New Mexico
Protecting the Rivers of New Mexico
New Mexico’s rivers were recently named most endangered rivers in the country, but Audubon Southwest is working with partners to help improve the health and water in our rivers.
The national non-governmental organization American Rivers has been listing endangered rivers annually for years in a way to highlight priority actions needed to address the health of our nation’s most imperiled rivers. New Mexico rivers have been highlighted in recent years including the Rio Gallinas (2023), Pecos River (2021) and Gila River (2019, 2014). This year New Mexico holds the number one spot, and it’s not just for a single river, rather all our rivers. This is the first time American Rivers has listed an entire state’s rivers as being “most endangered,” and it highlights the vulnerability of our rivers to pollution and dewatering as the result of the May 2023 U.S. Supreme Court opinion in the case of Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency.
Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency
The “Sackett” case reintroduced the question of what constitutes protected “waters of the U.S.,” defining these as “a relatively permanent body of water connected to traditional interstate navigable waters.” This definition leaves desert streams and wetlands vulnerable.
Audubon Southwest partnerships to protect the rivers
A number one spot in the American River’s endangered rivers list is a wakeup call for our rivers. Through our partnerships with other non-profits such as Amigos Bravos, we advocate for the development of a state-base surface water-quality permitting program that would help buffer the protection of our streams from pollution and dewatering that will result from lax federal standards.
Audubon Southwest is focused on activities that improve the health and water in our rivers—an activity that was direly needed even before the recent Sackett ruling. We focus on both policy initiatives and on-the-ground projects to protect our beautiful yet vulnerable rivers. For example, we have been defining and protecting the water needs of the Rio Grande in New Mexico along with a collective of other environmental non-governmental organizations in support of the Rio Grande Basin Study in New Mexico (Basin Study). A scientifically defensible framework for defining and protecting environmental flow targets in the Rio Grande of New Mexico is long overdue. Aridification (less precipitation) is increasing across the American West, exacerbating existing water management challenges, and increasing conflict among competing water uses as water availability diminishes. The Basin Study was initiated on January 24, 2023.
The Basin Study is a WaterSMART-funded initiative led by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, with the participation of more than 36 signatories representing multiple sectors and areas of expertise. The Basin Study aims to develop management resiliency strategies for the Rio Grande in New Mexico under climate warming scenarios. As part of this effort, water-use “sectors” are quantifying water needs that will be placed into tradeoff models and tools. The non-governmental organizations (NGO) Sectoral Committee of the Basin Study, co-led by Audubon Southwest and New Mexico Wild, is comprised of 12 national, regional, and statewide environmental organizations as well as associated partners. The NGO Sectoral Committee is embracing this opportunity to quantify environmental flow needs and associated feasible targets for the Rio Grande in New Mexico.
Through this NGO collective, we are defining how much water the Rio Grande needs in six reaches of Rio Grande and Rio Chama in New Mexico. These flow targets are being compared against current conditions and future predicted conditions to understand how much water is needed in each reach and when this water is needed most.
The understanding of these “environmental flow deficits” is being used to compile tested strategies and develop new strategies to keep our Rio Grande Through the engagement of our NGO partners, we have collectively developed a network of informed and ready-to-fix-it environmental flow practitioners. Many of these groups are directly engaged with on-the-ground activities that are improving river flows as you read this. This network is paired with a similar coalition that is focused on policy fixes to improve the stream flow of our rivers.
In the face of grim climate predictions and unfavorable court rulings, our New Mexican river-protector community has never been so engaged with finding on-the-ground solutions as well as policy fixes. It is through these deep-reaching partnerships that I hold hope for the future of New Mexico’s rivers.
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (KFOX14/CBS4) — A leader in the New Mexico Republican Party was arrested Wednesday, accused of a deadly hit-and-run in Las Cruces.
Former Treasurer of the Republican Party in New Mexico, Kimberly Ann Skaggs, 54, was arrested Wednesday and charged with leaving the scene and tampering with evidence, jail records show.
Police documents show the charges stem from a deadly hit-and-run crash that happened Monday afternoon, which killed 40-year-old bicyclist, Andrew Brown.
Investigators believed Skaggs was involved after an investigation revealed that Skaggs allegedly was driving fast in the area, fled the scene after the crash and then tried to hide the vehicle from authorities.
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The investigation
According to police documents, a witness at the scene of the crash– 850 N. Fairacres Rd.– described seeing a dark blonde-haired woman flee in a black Cadillac Escalade SUV.
Afterwards, investigators said they saw on Flock cameras– A.I. powered license plate readers– a black Cadillac Escalade traveling near the site of the crash minutes before the incident.
READ MORE: Dona Ana County expands Flock license plate cameras as officials cite crime-solving gains
The license plates showed that the vehicle belonged to Skaggs and that, in September 2025, the Las Cruces Police Department had given her a citation for “racing on streets-exhibition driving.”
Investigators stated that a business on Picacho Ave. captured what they alleged was the same black Cadillac Escalade driving fast.
Then, the documents described how investigators tracked down the Escalade using OnStar’s live GPS tracking, discovering the SUV was at a property on the 5000 block of Northwind Road, which investigators said the Dona Ana County Assessors Office confirmed is a property owned by Skaggs.
On Tuesday, at around 6:41 p.m.– over 24 hours after the deadly hit-and-run– investigators executed a search warrant on the property and described finding the black Cadillac Escalade behind a home, under a red metal carport.
Investigators noted damage on the SUV consistent with the crash, highlighting that there was blood splatter near one of the front tires, markings on the front bumper consistent with hitting a bicycle and parts missing, which investigators said were the same parts found at the scene.
Dona Ana County jail records show Skaggs was booked on Wednesday afternoon and remains jailed without a bond.
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About Skaggs
On the official website of the Republican Party of New Mexico, Skaggs was listed as the treasurer before she was removed.
KFOX14/CBS4 has reached out to the Republican Party to learn more and are waiting for a comment regarding the arrest.
Also, according to election statistics, Skaggs ran for State Representative in District 36 in 2022 and 2024, losing both times to Democrat Nathan P. Small.
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SANTA FE, N.M. – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham asked Attorney General Raúl Torrez to investigate whether any Drug Enforcement Administration agents broke state law when pills reached New Mexico streets.
In a statement, Lujan Grisham said, “make no mistake: the DEA knew people would die if these pills made it into New Mexico communities.”
The governor also shared a timeline from 2022 to 2025 that she said shows when she asked federal officials for help with New Mexico’s fentanyl crisis and violent crime.
Lujan Grisham said the first request came on June 21, 2022, when she wrote to then-Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray and asked for 50 additional federal agents.
She said she wrote to then-Attorney General Merrick Garland on Sept. 15, 2022, asking for more agents, resources and support for New Mexico law enforcement.
Lujan Grisham said she wrote Garland a second time on Aug. 8, 2023, with the same request.
What came next?
About a month later, Lujan Grisham said she sent Garland a third letter and said New Mexico needed more federal law enforcement to curb violent crime, drug trafficking and human trafficking.
She said her most recent request came on Sept. 4, 2025, when she wrote to former Attorney General Pam Bondi and again asked for additional agents and resources.
The governor’s statement says those requests span several years as she pressed the federal government for more help in New Mexico.
Full statement from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham:
“I am appalled by reporting this week by the Associated Press and Albuquerque Journal that revealed federal authorities made a deliberate decision to let hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills flood into New Mexico communities, despite knowing that fentanyl is so lethal the White House has designated it a weapon of mass destruction.
Let me say that again: the Drug Enforcement Administration watched as 74,000 fentanyl pills were delivered to a mobile home park in Albuquerque, and they did nothing. And that’s just one transaction. Shockingly, the federal government stood by while monitoring shipments, tallying exact pill counts, and watching as these deadly drugs hit the streets.
There are no words to describe how reckless and dangerous these decisions were. Make no mistake: the DEA knew people would die if these pills made it into New Mexico communities, and the agency let it happen anyway. The result: hundreds of New Mexican parents burying their kids. Hundreds of New Mexican kids growing up without stable parents. All while the federal government stood by.
If the justification for letting these pills flood our communities was that it would somehow make New Mexico safer down the road through bigger eventual busts, the results say otherwise. New Mexico now leads the nation in the increase in overdose deaths for the second straight year, despite deaths dropping nationwide.
Today, I wrote to Attorney General Raúl Torrez and asked him to investigate whether any federal agents broke state law when they allowed lethal drugs to remain on our streets, and to prosecute anyone responsible — regardless of whether they are a federal agent or not.
I have spent years working across two administrations — writing letters, traveling to Washington, meeting directly with President Joe Biden and his cabinet, pushing for accountability, asking for more federal agents to be deployed to New Mexico to help fight this crisis.
- On June 21, 2022, I wrote to FBI Director Christopher Wray, imploring the FBI to assign no less than 50 additional agents to New Mexico to stem escalating drug trafficking and violent crime.
- On September 15, 2022, I wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland, requesting that the Department of Justice provide additional federal agents, resources and support to New Mexico law enforcement. We asked the department to match the level of investigative, analytical, and technical resources the FBI had deployed in its Buffalo, NY surge.
- On August 8, 2023, I wrote again to Attorney General Garland, renewing my request that the DOJ expeditiously assign more federal agents to New Mexico.
- On September 7, 2023, I wrote to Attorney General Garland for a third time, reiterating my request once more federal law enforcement support to curb violent crime, drug and human trafficking.
- On September 4, 2025, I wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi, once again requesting additional agents and resources.
I have declared the surge of drugs like fentanyl to be a public health emergency. I have deployed the National Guard to both Albuquerque and Española. While my administration was doing everything we could to stem the tide of fentanyl coming into our state, the federal government deliberately allowed it to flood in.
New Mexican lives are not the federal government’s cost of doing business.
I plan to hold the federal government accountable for this disaster and will explore every possible avenue of action against the federal government to right these wrongs.”
The Canyon Venado Fire has grown to 852 acres east of Clines Corners and crews say wind farms in the area are threatened.
CLINES CORNERS, N.M. – The Canyon Venado Fire has grown to 852 acres east of Clines Corners and crews say wind farms in the area are threatened.
The fire is burning just east of Clines Corners, south of Interstate 40.
It forced the closure of eastbound Interstate 40 at Clines Corners on Tuesday night. I-40 reopened Tuesday night. I-40 is back open but smoke still affects visibility.
“We’re on the side of I-40 so drivers have to be pretty cautious. As far as our establishment itself we’re pretty isolated by the freeway itself as a nice fire break,” said Lincoln Tarantino, Clines Corner general manager.
The fire has burned around 852 acres, up from just 20 at this time Monday.
Crews say the fire is not contained and wind farms in the area are threatened.
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