1.
New Mexico
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New Mexico is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States of America. It was admitted to the Union as the 47th state on January 6,1912 and it is usually considered one of the Mountain States. New Mexico is fifth by area, the 36th-most populous, inhabited by Native Americans for thousands of years before European exploration, New Mexico was colonized by the Spanish in 1598 Imperial Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain. Later, it was part of independent Mexico before becoming a U. S. territory and eventually a U. S. state as a result of the Mexican–American War. Among U. S. states, New Mexico has the highest percentage of Hispanics, the major Native American nations in the state are Navajo, Pueblo, and Apache peoples. The demography and culture of the state are shaped by these strong Hispanic and Native American influences and its scarlet and gold colors are taken from the royal standards of Spain, along with the ancient sun symbol of the Zia, a Pueblo-related tribe. New Mexico, or Nuevo México in Spanish, is incorrectly believed to have taken its name from the nation of Mexico. The name simply stuck, even though the area had no connection to Mexico or the Mexica Indian tribes, Mexico, formerly a part of New Spain, adopted its name centuries later in 1821, after winning independence from Spanish rule. New Mexico was a part of the independent Mexican Empire and Federal Republic of Mexico for 27 years,1821 through 1848, New Mexico and Mexico developed as neighboring Spanish-speaking communities under Spanish rule, with relatively independent histories. The states total area is 121,412 square miles, the eastern border of New Mexico lies along 103° W longitude with the state of Oklahoma, and 2.2 miles west of 103° W longitude with Texas. On the southern border, Texas makes up the eastern two-thirds, while the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora make up the western third, the western border with Arizona runs along the 109°03 W longitude. The southwestern corner of the state is known as the Bootheel, the 37° N latitude parallel forms the northern boundary with Colorado. The states New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah come together at the Four Corners in the corner of New Mexico. New Mexico, although a state, has very little water. Its surface water area is about 250 square miles, the New Mexican landscape ranges from wide, rose-colored deserts to broken mesas to high, snow-capped peaks. Despite New Mexicos arid image, heavily forested mountain wildernesses cover a significant portion of the state, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the southernmost part of the Rocky Mountains, run roughly north-south along the east side of the Rio Grande in the rugged, pastoral north. The most important of New Mexicos rivers are the Rio Grande, Pecos, Canadian, San Juan, the Rio Grande is tied for the fourth-longest river in the United States. Tourists visiting these sites bring significant money to the state, other areas of geographical and scenic interest include Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument and the Gila Wilderness in the southwest of the state
2.
United States Forest Service
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The United States Forest Service is an agency of the U. S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nations 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass 193 million acres. Major divisions of the include the National Forest System, State and Private Forestry, Business Operations. Managing approximately 25% of federal lands, it is the major national land agency that is outside the U. S. Department of the Interior. The concept of the National Forests was born from Theodore Roosevelt’s conservation group, Boone and Crockett Club, in 1876, Congress created the office of Special Agent in the Department of Agriculture to assess the quality and conditions of forests in the United States. Hough was appointed the head of the office, in 1881, the office was expanded into the newly formed Division of Forestry. The Forest Reserve Act of 1891 authorized withdrawing land from the domain as forest reserves. In 1901, the Division of Forestry was renamed the Bureau of Forestry, gifford Pinchot was the first United States Chief Forester in the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. As of 2009, the Forest Service has a budget authority of $5.5 billion. The Forest Service employs 34,250 employees in 750 locations, including 10,050 firefighters,737 law enforcement personnel, and 500 scientists. The mission of the Forest Service is To sustain the health, diversity and its motto is Caring for the land and serving people. As the lead agency in natural resource conservation, the US Forest Service provides leadership in the protection, management, and use of the nations forest, rangeland. The agencys ecosystem approach to management integrates ecological, economic, and social factors to maintain and enhance the quality of the environment to meet current, the everyday work of the Forest Service balances resource extraction, resource protection, and providing recreation.5 billion trees per year. Further, the Forest Service fought fires on 2,996,000 acres of land in 2007, the Forest Service organization includes ranger districts, national forests, regions, research stations and research work units and the Northeastern Area Office for State and Private Forestry. Each level has responsibility for a variety of functions, the Chief of the Forest Service is a career federal employee who oversees the entire agency. The Chief reports to the Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment in the U. S. Department of Agriculture, there are five deputy chiefs for the following areas, National Forest System, State and Private Forestry, Research and Development, Business Operations, and Finance. The Forest Service Research and Development deputy area includes five stations, the Forest Products Laboratory. Station directors, like regional foresters, report to the Chief, Research stations include Northern, Pacific Northwest, Pacific Southwest, Rocky Mountain, and Southern. There are 92 research work units located at 67 sites throughout the United States, there are 80 Experimental Forests and Ranges that have been established progressively since 1908, many sites are more than 50 years old
3.
United States National Forest
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National Forest is a classification of protected and managed federal lands in the United States. The National Forest System was created by the Land Revision Act of 1891, abbot Kinney and forester Theodore Lukens were key spokesmen for the effort. In the United States there are 155 National Forests containing almost 190 million acres of land and these lands comprise 8.5 percent of the total land area of the United States, an area about the size of Texas. Some 87 percent of National Forest land lies west of the Mississippi River in the ranges of the Western United States. Alaska has 12 percent of all National Forest lands, the U. S. Forest Service also manages all of the United States National Grasslands, and around half of the United States National Recreation Areas. There are two different types of forests within the National Forest system. Those east of the Great Plains in the Midwestern and Eastern United States were primarily acquired by the government since 1891. The land had long been in the domain and sometimes repeatedly logged since colonial times. These are mostly lands that were kept in the domain, with the exception of inholdings. Land management of these areas focuses on conservation, timber harvesting, livestock grazing, watershed protection, wildlife, unlike national parks and other federal lands managed by the National Park Service, extraction of natural resources from national forests is permitted, and in many cases encouraged. National Forests are categorized by the U. S. as IUCN Category VI protected areas, however, the first-designated wilderness areas, and some of the largest, are on National Forest lands. There are management decision conflicts between conservationists and environmentalists, and natural resource extraction companies and lobbies, over the protection and/or use of National Forest lands, many ski resorts and summer resorts operate on leased land in National Forests
4.
Gila Wilderness
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Gila Wilderness was designated the worlds first wilderness area on June 3,1924. Along with Aldo Leopold Wilderness and Blue Range Wilderness, the 558,014 acres wilderness is part of New Mexicos Gila National Forest, the wilderness is approximately 27 miles from north to south and 39 miles east to west. Wilderness Areas do not allow motorized or mechanized vehicles, including bicycles, camping and fishing are allowed with proper permit, but no roads, buildings, logging, or mining are permitted. Wilderness areas within National Forests and Bureau of Land Management areas allow hunting in season, the Gila Wilderness is located in southwest New Mexico, north of Silver City and east of Reserve. It contains the West Fork, Middle Fork and much of the East Fork of the Gila River, the Mogollon Mountains traverse an arc across the wilderness. The tallest peak within this range, Whitewater Baldy at 10,895 ft, is in the northwest part of the wilderness along with several other more than 10,000 ft high. At the northeast corner is prominent Black Mountain rising to at 9,287 ft, the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument is adjacent to the wilderness. The Gila Wilderness is the largest designated wilderness area in New Mexico, the Mimbres people, a subgroup of the Mogollon were active between 1000 and 1130 in the Gila Wilderness area, leaving cliff dwellings, ruins and other evidence of their culture. The Chiricahua band of Apache came into the area between 1200 and 1600, because of their fierce protectiveness, the area remained undeveloped into the 1870s. Through his efforts, this area became recognized in 1924 as the first wilderness area in the National Forest System, Gila became the first congressionally designated wilderness of the National Wilderness Preservation System when the Wilderness Act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. Brushy areas, grassland, and recently burned forests are also common, the wilderness includes mesquite, Apache pine and is the northern-most home of the Chihuahua pine. Gila contains one of the worlds largest and healthiest Ponderosa Pine forests, Arizona sycamore, walnut, maple, ash, cottonwood, alder and willow trees are found along rivers and in canyons. Gila is home of such as the bobcat and cougar. Mule deer, white-tailed deer and pronghorn are all found in the wilderness, other mammals include the black bear, collared peccary, gray fox and white-nosed coati. The critically endangered Mexican wolf was reintroduced to the wilderness in 1988 with eleven captive-raised individuals, most died or were killed and more were released the following year. As of 2006, four packs have established themselves within Gila, because of conflicts with livestock owners, the federal predator control program has killed or removed several animals. Bighorn sheep were common throughout the region until about 1900 when they became extinct through hunting. Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep were reintroduced to the Gila Wilderness after 1958 from a herd of Canadian releases in the Sandia Mountains
5.
Grant County, New Mexico
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Grant County is a county located in the U. S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 census, the population was 29,514 and its county seat is Silver City. The county was founded in 1868 and named for Ulysses S. Grant, Grant County comprises the Silver City, NM, Micropolitan Statistical Area. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 3,968 square miles. The population density was 8 people per square mile, there were 14,066 housing units at an average density of 4 per square mile. 48. 79% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,25. 70% of all households were made up of individuals and 10. 70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the family size was 3.01. In the county, the population was out with 26. 20% under the age of 18,8. 50% from 18 to 24,23. 70% from 25 to 44,25. 10% from 45 to 64. The median age was 39 years, for every 100 females there were 95.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.30 males, the median income for a household in the county was $29,134, and the median income for a family was $34,231. Males had an income of $31,126 versus $19,627 for females. The per capita income for the county was $14,597, about 15. 10% of families and 18. 70% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25. 90% of those under age 18 and 9. 50% of those age 65 or over. As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 29,514 people,12,586 households, the population density was 7.4 inhabitants per square mile. There were 14,693 housing units at a density of 3.7 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 84. 9% white,1. 4% American Indian,0. 9% black or African American,0. 4% Asian,0. 1% Pacific islander,9. 6% from other races, and 2. 8% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 48. 3% of the population, in terms of ancestry,11. 9% were English,11. 8% were German,10. 4% were Irish, and 2. 9% were American. The average household size was 2.30 and the family size was 2.86. The median age was 45.9 years, the median income for a household in the county was $36,591 and the median income for a family was $44,360
6.
Reserve, New Mexico
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Reserve is a village in Catron County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 289 as of the 2010 census, down from 387 at the 2000 census and it is the county seat of Catron County. Currently the village has two stores, a hardware store, a bar, fairgrounds, and a health clinic. It is the site where Elfego Baca held off a gang of Texan cowboys who wanted to him for arresting cowboy Charles McCarty. Reserve is situated in the Gila National Forest about 12 miles east of the Arizona/New Mexico border and it is the county seat of Catron County, the states largest and least densely populated county. The area includes ruins from the Mogollon and Anasazi tribes, as well as petroglyphs, Catron became a county in 1921. It was named after an attorney and political leader from Santa Fe. In the 1860s, Mexican-Americans established a string of villages along the river, naming them the Upper, Lower, in the late 1870s Anglo settlers began arriving. They renamed Upper Frisco Plaza as Milligans Plaza, naming it after a merchant, Milligans Plaza was the site of the legendary Frisco Shootout of Elfego Baca. In 1882, or perhaps 1884, the nineteen-year-old Baca apparently appointed himself deputy sheriff, there he set about bringing justice to the Mexican-American community which had been beset by drunken cowboys. Outnumbered by 80 Texans, Baca holed up in a jacal, the flimsiest kind of hut, bullets and dynamite could not dislodge him, and in a gun battle lasting 33 hours, he inflicted death and grievous injury on some of his adversaries without being injured himself. Reserve is located in western Catron County at 33°42′31″N 108°45′39″W, in the valley of the San Francisco River. New Mexico State Road 12 passes through the village, leading west 7 miles to U. S. Route 180 near Reserve Airport, NM435 leads south through the communities of San Francisco Plaza and Lower San Francisco Plaza before ending 5 miles south of Reserve. According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has an area of 0.54 square miles. As of the census of 2000, there were 387 people,177 households, the population density was 696.2 people per square mile. There were 238 housing units at a density of 428.2 per square mile. The racial makeup of the village was 80. 10% White,0. 52% African American,0. 52% Native American,13. 95% from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 40. 57% of the population. 39. 0% of all households were made up of individuals and 16. 4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.14 and the average family size was 2.84
