In the Hot Spring

In late July, 11-year-old Will Sellars went wakeboarding at a lake in Orlando. By early August he was dead. Now his parents have launched a public awareness campaign to warn others. Fourteen-year-old Aaron Evans of Arizona suffered a similar fate. At the start of September, he was a happy boy enjoying the late summer. By the end of the month, after a trip to Lake Havasu in Arizona, Aaron had also passed away.

The Centers For Disease Control said Will and Aaron died because of a killer water-borne amoeba known as naegleria fowleria. Health officials said the amoeba enters the body usually through the nose, mouth or ears when a person submerges their head in the water. The amoeba is able to penetrate the nasal mucosa and then infiltrate the nervous system and travel back to the brain.

River Otter

The state Department of Game and Fish, along with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and a private group called New Mexico Friends of River Otters, began working with Oregon to get otters for release in New Mexico.

But efforts to trap otters in Oregon were unsuccessful, delaying reintroduction. There have been no confirmed sightings of otters in New Mexico since 1953. Before then, otters had faced decades of trapping and loss of habitat.

Twenty states, including New Mexico’s neighbors of Arizona, Colorado and Utah, have successfully reintroduced the playful, semi-aquatic animals.

Steve Fuhlendorf

The Chamber’s board of directors had asked him to become interim executive director after the April resignation of Gayle Martinez. On October 16th, the board of directors of the Taos County Chamber of Commerce, in their infinite wisdom (indeed), decided to drop the “interim” off his title.

Beset by troubles in the past, the Taos County Chamber of Commerce has taken a bright new direction with the appointment of Mr. Fuhlendorf. He has solid relationships with members of the lodging, restaurant, entertainment, technology, retail, art, and outdoor recreation communities.