Water is the essence of all existence. When rivers flow plentifully, no one thinks twice about where it all comes from until the crops start to wilt and the lands turn brown. New Mexico has gone through dry spells before, but the last 35 years of drought pale in comparison to this one.
The lack of precipitation is very apparent when looking to the Rio Grande and noticing its low, and in some places, nonexistent water level.
“I think it’s highly likely that we will be running out of water sometime this summer,” said David Gensler, hydrologist for the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District.
A heavy monsoon season late this summer seems to be the only hope for farmers along the Rio Grande hoping to avert great losses in their cash crops and to avoid raising prices for business and consumers.
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PHOTO STORY: A Mother’s Day celebration at El Vado Motel
May 8Mother’s Day celebrations started early at El Vado Motel with the “In Her Mom Era” Mother’s Day Market, filling their courtyard with homegoods, food, jewelry and crafts from local businesses, on Saturday, May 2. The event welcomed all ages with free entry. For some guests, the market served as the perfect spot to spend a laidback day with family or find those special, last-minute gifts for Mother’s Day. Visitors had a variety of choices available for food and drinks, as the market hosted vendors with a matcha bar, pastries and michoacana snacks. Live music was performed throughout the market, by artists Anything But That Band and Gilbert Uribe, who are both local to Albuquerque. Lexis Lovato is a beat reporter at the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on X @lovatolexis
Union members gather for May Day on Civic Plaza
May 4Correction: The following quote was inaccurately attributed to Amy Hulshoff: 'We’re the ones that make the university run, we need the financial support to focus on our studies and doing the best jobs we can as students and as educators, because we really do love our university and we wanna be able to do the best job we can, and we can’t work if we can’t eat.' Samantha Higgins, not Hulshoff, said it. The error was made in editing. As hundreds of workers and members of local union organizations gathered on Civic Plaza, the trade union anthem “Soilidarity Forever” was sung before marching in recognition of International Workers Day, which falls every year on May 1. Among the union organizations present were the United Graduate Workers of the University of New Mexico and United Academics of UNM. UNM graduate students Mark Campbell and Samantha Higgins were tabling with UGW-UNM, and said their union was at the May Day event to show solidarity with other workers and asking community members to call on UNM interim provost Barbara Rodriguez to support their demands for higher wages. “Grad workers are a part of the working class community here in Albuquerque,” Campbell said. “Workers are what makes the city run, workers are what makes the world run, and so events like this are super important to show solidarity.” UNM PhD student Amy Hulshoff expressed frustration about her minimal salary raise over seven years with an increased workload, saying that her tuition-paying undergraduate students are being “ripped off,” in her introductory art class. “(My students) are supposedly paying the same that they would get from a tenured professor but they're getting this like, ‘half teacher,’ right?” Hulshoff said. Higgins said more financial support is needed for graduate workers to be able to focus on their studies and do the best they can as educators. "We’re the ones that make the university run, Higgins said. "We really do love our university and we wanna be able to do the best job we can, and we can’t work if we can’t eat.” Paloma Chapa is the multimedia editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at multimedia@dailylobo.com or on X @paloma_chapa88
PHOTOSTORY: Hundreds of birds find home in Albuquerque landscapes
May 4Albuquerque is home to many species of birds finding habitat across the city, whether they are nesting in the thousands of acres of public open space, finding shelter in the over 250 city park sites or making a home out of a city building or residential backyard. Over 300 bird species can be observed over the course of a year, according to Visit Albuquerque. Albuquerque invites both urban dwellers like mourning doves and wild birds like curved-billed thrashers and woodpeckers to coexist in the city’s diversity of landscapes. With the increasingly arid climate, bird baths provide relief for birds to drink water and bathe as they travel across expanses of urban landscape. Healthy soils provide habitat for insect life including earthworms, which birds hunt for food. Leila Chapa is the social media and photo editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at socialmedia@dailylobo.com or on X @lchapa06
