New Mexico launches ecotourism programs

USA Today reports on the new ecotourism projects New Mexico is launching this summer.

Tourism is New Mexico's No. 2 industry, behind oil and gas production, and brings in an estimated $5.7 billion annually. And if ecotourism can be fairly described as nature-based specialty travel or wilderness experiences that enrich and educate, the state thinks it has something to offer.

Visitors are attracted by "that sense of place we have here in New Mexico," said Deputy Tourism Secretary Jennifer Hobson, who oversees the initiative. "They want to go someplace where they can learn something, have a story to tell, meet the local people."

Read the full story: New Mexico embraces ecotourism efforts

Photo from New Mexico Tourism Department via AP

Earth Day = green travel

Smarter Travel reports on green travel for Earth Day.

Tips to be greener include:

• use less paper napkins
• walk instead of drive
• reuse hotel towels
• use reusable water bottles
• visit a farmer's market
• take shorter showers
• stay in an eco-friendly hotel

This month, resorts are offering a variety of eco-programs and deals. Opt for Santa Fe's Eldorado Hotel & Spa and save 15 percent with a "go green save your green" deal. The San Marco Island Marriott Beach Resort offers free eco-education activities until April 24. (Dolphin Monday, anyone?) In California, Loews Coronado Bay Resort invites families to explore a state beach with an environmental educator and then help with a beach cleanup. The Hyatt Regency Monterey lets you buy a tree sapling with proceeds to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Or book in April with Planeterra and receive a 10 percent discount on all volunteer travel.

Read the full story: Traveling green on Earth Day

Photo from hotelplanner.com

Nuclear waste found in Rio Grande

The Los Angeles Times reports on the nuclear waste runoff found in New Mexico's river Rio Grande.

More than 60 years after scientists assembled the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, lethal waste is seeping from mountain burial sites and moving toward aquifers, springs and streams that provide water to 250,000 residents of northern New Mexico.

Isolated on a high plateau, the Los Alamos National Laboratory seemed an ideal place to store a bomb factory's deadly debris. But the heavily fractured mountains haven't contained the waste, some of which has trickled down hundreds of feet to the edge of the Rio Grande, one of the most important water sources in the Southwest.

Read the full story: Toxic waste trickles toward New Mexico's water sources

Photo by Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times

New Mexico eco-lodge set in rugged wilderness

The Daily Green reports on New Mexico's Bear Mountain Lodge; an eco-resort set amongst rugged natural beauty.

Eco-features include line-drying linens (picture left) and furniture made from forest-thinning projects.

See the slide show here: New Mexico eco tourism

Beautiful white dunes of New Mexico

Here's a beautiful shot of New Mexico's white sand dunes from Discovery News. The dunes are part of the Chihuanhuan Desert and the aptly named White Sands National Monument.

Some 250 million years ago, this area was home to a shallow sea. As the sea level began to drop, thick layers of gypsum settled on the sea floor, eventually forming a field. Then about 70 million years ago, plate tectonic activity increased. During this time, the Rocky Mountains shot up, taking the giant gypsum field with it.

Read the full story: White sand dunes for miles

Pick-your-own New Mexican chilies

USA Today reports on the New Mexican farm where the attraction is pick-it-yourself chilies.

The farm owned by Joe Lujan (pictured right) has five varieties of chilies, that can be roasted and packed up on the premises.

"For some families in this part of the country, eating chili is a daily ritual. And Lujan has many customers who come religiously each year throughout the season to stock up."

Lujan started the "you-pick" business to save on labor costs and to let visitors enjoy and appreciate where fresh vegetables originate.

Read the full story: New Mexico farm lets visitors pick their own chilis

Nature Conservancy lodge educates visitors

The Houston Chronicle had a recent article about Bear Mountain Lodge which is one of the seven lodges run by the environmental group Nature Conservancy. Bear Mountain is outside of Silver City, New Mexico. The lodge's staff duly educate the guests about the surrounding preserved land's wildlife, nature and enviromental problems:

"[The guide] had pointed out the impacts of cattle grazing, fire suppression and soil loss. 'It takes 1,000 years for one inch of soil to be restored in the desert Southwest.' He spoke about the fragility of the Western landscape, about the land's capacity and lack thereof, to heal itself. There are hopeful signs — the return of the variable checkerspot butterfly, hitherto not seen in these parts for 30 years; the renewed vibrancy of the clumpy pinyon rice grass underfoot; the exuberant re-emergence of cottonwood forests, marshlands and backwater wetlands at the Conservancy's Gila River Farm Preserve."

Read the full story: Blending comfort and conservation