All in a day’s work!CEHMM, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, works through cooperative conservation, education, job creation, and research to find solutions to matters affecting human health and the environment. Currently, CEHMM has 23 team members.This past summer, we hired a full-time intern, and we are currently seeking two more full-time team members, with plansto hire additional interns in the coming months. CEHMM has a unique culture of team members that are fun, good-natured, optimistic, and passionate. Our team creates a positive, family firstwork environment that encourages growth, hard work, and a healthy work/life balance. Over half of our team has worked at CEHMM for more than four years, and three team members have been with CEHMM for over 10 years, showing the longevity of which CEHMM is proud. Our Executive Director, Controller, and all of our Managers exemplify career growthand advancement, and CEHMM prides itself on professional development of its staff. CEHMM has three New Mexico offices, two in Carlsbad andone in Milnesand. Because last month we wrote about our in-house Rangeland Biologist creatingcustom-made seed mixes for our reseeding and reclamation efforts through our Environmental Services Program, it’s only fair that we tell you about our projects for removal ofdead-standing mesquite.In the previous paragraph, I mentioned CEHMM’soffice in Milnesand. I wonder how many of you even know aboutthis unincorporated community in New Mexico. According to Wikipedia’s description, Milnesand is in southern Roosevelt County about thirty-five miles south of Portales on NM State Road 206,and is known as the hometo the lesser prairie-chicken. This yearthe lesserprairie-chicken has been proposed for listingas endangeredby the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Drought and habitat fragmentation/degradation by mesquite are factors for the decline in numbers. Lesserprairie-chickens avoid vertical structure for fear of hawks and other perching predators. In 2008, CEHMM, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the US Bureau of Land Management, ranchers, and industry partnered together to develop Candidate Conservation Agreements (CCAs), voluntary programsdesigned to help keep everybody on the ground working, while simultaneously implementing conservationfor the species.Since 2011, through the CCA program, CEHMM has chemically treated over 84,000 acres of mesquite and removed close to 10,000 acres of dead standing mesquite. These efforts halt mesquite encroachment in suitable lesser prairie-chickenhabitat, removingvegetative structures the prairie-chickensavoid, restoring thelandscape, reducinghabitat fragmentation, and creatingconnectivity between suitable patches. Our Milnesand team of four diligently works with ranchers and industry. They are on the ground every day working on the landscape to create suitable habitats for the lesser
prairie-chickens. Treatment and removal of dead-standing mesquite is one of many projects CEHMM manages. For further information on enrollment into the CCA programor other ways CEHMM can assist your activities on the landscape, visit our website at www.cehmm.orgor call the CEHMM office at 575-885-3700.______________________________________________________________________Emily Wirth and Karla Niemeier are the Executive Director and Public Relations Manager, respectively, for CEHMM, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization located in Carlsbad, NM. Skidsteer knocking mesquite downBefore and after the mesquite has been knocked down
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