Federal, state, and local officials were in Santa Fe on July 19 to announce $1 million of funding for Northern New Mexico through the EPA Brownfields program. Brownfields are former industrial or commercial sites where contamination stands in the way of productive re-use of the land.

Five hundred thousand dollars will go to the City of Raton to assess several sites where environmental cleanup is necessary. 

The other $500,000 goes to a tuition-free education and certification program that Santa Fe Community College has offered over the past 15 years.

SFCC’s EPA jobs program has trained about 200 students and led to 74 percent landing jobs relating to environmental cleanup.

New Mexico Environment Department cabinet secretary James Kenney spoke at the announcement event, praising the educational program that bolsters the state’s environmental work force.

“When folks are being trained right here through this money, and have an understanding of how to clean up Brownfields, they inherently have an understanding how to then address uranium mining; how to clean up those Superfund sites; how to clean up those non-Superfund sites that just haven’t made the list, but are just—let’s call them ‘economic opportunities’ to really revitalize New Mexico,” said Kenney.

One of the graduates of the program attended the event, held at SFCC’s biowall. Isaiah Calabaza, who was born and raised on Santo Domingo Pueblo, completed the EPA Brownfields training program in 2023. 

Calabaza, said that when he was younger, he got involved as an environmental activist, protesting projects such as the Dakota Access Pipeline.

He said that the New Mexico Environmental Job Training Program transformed the way he looked at having an impact on our environmental future.

“Laws, regulations, policies—there’s actually things that you can do besides yelling and raising a flag,” said Calabaza. “You can actually go to school and get education and be in these meetings, in these rooms, where people are actually talking about what is going on, and you can use your voice to actually make a change.”

Shortly after completing the program, Calabaza landed a job on an environmental mediation team working at Los Alamos National Laboratory on a nine-month contract.  Now he’s in the running for an apprenticeship position involving nuclear waste cleanup.

SFCC is currently accepting applications for the next run of its program, in September.

Nearly 30 Arkansans from various fire departments and emergency teams across the state helped with search and rescue efforts in New Mexico, where deadly wildfires exacerbated the flood risk for communities.

Danny Akines, a training and logistics officer from the Pulaski County Office of Emergency Management, was one of those deployed to monitor Las Vegas, a town of about 13,000 near Sante Fe, and Ruidoso, a small mountain village about 200 miles south of Albuquerque.

From June 29 to July 13, Akines traveled with the Arkansas team back and forth from Las Vegas to Ruidoso monitoring potential flash floods and training for swift water rescue. Their skills were put to the test during two days of major flooding in Ruidoso where they rescued 21 people and three dogs, evacuated 14 people and reported 15 more who remained in place.

“We get called to go right around the corner, out of sight of where we’re at, and there’s a newborn baby and two women trapped in a car,” Akines recalled of his first water rescue. “They’ve been kind of washed sideways…and the current is taking them off.”

Over the two most intensive days of the two-week trip, the Arkansas team spent eight hours responding to assistance calls of people trapped in their homes or cars. The water, which traveled down a nearby mountain faster than anything Akines said he’s ever seen in Arkansas, carried logs, boulders and debris from homes destroyed in the wildfires.

“It goes fast, but that’s what we went for,” Akines said. “We hate that this type of event is happening to those people, but we’re there to help. We’re glad we’re there when it happens.”

FEMA trailers on their way to Ruidoso; at least 856 homes lost

No flood-related fatalities have been reported, though two people were reported dead from the wildfires that destroyed at least 850 houses in New Mexico, according to a report from Source NM. The Federal Emergency Management Agency recently approved the state’s request for temporary housing, which should provide relief for people who are couch surfing or staying in hotels.

“We’ve got them spread out,” Ruidoso Mayor Lynn Crawford told Source NM. “We’re trying not to lose them forever, because we need them to work and live here.”

After the Arkansas rescue team safely made contact with people in need, they transported them to higher ground or to a shelter managed by the local community. Akines said local officials and community members expressed their appreciation throughout their presence in the area. 

“We’re just glad that we’re able to help people,” Akines said. “Whether it’s here, there or wherever. All the guys are very professional, no matter where we go, and they’re very dedicated.”

The New Mexico project marked Akines’ third deployment with the Pulaski County Office of Emergency Management, where he has volunteered since 2009 and worked full time for two years. His other trips included providing aid in Texas and Florida as hurricanes threatened the states.

The Arkansas agencies footed the initial bills for the emergency deployment, though the state is expected to provide a reimbursement, Akines said. New Mexico officials will then reimburse the state of Arkansas for its services.

RUIDOSO, N.M. (AP) — A mountain village in southern New Mexico that was ravaged by wildfires last month is under a new flash flood watch, authorities said Sunday.

The National Weather Service said heavy rain was forecast for Ruidoso on Sunday with the flash flood warning in effect until 6 a.m. Monday. Flash flood advisories also were in effect Friday and Saturday.

As a precaution, four roads in the Ruidoso area were either closed or have restricted access on Sunday due to runoff from heavy rain following burn scars left by the recent wildfires.

About 100 National Guardsmen were in Ruidoso on Sunday. They were handing out sandbags, helping with road repair and implementing flooding mitigation.

New Mexico National Guard officials said at least 12 people were rescued from flooded roads Saturday and some residents had to evacuate from their water-damaged homes.

Ruidoso Downs Racetrack was forced to cut its schedule of Saturday races because of flash flooding concerns.

Wildfires killed two people and burned more than 25,000 acres in the Ruidoso community in June.

Of the 19 fast-flood emergencies since June 19 on the South Fork Fire and Salt Fire burn scar areas, Ruidoso has been included in 13 of them.

More than $6 million in federal assistance has been allotted to the region after President Joe Biden declared the region a major disaster area on June 20.

“You can’t help but feel for these folks. Ruidoso can’t seem to catch a break,” the National Guard wrote Sunday on its Facebook page.