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>> Laura Paskus: THIS WEEK ON NEW MEXICO IN FOCUS WE FEATURE OUR NEW DOCUMENTARY, ANCESTRAL CONNECTIONS,  ABOUT THE PUEBLO OF SANTA ANA AND  TAMAYA KWII KEE NEE PUU, LANDS  THE PUEBLO  BOUGHT BACK TO PROTECT AND PRESERVE.

>> Dillion Eustace: To  be able to tell my children, like we have  always been here.

We're primordial in a  sense.

So, to be able to show my kids, our  kids, everyone's kids like we've been here.

We're going to continue to be here.

>> Paskus: AS PART OF AN OUR LAND  SPECIAL, WE ALSO PEER BENEATH THE  SURFACE OF THE GILA RIVER...TO  LEARN MORE ABOUT RIVERS AND  WHAT THEY HAVE TO TEACH US.

NEW MEXICO IN FOCUS STARTS NOW.

>> Laura Paskus: IN  NEW MEXICO, OUR DIVERSITY IS OUR STRENGTH, OUR DIVERSITY OF  COMMUNITIES AND HISTORIES,  CULTURES AND PERSPECTIVES.

AND OUR DIVERSITY OF LANDSCAPES.

THIS MEANS THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO  KNOW OUR LANDSCAPES, TO  PROTECT THEM, AND TO LEARN  FROM THEM.

WE'RE GOING TO START  THIS WEEK'S SHOW WITH A LOOK BACK  TO A 2021 CONVERSATION  WITH JULIA BERNAL, EXECUTIVE  DIRECTOR OF PUEBLO ACTION  ALLIANCE.

BERNAL AND I TALKED  ABOUT LAND BACK AND WATER BACK.

AND SHE SHARED HER VISION, OF  HOW MANAGING RIVERS FROM A  PUEBLO FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE CAN  BENEFIT EVERYONE...ESPECI  ALLY AS THE CLIMATE CHANGES.

JULIA BERNAL, THANK YOU FOR  JOINING ME ON NEW MEXICO IN  FOCUS.

>> Bernal: THANK  YOU.

>> Laura: I HAVE  HEARD YOU TALK ABOUT PUEBLO FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE ON  NEW MEXICO'S RIVERS  AND WATER.

I WAS WONDERING CAN  YOU TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT  THAT IS AND HOW THAT IS DIFFERENT  FROM HOW WE TREAT OUR RIVERS  TODAY?

>> Bernal:  SURE.

WELL, THANK YOU FOR HAVING  ME ON TODAY.

SO, I HAVE ESSENTIALLY  BEEN TRYING TO PUSH THIS  NARRATIVE OF THE NEED FOR A  PUEBLO FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE IN  WATER MANAGEME NT SPECIFICALLY.

AND THIS IS BECAUSE, YOU  KNOW, THROUGH A PUEBLO  PERSPECTIVE, SPEAKING FROM MY  OWN PERSONAL EXPERI  ENCE, FEM, WOMEN, ARE  TYPICALLY THE CARRIERS  OF WATER.

THEY HOLD WATER.

AND  THEY ARE ASSOCIATED WITH  WATER AND OUR UNDERSTANDING  OF WATER IS FAR GREATER, I  BELIEVE, THAN WHAT  THE DOMINANT PARADIGM IS  OFFERING TO US, WHICH IS  TYPICALLY THROU GH, YOU KNOW,  WHITE MALE PERSPECTIVE.

AND  ESPECIALLY HERE IN THE SOUTHWEST  ALONG THE MIDDLE RIO GRANDE, RIO  GRANDE BASIN, PUEBLO PEOPLE  HAVE BEEN STEWARDING  AND INHABITING AND BEING IN  RELATION WITH OUR WATERWAYS  SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL AND  WOMEN PLAY AND FEM PLAY A  VERY VITAL ROLE IN THAT  RELATIONSHIP.

WE VIEW OUR  WATERWAYS AS MOTHERS.

YOU  KNOW, THIS INNATELY GIVES US  THE SPIRITUAL AND INHERENT RELATIO  NSHIP WITH OUR WATERS.

SO, WE  UNDERSTAND WATER IN THAT  WAY.

SO I THINK IT IS IMPORTANT, YOU  KNOW, NOW  ESPECIALLY SINCE WE ARE IN CLIMATE  CRISIS, CLIMATE -- IT HAS BEEN  CHANGING HISTORICALLY  OVER TIME BUT IT IS RAPIDLY  CHANGING NOW AND IMPACTING  HOW WE LIVE WITH THE COMMUNITY  AND HOW WE ARE LIVING WITH  OUR COMMUNITIES.

SO, THERE NEEDS  TO BE RADICAL AND  DRASTIC CHANGE IN HOW WE  MANAGE OUR WATER AND HOW  WE MANAGE THE WATERSHED.

SO, I  JUST REALLY BELIEVE THAT IF  THERE ARE MORE FEMINIST  PERSPECTIVES, PUEBLO  FEMINIST PERSPEC TIVES, IN WATER  CONVERSATIONS, MANAGEMENT STR  ATEGIES WOULD DEFINITELY SHIFT.

>> Laura: LOTS OF PEOPLE HAVE  HEARD ABOUT LAND BACK.

I AM  INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE  ABOUT WATER BACK AND WHAT  THAT MEANS HERE IN NEW MEXICO.

>> Bernal: I MEAN,  LAND BACK IS A GLOBAL MOVEMENT  AND IT IS NOT ABOUT OBTAINING  LIKE PROPERTY BACK.

IT IS NOT  ABOUT BEING LIKE THIS WAS OUR  LAND AND WE NEED TO HAVE LIKE THE  PROPERTY OWNER RIGHTS OF IT.

IT IS  MORE ABOUT THE RESURGENCE  OF INDIGENOUS STEWARDSHIP AND  MANAGEMENT BEC AUSE WE BELIEVE  THAT WHAT WE DO AND OUR  PERSPECTIVE IS BENEFICIAL FOR  EVERYONE.

THE SAME THING WITH  WATER, SO, WHEN WE WERE THINKING  ABOUT WHAT WATER BACK  MEANT TO US, WE THOUGHT ABOUT  HOW TIED THE LAND IS TO WATER  AND HOW IMPORTANT  WATER IS IN PUEBLO CULTURE.

I  MEAN, A LOT OF OUR CEREMONIES  AND SONGS AND DANCES  REALLY DO RESOLVE AROUND  SPEAKING TO OUR WATER GODS AND  ASKING FOR ABUNDANCE AND  HEALTHY WATERSHEDS  AND HEALTHY COMMUNITIES.

THAT IS VERY CORE TO OUR WAYS OF  LIFE AND OUR WORLD VIEW.

SO,  AGAIN, IF WE WERE TO HAVE A  RESURGENCE OF THAT INDIGENOUS  IDENTITY IN HOW WE MANAGE LAND  AND WATER, IT WOULD BE  BENEFICIAL FOR EVERYONE.

ALSO, JUST THAT WE NEED TO SHIFT  THE WAY WE LOOK AT WATER.

THE  WATER TO US, THE MIDDLE RIO  GRANDE, THAT IS OUR RIVER  MOTHER.

AND SO THAT IS A REASON  WHY IT IS IMPORTANT FOR US  TO REASSERT THAT PERSON  HOOD, BECAUSE IF WE ASSERT A  PERSON HOOD ON OUR WATERWAYS  WE PROBABLY WOULD TREAT HER  A LOT DIFFERENTLY,  YOU KNOW.

WE PROBABLY HAVE A  LOT MORE RESPECT  AND ACTS OF RECIPROCITY  RATHER THAN DAMNING IT  AND ALLOCATING IT AND WASTING IT,  EVEN.

SO, WATER BACK IS JUST  REALLY THAT SAME SORT OF CONCEPT  AS LIKE WHAT DECOLONIZING IS.

I  KNOW THAT IS A SPIN LATELY, BUT  OUR DEFINITION HAS BEEN  REMOVAL OF ZERO CENTRIC OCCUPATI  ONS AND IDEALS AND RESURGENCE  OF INDIGENOUS IDENTI  TY BECAUSE THAT IS THE WAY THIS  LANDSCAPE NEEDS TO  BE MANAGED.

AND, OF COURSE, HERE  IN THE SOUTHWEST, YOU  KNOW, WATER SECURITY,  WATER SCARCITY ARE REAL THINGS  AND THEY WILL CONTINUE TO  BE VERY REAL THINGS AND SO IF  THERE IS THE OPPORTUNITY  FOR PUEBLO PEOPLE TO  RECLAIM THEIR OLD MANAGEMENT  STRATEGIES, WE MAY SEE THE  HEALTH OF THE RIVER LOOK A LOT  BETTER THAN WAIT DOES NOW.

>> Laura: IT SOUNDS TO ME LIKE  SOMETIMES WHEN PEOPLE  HEAR LAND BACK OR WATER BACK,  THEY GET LIKE REALLY DEFENSIVE  AND THINK ABOUT IT IN TERMS OF  COLONIZING, BASICALLY  LIKE TAKING SOMETHING,  KEEPING IT, BUT IT SOUNDS TO ME LIKE  WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT IS  SOMETHING THAT IS REALLY DIFFERENT  FROM THAT, THAT IT IS LAND BACK AND  WATER BACK IS SOMETHING  THAT BENEFITS LOTS OF PEOPLE,  MANY PEOPLE, EVERYON  E. CAN YOU TALK A LITTLE BIT  MORE ABOUT THAT?

>> Bernal: DECOLONIZING IS A  VERY LONG PROCESS.

WE  HAVE BEEN IN THIS PERIOD OF  COLONIZATION, YOU KNOW,  FOR LIKE OVER 500 YEARS NOW.

SO, IT  IS NOT ABOUT LIKE GOING BACK IN  TIME, YOU KNOW.

IT IS NOT ABOUT LIKE  GOING BACK IN TIME WHERE THERE  WASN'T LIKE TECHNOLOGY  OR THERE WASN'T, YOU KNOW, THESE  HUMAN ADVANCES.

BUT IT  WAS A TIME WHERE THE LAND WAS  VIEWED AS OUR EARTH MOTHER,  THE WATER WAS VIEWED AS OUR  WATER MOTHER AND WE TOOK  WHAT WE NEEDED AND ALSO GAVE  BACK.

SO, WE ARE ALSO NAVIGATING A  FOREIGN LANGUAGE,  ENGLISH.

SO, IN ORDER FOR US TO  CONVEY THESE DECOLONIAL  THOUGHTS IN ENGLISH IS  ALWAYS SOMETHING WE  HAVE TO NAVIGATE.

LAND  BACK AND WATER BACK HAVE BEEN  TWO MOVEMENTS THAT SEEM TO  ALIGN WITH A LOT OF INDIGENOUS  VALUES BUT ALSO UPSET  NONINDIGENOUS PEOPLE TOO.

SO,  THERE IS, THEN AGAIN, NOW THERE  IS THIS NEED FOR A CONVERSATION  AROUND, OR EVEN JUST CREATING  SPACES, TO REALLY THINK  DEEPLY ABOUT WHAT IT MEANS TO  BE COLONIZED.

AND  WE ARE STILL EVEN, YOU KNOW, IN  THOSE CONVERSATIONS R  IGHT NOW.

LIKE, WE DON'T HAVE  THE ANSWERS NOW.

THERE IS A  LOT THAT NEEDS TO BE UNDONE  AND THERE IS A LOT THAT NEEDS TO BE  LEARNED.

BUT, THE WAY THAT WATER  IS, IT MOVES, IF IT IS STAGNANT  ITS QUALITY GETS REALLY POOR AND  SO WE VIEW WATER AS A  VERY TRANSFORM ATIVE PROCESS.

I  MEAN OUR RIVER HAS  BEEN CHANGING SO MUCH OVER THE  MILLENNIA AND WE NEED TO LOOK AT  THINGS IN THAT PERSPECTIVE  TOO.

AND ALSO COME TO TERMS  WITH THE FACT THAT WE AND I, WE  MAY NEVER SEE -- WE MIGHT NEVER  SEE THAT CHANGE  BUT AT LEAST WE'RE  TRYING TO CREATE SPACE AND AGAIN  DEEP THINKING FOR WHAT OUR  FUTURES COULD POTENTIALLY LOOK  LIKE.

AT THE END OF THE DAY,  INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, WE HAVE  THE INHERENT BIRTH RIGHT TO  JUST ENJOY OUR LANDSCAPE.

THAT  IS THE ULTIMATE GOAL, I THINK.

AND  INVITING OTHER NONINDIGENOUS  PEOPLE TO ALSO KNOW WHAT  IT MEANS FOR THAT ENJOYMENT OF THE  LANDSCAPE, AGAIN , IT IS BENEFICIAL  FOR EVERYBODY.

NOT  JUST HUMANS, NONHUMAN  RELATIVES AS WELL.

>> Laura: JULIA  BERNAL, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR  TALKING WITH ME TODAY, >> Bernal: THANK YOU SO MUCH.

>> Laura Paskus: YOU JUST HEARD  JULIA BERNAL SAY THAT FOR HER, THE  MIDDLE RIO GRANDE IS HER  RIVER MOTHER.

AND WHEN WE  THINK OF RIVERS THAT WAY, WE  TREAT THEM DIFFERENTLY,  TREAT THEM WITH MORE RESPECT  AND A SENSE OF RECIPROCITY.

I  THINK ABOUT THAT A LOT.

I ALSO THINK  ABOUT HOW RIVERS REALLY ARE THEIR  OWN CREATURES.

AND AS LIVING  BEINGS, THEY HAVE A LOT TO TEACH US.

LAST SUMMER, THE  OUR LAND CREW VISITED THE GILA  RIVER, TO CONSIDER WHAT  LESSONS THE GILA HOLDS FOR THE  REST OF THE STATE AND THE  COLORADO RIVER WATERSHED.

>> Laura Paskus: Southwestern  New Mexico has witnessed many  battles.

Including over the waters of the Gila  River...And who gets to use them.

Down in  this valley, downstream of the  nation's first designated wilderness  area, the most recent battle was over  whether to build a diversion on a free-  flowing stretch of the river high in the  watershed.

But people also love the Gila,  even if it's for different reasons.

>> Martha Cooper: I love swimming in it, I  love sitting by it running by it.

Other  people love it because of the crops they grow  from the water from the river and saw they  saw an opportunity to divert more water and  have more water available throughout  the year.

They wanted that reliability.

So it  helped me to  remember that we all love the same place  just from different perspectives.

>> Laura Paskus: This river is home to so  much life.

It nurtures farmlands.

And cities.

Wildlife.

Ecosystems.

If we pay attention, it also has a lot to teach us.

>> Martha Cooper: I like to call it a  reference river, a place that we can  come and kind of learn how rivers used to  work before they were damned and over  diverted and dewatered.

We  can't really restore rivers without there  being some water in them.

I think the  importance of some perennial flow is really  something the Gila shows us.

>> Martha Cooper: As we try to live with  climate change and this increased range of  flows, we're going to have even bigger  floods and we're going to have even lower  flows and longer.

It's during those low flow  periods that people start thinking we can  like move our way back into the flood  plain and that's happened in this valley  and then the floods come and people are  like oops yes back to the edges.

>> Laura Paskus: The Gila is a tributary of the Colorado river  where further downstream, major  cities and big irrigation districts vie for water  from the Colorado's declining flows and  dropping reservoirs.

Here, high in the  watershed, the Gila offers something else.

Wildness.

Unpredictability.

A  glimpse at the past, and a map for the  future.

Before white settlers started farming  along the Gila, this was Apache land >> Joe Saenz: We refer to it as nde  behan [Introduction in Apache] >> Laura Paskus: Growing up, Joe  Saenz's mother taught him about water.

>> Joe Saenz: She would talk about water  as a spirit, like my grandfather used to  talk about trees like they were people.

Even though we live in the kind of country that  we live in as the dialogue goes you  know we had hydrologists.

We had  people that understood water,  where it was, how to get it ,what was good,  what was not.

Water has always been one  of those elements that  should be in balance with everything else.

>> Laura Paskus: Now more than ever we  need to find balance.

Here there is still a  place to learn.

>> Joe Saenz: What does Gila mean?

To  us it's a Spanish word, you know so it doesn't  do much to inspire us and so we we rather  suggested that uh if you really want to  protect this country include us, because  we can tell you how to protect it.

We can tell  you the intricacies of the animals, the grass,  the waters, the trees, the plants, everything  how they fit together and what you need to  consider and how to protect it.

But if you're  going to break it up and just protect pieces  that's that's not going to work either because  it doesn't work that way.

>> Laura Paskus: Breaking a river apart  from its land...Dividing  a river into stretches....Splitting  the parts of a whole into whatever humans  want at the moment...That doesn't  work.

Or at least, it doesn't work for long.

>> Joe Saenz: I asked my elders, I asked  them, can you tell me about what this place  was called you know because some of  those names we've lost from how we were  scattered from this country, we've lost  those.

They themselves asked  around to other elders and the closest thing  that we could come to that they shared with  me was that at one point they may have  referred to the Gila and the and this region  as [[hooth lee]], a term that describes the  beginning where everything emanates  from, the start uh and so it ties in with our  creation stories, the river itself.

>> Laura Paskus: Saenz says that for  the Apache, culture revolves around  change...

But so many of the changes he  sees today ... around his home...And when  he leads outfitting trips into the Gila.

.. Those  are different.

>> Joe Saenz: I've noticed it in real time  here I mean, for me to have grown up in a  time when you could literally set your clock  to some things.

You can't really do that  anymore.

What I started to notice was  the vultures and the eagles.

It used to  always be like clockwork April 1st  and November 1st they switched.

The last  couple of years, um they're a week off.

You  know, no big deal nobody notices that, I  guess, you know maybe some people  do.

I started to see in the weather change  you know 15 years ago where I it was like  this this can't be drought this there's  something else here.

For the last 200 years  America has been progressing to a point  that literally it's killing itself, and when  people ask well what what's happening,  what you know what are we going to do  about it?

It's kind of tough, because my  response is always we tried 500 years ago to  tell you don't do this.

We told you 300 years  ago, we told you 200 years ago, and when  we told you 200 years ago, you put us in jail,  and so you're not listening to the  change.

>> Laura Paskus: To survive this warming  world, with its droughts and fires and floods,  we need to change.

And we can start by listening to the Gila.

>> Joe Saenz: I think to me, to us, the river's  basically telling us: join me don't try to stop  me, don't try to change me, join me, and live  with how I change.

There are reasons for  those floods, there are reasons for times  when rivers run slow,  there's reasons for all of that and so those  changes need to happen.

>> Laura Paskus: IN ONE OF OUR VERY  FIRST EPISODES OF OUR LAND, WE  VISITED THE PUEBLO OF SANTA  ANA, TO LEARN ABOUT  RESTORATION AND WILDLIFE WORK  ALONG THE RIO GRANDE AND ATOP  SANTA ANA MESA.

LET'S TAKE A LOOK  BACK AT THAT SHOW FROM 2017.

>> THE PUEBLO OF SANTA ANA SITS  NEXT TO THE RIO GRANDE NORTH OF  ALBUQUERQUE AND RIO RANCHO.

FOR  NEARLY 900 TRIBAL MEMBERS THE  LAND IS NOT ONLY HOME BUT AN  IMPORTANT PLACE THAT CONNECTS  THEM TO ANCESTORS.

>> THE RIVER HAS ALWAYS BEEN  IMPORTANT TO US CULTURALLY FOR  THE PUEBLOS AND SANTA ANA.

WE  HAVE TRADITIONAL DANCES,  GRANDPARENTS,  PARENTS TELLING IT, AND THEY TIE IN  WITH ECOLOGICAL SYSTEM AS A  WHOLE FOR THE REASON  WHY WE ARE DOING.

>> GOVERNOR MONTOYA SAYS  PROTECTING MEDICINAL PLANTS  AND CULTURALLY SIGNIFICANT AREAS  AND WILDLIFE IS FOR IMPORTANT TO  THE TRIBE AND OTHERS CAN SEE  THE WORK THEY ARE DOING WHEN  THEY VISIT THE PUEBLO FOR  EVENTS AND RECREATION.

>> A LOT OF PEOPLE NO MATTER  ETHNICITY, PEOPLE LIKE TO SEE THE  BOSQUE THAT IS IN THE STATE IT WAS.

>> THE TRIBE HAS BEEN WORKING TO  RESTORE THE BOSQUE AND RIO  GRANDE FOR DECADES.

FAR  FROM THE RIVER BANKS, THERE IS  EVEN MORE WORK BEING DONE.

>> TRIBES NATURAL RESOURCES  DEPARTMENT IS RESTORING  TURKEY POPULATIONS,  TRYING TO HELP ENDANGERED FISH  AND BIRDS, AND TRACKING  MOUNTAIN LIONS, AND BEARS.

>> THEY HAVE ALSO  WORKED ON RESTORING  HEALTHY FIRE TO THE LANDSCAPE.

>> INSTALL WATER FEATURES FOR  WILDLIFE.

IN 2005, THE TRIBAL  COUNCIL CREATED WILDLIFE  CONSERVATION CODE.

THIS VISION  WAS CREATED BY TRIBAL LEADERS  FOR THE BENEFIT OF EVERYONE  LIVING AT SANTA ANA.

>> PART OF THE WORK IS THINNING  OUT TREES AND RETURNING LAND  TO WHAT THEY ONCE WERE  BEFORE COLONIZATION AND  LIVESTOCK RAISING.

>> PRETTY INTENSE, THIS  WORK, AND WE HAVE TO BE OUT  HERE IN THE WINTER AND HOT  SUMMER, COLTED.

NOXIOUS WEEDS  ARE OUT HERE AND WE TRY TO BRING  THE GRASSLANDS BACK TO WHAT IT  WAS BEFORE.

>> WE CUT THE TREES SO IT IS NOT  SO HOT WHEN WE PUT DOWN FIRE  AND IT BRINGS BACK GRASSES.

>> THIS IS A GOOD JOB FOR ME AND  CLOSE TO HOME.

I DON'T HAVE TO  DEAL WITH TRAFFIC.

>> MOST OF SANTA ANA IS OFF LIMITS  TO NON-TRIBAL MEMBERS UNLESS  INVITED AND IN PARTS OF THE  PUEBLO'S 79,000 ACRES, PRONG  HORN HAVE BEEN REINTRODUCED  AFTER NEARLY 40 YEARS OF BEING  MISSING FROM THE AREA.

>> THERE USED TO BE ANTELOPE ON  THE MESA OF SANTA ANA AND  USED TO BE ANTELOPE ALONG  HIGHWAY 550, KIND OF THIS PERIPHERY  HERD THAT WOULD COME FROM THE  RIO RANCHO AREA.

BRINGING THEM  BACK WAS SOMETHING THAT  THE COUNCIL REQUESTED.

>> SANTA ANA PUEBLO NATURAL  RESOURCES DEPARTMENT  WORKED WITH STATE AND  FEDERAL OFFICIALS TO GAIN PERMITS  AND FUNDING TO BRING IN ABOUT 100  PRONG HORN.

THEY STARTED  RELEASING THE ANIMALS IN 2009.

NOT ALL SURVIVED.

SOME WERE EATEN  BY PREDATORS AND A FEW DIED  FROM THE STRESS OF BEING MOVED.

OTHERS TRAVELED BEYOND THE  BORDERS OF THE PUEBLO.

>> THERE ARE  CURRENTLY ABOUT 70 PRONG HORN ON  THE PUEBLO AND THE DEPARTMENT  IS ALSO FOLLOWING MOUNTAIN LIONS  AND OTHER PREDATORS  OUTFITTED WITH GPS COLLARS.

>> WE'LL BE ABLE TO LOOK AT WHAT  KIND OF IMPACTS ARE THEY HAVING,  HOW MANY ANIMALS ARE THEY  KILLING ON THE PUEBLO, WHAT SPECIES.

>> WE ARE ALSO LOOKING FOR  TRAVEL CORRIDORS, ARE  LARGE CARNIVORES  MOVING ON AND OFF THE PUEBLO  AND WHERE ARE THEY MOVING SO  WE CAN PROTECT THOSE AREAS AND  PROVIDE CONNECTIVITY FOR  WILDLIFE IN THIS AREA.

>> I THINK THEY ARE OFF IN THAT  DIRECTION OVER THERE.

YOU WANT TO >> PARKER HAS WORKED FOR THE  TRIBE FOR NEARLY 20 YEARS.

HE SAYS  THE CHANGING CLIMATE AND NEW  CHALLENGES WILL TEST  GROUNDWORK ALREADY LAID FOR  WILDLIFE AND PEOPLE.

>> TRIBAL COUNCIL HAS BEEN A  LEADER I THINK IN THE RIO GRANDE  VALLEY AND SUPPORTING  RESTORATION WORK ON THEIR  LAND, KNOWING FULL WELL THAT  THERE IS PRESSURES FROM  OUTSIDE, YOU KNOW, RIO  RANCHO, BERNALILLO,  PLACITAS, EXPANDING  COMMUNITIES, LAND USE OF  MINING, WATER ISSUES WITH THE  LACK OF WATER.

YOU KNOW FULL  WELL, IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN  CULTURAL IDENTITY THEY HAVE TO  PROCEED TO THE LAND.

>> FOR OUR LAND AND NEW MEXICO  IN FOCUS I'M LAURA PASKUS.

>> Laura Paskus: OVER THE YEARS,  WE'VE STAYED IN TOUCH WITH THE  PUEBLO'S DEPARTMENT OF  NATURAL RESOURCES...AND  HAVE CONTINUED TO LEARN ABOUT  THE RESTORATION WORK THEY'RE  DOING ON TAMAYA KWII KEE NEE PUU,  LANDS THE PUEBLO  BOUGHT FROM PRIVATE  LANDOWNERS IN 2016.

HERE'S OUR  DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THAT, CALLED ANCESTRAL CONNECTIONS.

>> Julian Garcia [offscreen]: This whole  area is Tamaya Kwii Kee Nee Puu.

>> Julian Garcia [offscreen]: This place is full of villages.

>> Julian Garcia [offscreen]: We're sitting here up on this  rim rock.

You know, you can look, and  we've got the on the west there   about four miles, five miles out,  and that's more like a basalt.

That area there  we call [word in Keres], that's the  name of that black mountain mesa there.

That here, this is [words in Keres] meaning sandstone.

>> Nathan Garcia:  There is a lot of artifacts here.

There's  a lot of ruins.

So, it would be a traditional  home to them.

Cooking, hunting, you  know, walking the landscape, even down  to farming in some areas where there's  natural springs here, water holes.

It would  just be another pueblo within itself here.

I'm  sure there's traditional dances that will take  place here, migration hikes.

>> Narrator: In 2016, the Pueblo of Santa  Ana bought lands that have been a part of  their history since their migrations from Mesa  Verde and Chaco Canyon in the  thirteenth century.

But these lands,  Tamaya Kwii Kee Nee Puu, the pueblo had to  buy them.

They bought the sixty  thousand acres for more than thirty million  dollars from private landowners who ran  cattle and grazed these lands hard for  more than a century.

>> Thomas Armijo:  This place connects me to the past.

Growing up, you hear all these stories of you  know, where we came from, where we've  been.

But like kind of seeing it physically  kind of, it puts a bigger impact.

It's kind of like  eye-opening for me.

So this kind of like  reinforces that wanting to know who you are,  where you come from.

>> Monica Murrell:  The entire history dating back thousands  of years is represented out here  >> Monica Murrell: In contrast to  archaeologists mostly doing research and  excavation, the historic preservation office is  really more about preservation,  stewardship of cultural sites and protecting them.

>> Thomas Armijo: It's  telling our story from the beginning, but then  it's also adding in you know, the present.

Our  story is just getting bigger and bigger as  the years go by.

>> Thomas Armijo: It's  small.

I don't even fit in there.

You can see the  hearth where they built the fire.

So, you can  kind of imagine all the things that they did  back then.

Just living.

It's just really cool,  kind of, brings you back, or kind of take a  step back in time.

>> Narrator: When  buying the lands, the tribal council passed a resolution to always protect them.

They  won't be developed or sold.

Instead, they're  set aside for traditional uses like hunting,  gathering plants,  prayer, celebration.

Here, lands that were  used hard for more than a century will heal.

>> Dan Ginter: The  Europeans, that we pushed, we took the  best lands and a lot of those best lands were  those things surrounding water.

And we've done a really good job of of  channeling that water and pulling it out and  using it for our own needs and not having  it left necessarily for wildlife.

And so one of  the things that we've found out is that you  need to put water on the landscape for for  animals.

And it and it really makes a big  difference, and we see when we put in these,  we call them wildlife guzzlers and then they  fill up on their own and then the wildlife very  quickly find them.

And and when you put a  wildlife camera on them, you see within a  month or within even a couple weeks, you just  see the the birds and the deer and the  antelope and the elk come in and recognize  these as good water sources and just  regularly use them.

And then culturally,  those animals share that information with  their young and then they just, it becomes a  permanent water source in their minds.

>> Glenn Harper: Over a hundred years of  grazing, the runoff in these little valleys has  created these large head cuts.

It's just  lowered the water table away.

The  number of head cuts that we see going  through this landscape is is huge and and to  try to reverse that is going to take a lot of  effort.

We're working for the  pueblo to improve the quality of these lands,  knowing that they want it for traditional purposes.

>> Narrator: With a  grant from the federal government and the  National Fish and Wildlife Foundation,  the pueblo will restore grasslands and  springs.

And they'll remove more than 60  miles of interior fence lines.

Fences that halt  the movement of wildlife, trap  tumbleweeds, and scar the landscape.

Restoring this land won't be easy.

Just  like buying it back wasn't.

Even though the pueblo paid thirty  million dollars for these lands eight years ago, they still have a ways to go, legally and logistically.

>> Nathan Garcia: It's  very difficult in in the process of buying land  back.

>> Julian Garcia: You've got to watch out for snakes too, now.

Because there  are snake skins around.

>> Nathan Garcia: It's actually a number one priority, to buy our lands back.

But it  comes at a cost, and we see the value in it.

And these lands are priceless to us, so it  doesn't matter really what it costs.

We just  do what we got to do and um get our lands  back, one one parcel at a time or one acre  at a time.

When I say fight the good fight,  that's the fight that we're fighting.

>> Narrator: The pueblo is still waiting  for the U.S. Congress to put these lands in  trust, so they're a part of the pueblo's  sovereign lands.

But this is a homecoming.

>> Ruben Lujan: We're here at the Kwii Kee Nee Puu, going down to Collier Canyon.

This is [word in Keres] what they  call [word in Keres], like a parsley.

My  elders taught me this growing up as I was a  little kid.

They showed me different types of  plants we could harvest from the  landscape.

For me, it means a lot because  my father used to say that we owned a lot of  this land here, but we ended up losing it.

And  then now that we purchased it all back, it  seems like it's heartwarming that we  all own it back now.

And it's exciting just to  be out here, out in the open, beautiful out here.

>> Ruben Lujan: Trying to get back to our ancestral roots, that's how I see it.

>> Narrator: These  lands that protected and fed the pueblo's people in the past today stand against  the push and the shove of cities and  development, which has exploded in the past few decades.

>> Ruben Lujan: Fifteen years ago, down by the casino,  there was really no homes and then all of  a sudden, fifteen years later and then you see  all these homes encroaching the  boundary lines, and I think that will stop all  the future development coming  north and back up, out this way to this property.

>> Julian Garcia [offscreen]: There's some ruins out there.

You know maybe some people don't realize what we're we're losing in  America.

Like I said it seems like to me we're  living in a trashy society.

We are a very,  very trashy society.

Coming up to this area  65,000 acres, give or take, you've seen solar  farms down the way, of course that's clean energy.

>> Narrator: But just  since 2016, Tamaya Kwii Kee Nee Puu has  been healing.

>> Dillion Eustace:  This is a place I grew up.

Just seeing like,  it's pretty much night and day because  before everyone would come in and like dump  their trash or the ATV dirt bike around here.

And now there's grass where you don't see  grass.

You could see deer and elk.

And I've  never seen deer and elk out here until like a  couple years ago.

>> Narrator: Now  Dillon Eustace works for the Pueblo of  Santa Ana's Department of Natural  Resources, checking guzzlers, caring for  this land.

And gathering data on  everything from wood rats to pronghorn, elk,  deer, and mountains lions.

>> Dillion Eustace: When I was little, I  didn't really have that like, I didn't have a lot  of people explaining everything in detail.

And when I started this job, like I feel like, I  feel more connected because I'm out here,  I'm talking to people.

I'm talking to other  tribal members that have been here, other  elders.

And it's really pushed me to just be  curious and just ask like, What was this?

Where, where did we come from?

Why did  we do this?

Why did we domesticate this or  for what?

So, to be able to tell my  children, we have always been here.

We're primordial in a sense.

So, to be able  to show my kids, our kids, everyone's kids,  we've been here.

We're going to  continue to be here.

>> Narrator: The work  of the tribe's Natural Resources Department is directed by the tribal council.

And its employees put science to work hand  in hand with traditional knowledge, across all  of Santa Ana's lands.

Glenn Harper has  worked for the pueblo for more than 25 years.

>> Glenn Harper: So,  we use a lot of western science or the  technology that comes with that to monitor  where animals want to be on the landscape,  using the GPS collars.

For instance, we're  monitoring 25 cow elk that we've GPS  collared on Mesa Prieta, to see where  their migration routes carry them through the  through the seasons.

For long-term  planning, we need to know what areas need  to be protected or improved, where we  can do habitat restoration.

There's a  way to work both together and come out with a better outcome.

>> Voice off camera: There's Dan.

Getting the collar ready.

I don't know why these elk have to pick these  spots.

We shot her up there.

And then she  decides to come down on this.

The side of  this mountain.

The helicopter's way down  over there somewhere.

So  anyway, do what you gotta do, I guess.

>> Narrator: For five years, starting in 2006,  the pueblo put a moratorium on  hunting, to boost deer and elk populations.

And with that increase, came the mountain lions.

>> Dan Ginter: It was  pretty amazing because it was right  about 2015 or 2014 that you just saw lions  showing up on the cameras, and it would  be a female lion with three adult kittens.

Like a 10 year or 10- month-old or 11-  month-old kittens.

And for a female lion to get  three kittens to adulthood, because  they're ready at that point, almost ready to  just jump out on their own, for a female lion  to get three kittens to  that age group means that she's being really  successful and that she's got a good prey base.

>> Narrator: In 2017,  the pueblo started studying mountain lions.

Putting GPS collars on them to  track their movements across the landscape  and identify what they eat.

This way, they  could learn more about the species, and  keep watch on any lions putting too much  of a dent in the pueblo's deer or elk  populations.

In the past few years, they  have learned a lot about what lions eat.

>> Glenn Harper: We had one lion that was  named Broken Leg, and he was an adult  male, that while we had him collared for  two years, he killed around 35 to 37  badgers.

He also killed 19 elk.

We haven't had  any lions that even approached that.

We  have some lions that are just eaten just  beavers; they're living along the Rio Grande.

They eat beavers, porcupines, coyotes,  gray fox, sandhill cranes.

We 've had  other lions that are actually taking out  feral horses, which is pretty interesting  because some of the female lions that we've  collared, we've seen their offspring move off  out of their natal range and actually kill feral  horses wherever they end up.

So it's kind of  like this learned behavior that mom  taught them.

>> Glenn Harper:  Mountain lions are are one of the you know  the most important most traditionally  important species to the pueblo.

And  they're good surrogates for  identifying corridors on the landscape  because they require such large home ranges.

>> Narrator: Huge  home ranges...

Consider Squeaks... Who earned his nickname by  squeaking for his mom after being collared.

>> Glenn Harper: So, there's one young  male lion that we collared at 16 months  old.

And as young male lions do, they  always disperse out of their natal range.

And  this young lion, we collared him at 16  months, and then after two months, he was  trying to start to disperse out of his  natal range.

And we know what his natal  range is because we'd collared his mother,  too.

And so, we were able  to watch him bounce around between 550  and I-25 and going up towards Tent Rocks.

We were able to catch him trying to get out of  his natal range.

At two months old, he made  his first movement north towards Tent  Rocks and then came back into his natal  range.

Eight more times during a two-  month period he he continued to try to  leave the pueblo and then finally on on in  early July he crossed Highway 550 and  made his way up through Cuba, New  Mexico, went through some Navajo land up  by Bloomfield, crossed Navajo Reservoir,  swam two legs of that, entered Colorado, and  then ended up establishing a home  territory on Mesa Verde National Park  and Ute Mountain Ute lands.

That's a home  range of about 200 square miles, at least  at this point.

His collar malfunctioned, so we  don't know what he's up to these days.

But  before it malfunctioned we were in contact  with the biologists at Mesa Verde National Park.

>> Narrator: It's a remarkable journey.

Especially because highways make everything harder for wildlife.

>> Glenn Harper: As Squeaks was trying to leave his natal range,  he kept running up against I-25 and he  kept running up against 550.

And  would literally get to the right-of-way fence  on these stretches of road and then turn  back and go back into his natal range.

Something along those roadways is  keeping them from crossing those  roadways, and it was obviously the vehicles.

I-25 has essentially become a barrier to  wildlife movement.

Although there are  individuals from a population that may  move across the highway and  successfully get across, all the GPS  location data that we've collected from  mountain lions, bears, pronghorn, deer, elk,  none of our GPS animals have crossed  I-25.

So, we consider that kind of a barrier  and all of our roadkill data matches up with  that, where these animals went across,  the roadkill data stacks up right there.

>> Narrator: On their other lands closer to  the Rio Grande and atop Santa Ana Mesa,  the pueblo has reintroduced  pronghorn and wild turkeys and done  restoration work along the river.

They're also  planning for how to reconnect wildlife  corridors severed by Highway 550 and  Interstate 25.

>> Narrator: Biologists  have cameras that show how animals turn  back from the roads or are forced to navigate  infrastructure like culverts.

And we have  all seen the animals killed trying to cross  our roads.

>> Narrator: Across  the landscape, animals face many  challenges.

>> Glenn Harper:  Sandoval Spring is an important water  resource in this area.

It's a very arid  landscape.

The Rio Puerco is the nearest  perennial, or it's not really perennial, it's  even an ephemeral water source.

Unless  you can develop water in these landscapes,  this is one of the only water sources.

It's an  important area that we're looking at trying  to, to restore.

There's many signs of past  misuse, fencing, you know the cattails, the  exotic species like cattails and salt cedar  and some other exotics like  tumbleweed and kosha are here.

>> Glenn Harper: Well, I came out to  look at the spring, to see if, where the water  level is at and see how the cattails were doing  in it.

And walking around the spring, I  found a dead mountain lion.

It  appears to be a male, an older male  mountain lion, doesn't seem to be any signs  of injury.

It seems like it was relatively  healthy.

It's really unusual to find a lion.

In the 20, 30 years that I've been a  biologist I've never, I've only seen one  mountain lion outside of the capture work  that we do for mountain lions.

So  yeah, finding one dead like this is extremely unusual >> Glenn Harper: As a  department, our mission is really to identify problems,  collect the information that we need to take at  the tribal council, to have them direct us on  how we should proceed.

And ideally, if  I could come back in 200 years, I'd like to  see that this landscape is still  providing all the all the things that are  necessary for the Santa Ana people to  maintain their culture.

As the as the world  around them continues to grow, they'll have  the space that they need to be able to  maintain that.

>> Narrator: The Land  Back movement is growing.

But for tribes,  getting lands back isn't easy or  straightforward.

>> Dillion Eustace: A  lot has been taken.

I'm not, I'm just going to  put it plain and simple.

A lot has been taken.

And nothing has been given back.

>> Thomas Armijo:  Not every tribe is able to get their land back.

And it's such a, you know, it's a big fight,  and you know, it's a big hill to climb over.

But being able to get our land back, you  know, also shows like for everybody else,  you know, it's possible, you just have  to keep working at it.

>> Narrator: For young leaders like Dillon Eustace...It's just a start.

>> Dillion Eustace: I  always talk about this with my family.

Like,  certain pueblos kind of have politics with each  other and they can't really agree on certain  things.

But this, I feel like shouldn't be  something that should be even debated  about.

As native people to the land,  we're pretty much stewards of the land.

I  would even extend it to outsiders.

Like,  we're all stewards of the land.

Being that we  have this position, we have all this land, we  have this infrastructure and government like,  why not come together?

Why not  connect that gap, for all the way from  Jemez mountains to here?

Why not deal  that?

Because in a in a sense it's it's our  culture, it's us so without this land, we  don't exist.

Taking care of this land and  being able to show the younger kids what I  do, why I do it, and making sure they  understand that this isn't for no reason,  We're here for a reason and we have a  duty to to take care of  this land, all of this.

>> Thomas Armijo: My  hope for the pueblo, and you know for the  people, is just that it remains the same.

You think, how many people walked through here?

All their footprints.

So, it's kind of you taking the same steps.

So, you know,  it's kind of a place to reconnect back to our  past, reaffirming who we are, and how much  we accomplished from our very beginning all the way up to now.

>> Nathan Garcia:  This was home and I still feel that I can think  about what it was way back in ancestral times  and you know they walked this ground  and now I'm here walking the ground  and I think you know many, footprints, many  years of our people on here, and now we're  returned and now it's our turn to make our  footprint here, in terms of how we move  forward and then bring our children along the way.

>> Julian [offscreen]: I am so happy that we  reacquired this lands.

We purchased this for  cultural reasons.

This is all pristine.

This is  all serene, this is what I like.

You know, I  come up here during traditional hunts.

You  know just take in the the natural beauty of  things.

But we're trying to keep this pristine, in  the natural state.

So you sit, you're sitting  right here, nice sandstones, nice view  to the north there.

The big old ravine there,  those sandstone bluffs, [word in Keres]  out in the distance there, there you know  that's natural beauty, that's what I live for.

>> Laura Paskus:  WHILE WORKING ON ANCESTRAL  CONNECTIONS, WE LEARNED ABOUT A  LOT OF THINGS, INCLUDING HOW  HARD IT IS FOR TRIBES TO GET  THEIR ANCESTRAL LANDS BACK, AND  HOW TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND  WESTERN SCIENCE CAN COMPLEMENT  ONE ANOTHER.

WE ALSO LEARNED  ABOUT THE PUEBLO'S EFFORTS  TO PROTECT WILDLIFE...INDIVIDU  AL ANIMALS AND LOCAL  POPULATIONS...FRO M BEING RUN OVER  ON HIGHWAY 550 AND INTERSTATE 25.

THIS IS A TERRIBLE PROBLEM.

BUT WE KNOW THERE ARE  SOLUTIONS OUT THERE, WE CAN  PUT TO WORK, THAT PROTECT  WILDLIFE AND DRIVERS.

LET'S  TAKE A LOOK BACK NOW TO A SHOW  WE AIRED IN 2018  ABOUT WHY PROTECTING  WILDLIFE CORRIDORS IS  IMPORTANT FOR EVERYONE.

>> WE'RE HERE AT NEW MEXICO 333,  AND FURTHER BEHIND MEIS I-40,  AND IN BETWEEN THOSE TWO  ROADWAYS IS TIJERAS CREEK.

THE WILDLIFE, PRIMARILY MULE  DEER, THEY COME FROM THE  SURROUNDING HILLSIDES DOWN  ACROSS THE ROADWAY INTO  TIJERAS CREEK TO GET WATER.

>> NEW MEXICO 333 IS PART OF THE OLD  ROUTE 66, BUILT IN THE 1930s.

>> CARS HAVE ADVANCED.

BACK IN  THE '30s, VEHICLES WERE 10, 20-  HORSEPOWER.

NOW WE'RE  DEALING WITH 100 HORSEPOWER.

SO  CARS GO MUCH, MUCH FASTER  TODAY THAN IN THE PAST, AND SO THAT  CREATES PROBLEMS.

>> THAT INCLUDES DANGEROUS  ACCIDENTS WHEN A DRIVER HITS A  LARGE ANIMAL LIKE A DEER OR AN ELK.

>> JUST LIKE US, THEY NEED WATER,  FOOD AND COVER.

SO SOMETIMES FOR  THEM TO ACQUIRE THOSE  RESOURCES, THEY HAVE TO CROSS  OUR ROADWAYS.

SOMETIMES THEY  CROSS AT SPECIFIC AREAS THAT CAUSE  PROBLEMS FOR THE TRAVELING  PUBLIC, AND WILDLIFE-VEHICLE  COLLISIONS, IT'S A COST TO THE  DRIVERS, IT'S PROPERTY DAMAGE  TO VEHICLES, AND IN SOME CASES  THEY INJURE DRIVERS AND  ACTUAL FATALITIES TO DRIVERS.

>> ON 333, THE TIJERAS CANYON  SAFE PASSAGE PROJECT USES  FENCES AND ELECTRIFIED  BARRIERS TO FUNNEL WILDLIFE  TO CROSS IN ONE PARTICULAR SPOT.

WHEN ANIMALS LIKE BEARS, DEER OR  ELK CROSS HERE, THEY ACTIVATE  FLASHING LIGHTS THAT WARN  DRIVERS TO SLOW DOWN.

>> THESE ELECTRIFIED  BARRIERS PREVENT THE ANIMALS FROM  GOING UP THE ROADWAY AND  KEEPS THEM TO CROSS THE  ROADWAY PERPENDICULARLY.

IT WON'T IMPACT NORMAL  PEDESTRIANS OR BICYCLISTS, BUT  THE ELECTRIFIED BARRIERS, IF  SOMEBODY IS WALKING THEIR  DOG, THE DOG WILL RECEIVE A SHOCK.

SO WE HAVE PEDESTRIAN PUSH-  BUTTONS THAT TURN OFF THESE  ELECTRIFIED BARRIERS  TEMPORARILY.

THE REASON WE DON'T  JUST BUILD GAME FENCE UP AND  DOWN THE ROADWAY IS THAT  WE ALSO WANT TO PROVIDE  CROSSINGS, HABITAT  CONNECTIVITY FOR WILDLIFE, SO THAT  WILDLIFE CAN STILL HAVE ACCESS TO  WATER, FOOD AND COVER.

JUST LIKE  HUMANS, WE USE ROADWAYS TO GO  TO THE SUPERMARKET, WE  NEED TO ALLOW SOME GAPS IN  THESE GAME FENCES SO THAT  WILDLIFE CAN MEET THEIR NEEDS.

>> THERE ARE  OTHER STRATEGIES THAT CAN BE USED,  LIKE WILDLIFE UNDERPASSES.

>> RIGHT NOW, WE ARE IN WHAT WE  CALL THE EAST UNDERPASS,  BELOW THE EASTERNMOST  BRIDGE.

THAT'S PART OF THE  TIJERAS CANYON SAFE PASSAGE  PROJECT.

AND WE WERE JUST AT THE  CROSSWALK BEFORE THIS,  WHICH IS ABOUT A HALF MILE DUE  EAST FROM HERE.

SO WHEN WILDLIFE  CROSS AT THE CROSSWALK TO  GET WATER IN THEIR DAILY  MOVEMENTS, OR LONGER DISPERSAL  MOVEMENTS TO TRY TO GET TO THE  MANZANOS, THEY CAN GET WATER IN  TIJERAS ARROYO WHEN THEY CROSS  THE CROSSWALK AND COME DOWN  THE ARROYO AND GET UNDER I-40  HERE.

SO THE CROSSWALK  ESSENTIALLY GETS WILDLIFE, MULE  DEER, BEAR, COUGARS, ACROSS  OLD ROUTE 66, OR NEW MEXICO  HIGHWAY 333.

THEY CAN COME DOWN  TIJERAS ARROYO AND MOVE UNDER  THE FREEWAY AT THIS LOCATION, AT  THIS BRIDGE.

AND YOU CAN HEAR THE  HEAVY TRAFFIC OF I-40 ABOVE US.

SO  THEY CAN MOVE SAFELY BELOW THE  FREEWAY AND NOT GET HIT.

>> WILDLIFE AND COMMUNITY  GROUPS RECOGNIZE  TIJERAS CANYON AS AN IMPORTANT  PLACE WHERE ANIMALS ARE  MOVING BACK AND  FORTH BETWEEN THE SANDIA AND  MANZANO MOUNTAINS.

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, A STUDENT  GROUP, WILD FRIENDS, LOBBIED  THE STATE LEGISLATURE TO  CONVENE A WORKSHOP TO  LOOK AT WILDLIFE- DRIVER ACCIDENTS.

>> A LOT OF FOLKS THAT ATTENDED  THE ORIGINAL WORKSHOP LIVED  ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE SANDIAS  AND HAD HIT DEER OR SEEN DEER HIT,  SEEN CARCASSES IN THE ROAD, AND  BASICALLY FELT LIKE IT WAS A  DANGER AND IT WAS UNNECESSARY  FOR THESE WILDLIFE TO BE HIT  CONSTANTLY ON THEIR HIGHWAYS.

SO WE FORMED THIS TIJERAS  CANYON SAFE PASSAGE  COALITION THAT BECAME THE FIRST  AND ONLY  ADVOCACY GROUP IN NEW MEXICO TO  REALLY ADVOCATE WITH D.O.T.

AND  NEW MEXICO DEPARTMENT OF  GAME AND FISH TO IMPLEMENT A  WILDLIFE-VEHICLE COLLISION  MITIGATION PROJECT.

>> AGENCIES CAN TELL THE PROJECT  IS WORKING WHEN THEY CHECK THE  WILDLIFE CAMERAS AND SEE DEER, ELK,  BOBCATS, MOUNTAIN LIONS,  ALL SORTS OF ANIMALS USING THE  PASSAGE.

BUT PEOPLE ALSO NEED  TO CHANGE THEIR OWN BEHAVIOR TO  ENSURE PEOPLE AND WILDLIFE ARE SAFE.

>> YOU NEED TO BE AWARE OF THAT  WHEN YOU'RE DRIVING AND  SLOW DOWN.

THE ONLY THING THAT  REALLY STOPS THOSE ACCIDENTS  FROM OCCURRING IS WHEN  MOTORISTS SLOW DOWN, OR ARE  PREPARED TO REACT.

LIKE IF  THEY'RE AT A WILDLIFE  CROSSWALK, LIKE THE ONE WE HAVE  IN TIJERAS  CANYON, AND THE ANIMAL DETECTION  SYSTEM DETECTS ANIMALS CROSSING  AND THE LIGHT STARTS BLINKING,  YOU NEED TO SLOW DOWN.

>> FOR NEW MEXICO IN FOCUS  AND 'OUR LAND,' I'M LAURA PASKUS.

THANKS FOR JOINING US FOR  THIS OUR LAND SPECIAL.

COMING  UP ON JULY 12, WE'LL HAVE  ANOTHER SPECIAL EPISODE FOCUSED  ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND HOW  WE LOVE AND CARE FOR OUR  CHANGING LANDSCAPES.

THAT  SHOW WILL FEATURE NEW  MEXICANS PAULA GARCIA, THERESA  PASQUAL, PHOEBE SUINA, AARON LOWDEN, AND SISTER JOAN  BROWN.

TO KEEP  ON TOP OF ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS AND UPCOMING  SEGMENTS, MAKE SURE YOU  SUBSCRIBE TO OUR LAND WEEKLY AND  FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM.

YOU CAN FIND ALL THAT AND MORE AT  NMPBS.ORG/OURLAND THANKS FOR  WATCHING!

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