April 2022
We ended March with a visit from Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and members of her staff to see Castner Range first hand. Then, the first week of April, we received a wonderful letter that our U.S. Representative, Veronica Escobar, had just sent to President Joe Biden strongly urging him to designate Castner Range as a National Monument.
Later in the month (Saturday, the 16th), Castner Range had a strong presence at the annual NorthEaster Parade with our very own Dr. Richard Teschner as Grand Marshall, and Pastor Moses Borjas and 30 members of his Living Covenant Church taking part in the parade on a beautiful float. Be sure to check out those beautiful poppies in the image below!
April has been a whirlwind of events, presentations, guided hikes, and volunteer workdays. Because organizations and individuals think about our Earth throughout the month either in large scale terms or else by concentrating on their own backyards, we call the month of April “Earth Day Month”, and we love it!
We built new and strengthened existing partnerships throughout the month. Frontera partnered for the first time with Girl Scouts of the Desert Southwest to host an event called Girls Get Outdoors! We had over 100 participants. The guests that shared their expertise ranged from Franklin Mountain State Park, Hueco Tanks, 500 Women of Science, Insights, UTEP Collections, Texas Parks & Wildlife Urban Biologist, El Paso Electric Company, EP Water, Green Hope Project, along with several presentations by Frontera, and by a class at Cathedral High School who, with an Insights program, explained just how to make recycled bird feeders. The Girl Scouts learned about Mammals, scat, insects, reptiles, sensory, fire building, knot tying, solar power, habitat, water recycling, Women in Science, planting seeds, and making art with trash!
Among the other events that Frontera participated in was one at the El Paso Zoo where Frontera Board member Amy Wagler handed out desert willow trees to visitors. The zoo prepared instructions on how to plant the trees, which are native and therefore drought tolerant. In addition, Frontera hosted a table at the City of El Paso Environmental Services Earth Day, educating visitors about Castner Range.
As if all of that were not enough, Frontera was invited to be a guest speaker at the El Paso Neighborhood Coalition on the topic of Our Invaluable Legacy, where we spoke about Lost Dog, Knapp Land, Resler Canyon and Thunder Canyon. A local group, Progress 321, was led on a hike at Lost Dog. In addition, Helen of Troy volunteered to clean up the trash that people had thoughtlessly dumped in Lost Dog straight from their own backyards.
Frontera also co-hosted a hike at the Museum of Archeology, and participated in Ask an Expert for the City Nature Challenge. We then had a few days to catch our breath and prepare for UTEP Project Move and to host members of Girl Scout troop 64135 at Resler Canyon where they worked on the education trail as their service project. We also found time to participate in a podcast with the CEO of El Paso Electric Company, Kelly Tomblin.
