillo residents will be invited to help in various ways to see the mural progress and reach completion.

 

• Adding artistic beauty to a wall in the already beautiful landscape.

 

• Creating historic quality by stamping names of contributing community members  into clay pieces, as well as those of individuals and businesses who are fiscally supportive.

 

The Sandias and Rio Grande form parts of very crucial  “Wildlife Corridors” (strips of habitat connecting wildlife populations separated by human activities). Thus the Placitas Recycling Center is in a great position to be a place to honor as well as educate our community about these important parts of our land that happen to be in our own backyard.