<![CDATA[Cloudcroft Reader]]>https://www.cloudcroftreader.comhttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!UtEJ!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffe732187-1289-4594-a42a-87929a2092db_1024x1024.pngCloudcroft Readerhttps://www.cloudcroftreader.comSubstackFri, 31 Jul 2026 07:25:04 GMT<![CDATA[New Mexico Department of Wildlife Removes Aggressive Cougar Near Cloudcroft]]>https://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/new-mexico-department-of-wildlifehttps://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/new-mexico-department-of-wildlifeFri, 31 Jul 2026 03:09:15 GMT

A mountain lion seen repeatedly in the vicinity of Osha Trail near Cloudcroft was shot and killed around 2 p.m. Sunday, July 26th, as confirmed by eyewitnesses and nearby village residents.

New Mexico Department of Wildlife Communications Director Darren Vaughan later told the Reader in response to an e-mail inquiry, “There were two separate incidents in which the cougar approached people in an aggressive manner. In the first incident, warning shots were fired to scare the cougar.”

“During the second incident, the cougar again aggressively approached a Department conservation officer. Department of Wildlife Conservation officers found no wrongdoing in the cougar’s removal,” he said.

Predator Country

Vaughan also added the following wildlife information:

“If you live in or visit predator country, follow these precautions to reduce your risk:

Avoid outdoor activities such as running or hiking at or around dawn and dusk, when predators are most active.

Supervise children when they are outdoors and keep them close when hiking.

Eliminate hiding places for predators. Remove enough vegetation to detect large predators in your yard and make it difficult for them to hide or approach unseen.

Enclose open spaces below porches and decks.

Install outside lighting (preferably motion sensors). Illuminate walking areas.

Avoid non-native shrubs and plants. These can attract prey that predators may follow.

A leash will help protect your pet and usually is required by law. Pets are easy prey. Bring pets inside at night. If they must stay outside, confine them in a kennel with a secure roof.

Do not feed pets outside. Pet food can attract predators and prey.

Store all garbage securely. Most predators will not cause damage and will move on if abundant food cannot be found.

When a predator detects your presence, it usually will leave the area before you know it’s there. Attacks are rare, and each situation is different and will depend on the predator, the terrain and how the people/person react(s). Though steadfast rules don’t often apply, these suggestions will reduce the risk of attack:

If you see a predator that hasn’t seen you, remain calm and leave the area. Talk loudly as you move away to make your presence known.

Stop and back away slowly while facing the predator if this can be done safely. Avoid direct eye contact. Do not run; this may stimulate the predator’s instinct to chase and attack. Allow the predator as much room as possible for it to leave.

Appear as large as possible. Raise your arms. If wearing a jacket, open it and raise it above your head. If with small children, pick them up to protect them and prevent panic and running.

Never approach a wild animal. Predators are unpredictable but will avoid confrontation unless forced.

Watch for young. Coming between a female and her young is dangerous. If a predator’s young are nearby, move away while remaining alert for other young and adults in the area.

Convince the predator you are not prey. If a predator approaches or behaves aggressively, arm yourself with a large stick, throw rocks or sticks and speak loudly and firmly. Convince the predator that you are dominant and a danger to it.

Fight back if a predator attacks. Fight aggressively and use any weapon available, such as rocks and sticks, a backpack, hat or jacket or your bare hands if necessary. “

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]]><![CDATA[Little J; Chef Change at Lodge; Budget Thursday; IRONMAN in Ruidoso; Bluegrass Photos, and More]]>https://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/little-j-chef-change-at-lodge-budgethttps://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/little-j-chef-change-at-lodge-budgetWed, 29 Jul 2026 14:38:39 GMT

Chef Lepree Leaves Lodge

Chef Richard Lepree resigned from the Lodge at Cloudcroft kitchen earlier this month. In March, the Reader featured Chef Lepree with a video interview and profile: https://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/video-a-kitchen-reborn-one-chefs

Sources in the know say that sous chef Caelan Bickel will move up to the lead position.

Coming Up: Thursday Night Budget Meeting

On Thursday, July 30, at 5 p.m., the Cloudcroft Village Council meets to make budget adjustments for fiscal year 2025-’26 and to approve the 2026-’27 final budget.

Bear witness in person at the village chambers, or tune in to YouTube: @CloudcroftNewMexico

Reader Reels: IRONMAN Comes to Ruidoso

Vivian Willett reports on the race and potential economic impacts.

Watch VIDEO

30 years of Bluegrass at Weed, NM (photos: Mitzi Baker)

Photo Essay: Weed Bluegrass Festival

The Weed, New Mexico, Community Center marked its 30th annual Bluegrass Festival on July 18-19, continuing a longstanding tradition that serves as the community’s primary fundraiser to keep the center open for public use, according to festival organizers.

Saturday’s festivities featured performances from five bands: Vintage and Blue Sky Country of Roswell, Old Time Radio of Ruidoso, Acoustic Gap of Albuquerque, and Capitan Gap Revisited of Colorado Springs.

Organizers added new indoor attractions this year, including a bouncy house, face painting, and vendors.

Sunday began with a short devotional followed by bluegrass gospel music. Organizers said the festival continues to bring together neighboring mountain residents for a shared celebration of music and connection.

View PHOTOS

Core Memories: U-Pick Apples Open July 31

Cadwallader Mountain Farms sits directly off Highway 82 between Cloudcroft and Alamogordo

Cadwallader Mountain Farms is throwing open the orchard gates on Friday, July 31.

Open Fridays through Sundays, 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m., with pricing that gets sweeter the more you pick: $2/lb for 1–10 lbs, $1.75/lb for 11–20 lbs, and $1.50/lb for 21–30 lbs.

Varieties will roll out through the season as they ripen, so it’s worth a repeat visit. Kids welcome (with supervision), comfy shoes recommended, and bring cash or check, no cards in this orchard.

Find Cadwallader Mountain Farms in High Rolls Mountain Park, and watch their Facebook for updates.

The Reader is proud to be sponsored in part by Off the Beaten Path:

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]]><![CDATA[VIDEO: A Second Life for Farm Animals: Little J Ranch]]>https://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/a-second-life-for-farm-animals-littlehttps://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/a-second-life-for-farm-animals-littleMon, 27 Jul 2026 20:12:09 GMT
Lorelei Jones guides a sheep to her shearing station, as Katie and Dave Agnew steady another behind her at Little J Ranch Farm Sanctuary east of Cloudcroft.

When Wilbur the potbelly pig arrived at Little J Ranch, he could only walk about ten feet before he had to stop.

“When we got him, he was severely overweight. His hooves were overgrown,” Katie Agnew said. “He could barely walk. He was very angry, aggressive, bitey, just not happy.”

Wilbur was surrendered to Agnew after his family moved away and left him behind.

Agnew has since put him on a diet and tracked down someone who could trim his hooves back. The pig she describes now is a different animal.

“He’s lost a lot of weight. He walks all over the pasture. He’s happy, he’s friendly,” she said. “You go outside and he runs up to you. That’s what’s so rewarding, seeing them come from such a bad place and getting them to a better place.

Wilbur is one of more than 150 animals at Little J Ranch, the farm sanctuary Agnew directs in the mountains a few miles east of Cloudcroft.

“We’re somewhere between 150 and 200 [animals] right now,” she said.

Chickens, ducks, quail, peacocks, cows, goats, pigs, sheep, donkeys, rabbits, dogs and cats. They all share the property which Agnew runs with her husband, Dave, and her two daughters, Lorelei and Dakota.

A Viral Start

The ranch’s success started, more or less, with a calf.

“Lola is our oldest Highland cow, and one of the first animals we got. She was pregnant when we got her,” Agnew said. “Hamish [was then born], a little fluffy, adorable little bull calf. That’s when I first started a Facebook page, just to showcase him. And it really blew up. People just loved him. That’s what got us some exposure, and from there we just kept going.”

The family was filling a void. Word spread about the ranch. Animals, and the people carrying them, came from surprising distances.

“We didn’t really have anything in this area when we started. Nothing at all,” Agnew said. “We’ve had people coming from Las Cruces, El Paso, Lubbock, as far as San Antonio.”

The family filed for 501(c)(3) nonprofit status, and now, Little J is a formal rescue. Many animals arrive the way Wilbur did, out of distressing situations. According to Agnew’s youngest daughter Dakota, one of the first animals that the ranch took in as a nonprofit was Daisy the pig.

“She used to be a house pig, until she started eating their baseboards. Then she had to go outside,” Dakota said.

Some animals stay for life. Others are adopted out.

“We’re pretty strict on the criteria,” Agnew said. “We just don’t want to put them back into bad situations.”

Keeping this many animals fed is the part the public rarely sees.

“In the beginning, we sold calves and we sold eggs. We only had maybe 25 animals, so that was sufficient,” Agnew said. “But people would see us on Facebook. Can you take our goat? Can you take our pig? Before you knew it, we had 100 animals.”

The feed bill now runs close to $16,000 a year. Nonprofit status changed the math.

“We have monthly sponsors who sponsor a specific animal, and we get a lot of grants,” she said. “It’s really made a huge difference.”

The community covers a good deal of the rest. Volunteers clean pens and help feed. Churches and Air Force personnel turn out for the big builds. The Cloudcroft Brewing Company drops off its spent grain for feed.

“It saves us from hay big time,” Agnew said. “It makes you know you’re doing the right thing, and that people see that.”

Raised on the Ranch

Her daughters have grown up inside the operation. Lorelei, who sits on the ranch’s board, designs the stickers and shirts, paints the acrylic animal artwork, and crafts the earrings that the sanctuary sells to fund itself.

“I’m pretty partial to the pigs. They’re like little dogs,” Lorelei said. “I bring my ukulele out sometimes and play music to them.”

The work has shaped how Lorelei sees the animals.

“Growing up with the animals, you just make best friends with them. They feel like family at this point. Each has a personality, and they make friends with each other based on personalities. You can click with certain ones differently. It’s cool.”

For Agnew, the visitors who drive in from across the region are part of the point, the children most of all. They leave, she hopes, learning a lesson.

“They learn why you don’t just take in every chick you see at Tractor Supply, because then they grow up and don’t have a place to go,” she said. “It’s not just a cute bunny or a cute chick or a cute pig. They grow. They require feed, they require care, they require time. It’s something you need to think about before getting the animal, instead of after.”

What Comes Next

What she wants next is room for expansion.

“In five years, we’re hoping to acquire more property so we can take in larger animals,” she said. “There’s a really big need, especially for elderly horses. For people that can’t ride them anymore.”

And the next generation already has plans of its own. Asked what she wants to do when she grows up, Dakota doesn’t hesitate. Her own rescue, she says.

“Not a farm animal rescue. Like a rodent rescue.”

She has grown up watching what saying yes to one animal can become. The pasture behind her held more than 150 of them, including Wilbur the potbelly pig, who now happily trots his way across the meadows.

From left, Dave and Katie Agnew, and Katie’s daughters Dakota and Lorelei Jones at the entrance to Little J Ranch Farm Sanctuary east of Cloudcroft.

The Reader is proud to be sponsored in part by The Stove and Spa Store:

Promote Your Business

Learn about sponsorship opportunities for your business in support of the Reader. Contact us for more information at sponsorship-info@cloudcroftreader.com

Cloudcroft Reader is proud to be sponsored in part by great companies like:

And, readers like you. Will you support our work?

I support local news

Dear Friends,

We are on a pledge drive to add 50 Cloudcroft Stars to the roster of supporters of the Cloudcroft Reader.

For the price of a sandwich a month, you can be a Cloudcroft Star and help keep fair, first-hand reporting free and widely available for the Cloudcroft community.

Until Labor Day, all pledges are matched dollar-for-dollar. If you support our work, now is a great time to show it.

Sign me up!

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]]><![CDATA[School Garden; Ski Cloudcroft Update; RECA Amendment Proposed; U-Pick Opens Soon, and More]]>https://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/school-garden-ski-cloudcroft-updatehttps://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/school-garden-ski-cloudcroft-updateWed, 22 Jul 2026 15:07:03 GMT

Ski Cloudcroft This Summer: Special Events Only

At last week’s Leadership Cloudcroft (LC) gathering, the folks at Ski Cloudcroft announced that they wouldn’t be firing up the pizza oven or summer tubing for regular hours.

Instead, the restaurant will open only for special events while the crew makes improvements and updates to the building, like installing new ski racks on the first floor.

Look for the Reader’s breakdown of the LC wells and springs tour, to be published soon.

Last week, Ski Cloudcroft hosted Leadership Cloudcroft after a tour of the village’s wells and springs. Michael Adams (right) delivered an update on the ski area’s plans for the summer and upcoming season.

Downwinders Push to Expand Nuclear Compensation Law

A bipartisan group in Congress, backed by advocate Tina Cordova of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium and Representative Gabe Vasquez, is pushing a bill to expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act — adding eligible downwinders in Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Montana, and Guam, raising the payout to $150,000, and extending the filing deadline for the program as a whole. Read more →

Core Memories: U-Pick Apples Open July 31

Cadwallader Mountain Farms sits directly off Highway 82 between Cloudcroft and Alamogordo

Cadwallader Mountain Farms is throwing open the orchard gates on Friday, July 31.

Open Fridays through Sundays, 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m., with pricing that gets sweeter the more you pick: $2/lb for 1–10 lbs, $1.75/lb for 11–20 lbs, and $1.50/lb for 21–30 lbs.

Varieties will roll out through the season as they ripen, so it’s worth a repeat visit. Kids welcome (with supervision), comfy shoes recommended, and bring cash or check, no cards in this orchard.

Find Cadwallader Mountain Farms in High Rolls Mountain Park, and watch their Facebook for updates.

Your Wednesday Review continues after this brief message. Summit Christian Fellowship celebrates 125 years on Sunday, July 26th:

Details: Sunday, July 26, 2026
10:00 AM Celebration Service and Fellowship Meal Following the Service
Summit Christian Fellowship on Burro Avenue in Cloudcroft (formerly First Baptist Church Cloudcroft)
• Special worship • Historic photos and memories • Testimonies from across the generations
• Fellowship meal • Family activities • A look toward the future God has for our church

From Pastor Larry Evans:

“For generations, many knew us as First Baptist Church Cloudcroft. Today, we continue that same mission as Summit Christian Fellowship, and we’d love for you to join us as we celebrate all that God has done through the life of this church.”

“Whether you attended years ago, grew up here, served in a ministry, were baptized here, or have recently connected with Summit, this celebration is for you. Come reconnect with old friends, share memories, and celebrate God’s faithfulness through 125 years of ministry.”

“We are grateful for the generations who have gone before us and excited for what God will continue to do in the years ahead. We hope you’ll join us for this special day of celebration!”

[Sponsored Content]

School News: This Week, Feeding Kids

Summer’s almost over—school starts back on Wednesday, August 5. High School registration begins tomorrow, Thursday, July 23 and 24, and Elementary and Middle School registration is on Friday, July 24.

Students can get their free sports physical at Trestle Medical Services today, Wednesday, July 22, between 12:30 and 4 p.m.

The Cloudcroft Municipal Schools Facebook page recently announced some good news:

”The Cloudcroft Municipal Schools is happy to announce that all students at Cloudcroft Elementary School, Cloudcroft Middle School, and Cloudcroft High School can get a free healthy breakfast and lunch at school during the 2026-2027 school year.”

“Under this program, participating schools serve breakfast and lunch to all children at no charge and help school administrators ensure that students receive nutritious meals.”

The Reader is proud to be sponsored in part by Instant Karma:

Promote Your Business

Learn about sponsorship opportunities for your business in support of the Reader. Contact us for more information at sponsorship-info@cloudcroftreader.com

Cloudcroft Reader is proud to be sponsored in part by great companies like:

And, readers like you. Will you support our work?

I support local news

Dear Friends,

We are on a pledge drive to add 50 Cloudcroft Stars to the roster of supporters of the Cloudcroft Reader.

For the price of a sandwich a month, you can be a Cloudcroft Star and help keep fair, first-hand reporting free and widely available for the Cloudcroft community.

Until Labor Day, all pledges are matched dollar-for-dollar. If you support our work, now is a great time to show it.

Sign me up!

Take me to the Monthly

Discover Cloudcroft:
Elevate Your Visit

www.DiscoverCloudcroft.com

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]]><![CDATA[VIDEO: A Garden, and Students, Grow at Cloudcroft Schools]]>https://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/video-a-garden-and-students-growhttps://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/video-a-garden-and-students-growSun, 19 Jul 2026 14:15:09 GMT
Cloudcroft Schools focus on student well-being through initiatives like the free summer Farm to Market program

On a bright morning behind Cloudcroft High School, students are working outside the school’s greenhouse.

Some are filling raised beds with soil. Others are digging holes along a walkway for young trees. One 9-year-old has appointed himself keeper of the hose, running it back and forth across the lot so the diggers can keep the ground soft.

This is Farm to Market, a free summer program for fifth through 12th graders that has kids at the school four days a week through the end of June.

It is run by Rachel Alm, the district’s wellness room and community engagement coordinator. She built the program this year out of a state grant.

The money came from a New Mexico Public Education Department initiative to create “wellness rooms,” quiet spaces inside schools where students can reset when they are stressed or in conflict before heading back to class. Principal Cody Skinner applied for the grant and won it, Alm said, but had not settled on how to use it.

Rachel Alm built the Farm to Market summer program out of a state wellness grant for the Cloudcroft school district.

Digging into Accessible Wellness

Alm, who came to the district with a background in school counseling and a strong interest in agriculture, created an indoor wellness room, but saw a chance to stretch the idea outdoors.

“I really believe that growing plants has a place in wellness, especially for students,” she said. “We’re lifting things, we’re digging things. We’re outside in the fresh air, we’re active.”

The indoor wellness room is full of plants and soft lighting, a space where students can decompress. The summer program extends that thinking into a working school garden.

Alm’s path to the job wound through medicine, nutrition and education. She sees Cloudcroft’s isolation as part of the program’s purpose.

“Our geographic location here in Cloudcroft does set us up to limit access to certain health resources,” she said. “All of the data really shows that that’s an area where we are limited here.”

The four weeks are built to grow. The first was construction, when students assembled a tool shed, raised beds and greenhouse benches.

The second is dirt, which includes filling garden beds, mixing potting soil and tending a classroom worm bin that turns kitchen scraps into compost. Week three turns to water, including gutters newly installed on the greenhouse to catch monsoon rain.

The final week is business, when students learn what it costs to grow food, how to price it and how to sell it.

Supply and Demand

The response from families was immediate.

Alm said registration filled so fast she split the day into morning and afternoon sessions and let students sign up one week at a time rather than commit to the whole month. Demand, she said, has spread mostly by word of mouth.

Each day starts inside with circle time and a talking piece, often a garden tool or an irrigation nozzle. Whoever holds it has the floor. Students go around saying how they feel and what they liked or disliked about the day before, then head up to the greenhouse, where, as Alm put it, there is always a plan and almost always a little chaos.

The students seem to be absorbing more than how to plant. Paxton, one of the enrolled kids, said he wants people to understand where food actually comes from.

“Clearly we didn’t just plant it,” he said. “We’ve been digging and filling and all that stuff all day, so it’s definitely a long process.”

Alm said the biggest surprise has been the students who arrived unsure whether they even liked gardening. Several told her on the first day they had never done it before.

“Now those are the leaders in my group,” she said. “They are the ones who are reaching for the hose and saying, hey, everybody, let’s go make sure that everything is watered.”

Growing Beyond this Summer

Her hope for the long term is a garden that touches every student in the district, not only the ones who sign up for summer or join her garden club. She imagines lunchroom scraps fed into a composting program and classrooms taking turns to water.

She is also looking for help for expanding what the program can offer. Building fencing tall enough to keep deer, elk, skunks and raccoons out of a high-elevation garden is, she said, no small job, and she would welcome a community work party.

Alm said that she wants students to walk away with an appreciation for what the earth can produce.

“I want them to take pride in their school and have that experience of nurturing and growing something,” she said. “Nobody will take that away from them.”

Dear Friends,

We are on a pledge drive to add 50 Cloudcroft Stars to the roster of supporters of the Cloudcroft Reader. For the price of a sandwich a month, you can be a Cloudcroft Star and help keep fair, first-hand reporting free and widely available for the Cloudcroft community.

Until Labor Day, all pledges are matched dollar-for-dollar. If you support our work, now is a great time to show it.

Sign me up!

Reports like this are made possible by the support of companies like Be in the Mountains Yoga & Massage Therapy:

Be in the Mountains Yoga & Massage Therapy now offers Ashiatsu Massage, as well as Yin, Vinyasa Flow, and Restorative Yoga. Located in the Village Plaza off James Canyon Highway.

Take me to the Monthly

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]]><![CDATA[Village Update; Endangered Species Act "Harm" Rescission; School Budget; Vaccine Clinic, and More ]]>https://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/village-update-endangered-specieshttps://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/village-update-endangered-speciesWed, 15 Jul 2026 15:18:55 GMT

Change to Endangered Species Act Rule: Russell Davis Reports

The Otero County Botanicals substack covers the rule change, as well as 28 public comments from Alamogordo and Tularosa.

Native Plants, and Nature, of Otero County, New Mexico
New Rule: Rescinding the Definition of “Harm” Under the Endangered Species Act
Today’s new rule removes, not changes, the definition of “harm,” established in 1975, from a bipartisan law congress passed in 1973 (53 years ago). It’s took almost 15 months since it was proposed, to process it, and to finalize it. The administration received 357k comments, but states that “…the Services do not believe that these reliance interests ove…
Read more
16 days ago · Russell Davis

Your Wednesday Review continues after this brief message. Thank you to our sponsor, Future Real Estate:

How's the Market?

Trestle Medical Services Student Vaccines and Physicals

Trestle Medical on James Canyon Highway announced a Walgreens immunization fair on Friday, July 17, from 1 to 4 p.m. There, they’ll have “all vaccines needed for school-age kids entering Kinder, 7th, and 12th grades as well as RSV and HPV vaccines.”

The clinic will also offer free sports physicals on Wednesday, July 22, from 12:30- 4 p.m. for all students; no insurance needed. If a parent isn’t present, a letter of consent will be required.

You do not have to be a patient to receive your shots or physical. Walk-ins accepted, or call to reserve a space: 575-682-1014.

Cloudcroft Celebrates Court Resurfacing with Cool Mountain Classic Pickleball Tournament

The PAC, Pickleball Addicts of Cloudcroft, presents The Cool Mountain Classic Tournament, July 17-19.

Join the PAC, Mayor Dusty Wiley, and Public Works Supervisor JJ Carrizal at a ribbon-cutting to celebrate the newly resurfaced public courts on Friday, July 17th at 4 pm in Zenith Park.

To sign up, go here: https://app.pickleballden.com/external-tournament/9656708

For registration, special local hotel rates, and other tournament updates, visit the Cloudcroft Pickleball Facebook page:

Cloudcroft Pickleball Facebook Page

The Reader is proud to be sponsored in part by The Lodge:

The Lodge at Cloudcroft is now open 7 days a week, and has Tacos on Tuesdays at Saint Andrews Bar.

Promote Your Business

Learn about sponsorship opportunities for your business in support of the Reader. Contact us for more information at sponsorship-info@cloudcroftreader.com

Cloudcroft Reader is proud to be sponsored in part by great companies like:

And, readers like you. Will you support our work?

I support local news

Dear Friends,

We are on a pledge drive to add 50 Cloudcroft Stars to the roster of supporters of the Cloudcroft Reader. For the price of a sandwich a month, you can be a Cloudcroft Star and help keep fair, first-hand reporting free and widely available for the Cloudcroft community.

Until Labor Day, all pledges are matched dollar-for-dollar. If you support our work, now is a great time to show it.

Sign me up!

Take me to the Monthly

Discover Cloudcroft:
Elevate Your Visit

www.DiscoverCloudcroft.com

Thanks for reading. Subscribe for free articles and newsletters like this, delivered directly to your inbox.

]]><![CDATA[Board Openings, Police Updates, and More at a Full Village Meeting]]>https://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/board-openings-police-updates-andhttps://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/board-openings-police-updates-andWed, 15 Jul 2026 14:10:34 GMT
Cloudcroft Light Opera Company folks Cindi Bradshaw (L) and Wells Vaiana (R) ask for changes in the lease to reflect the CLOC season at the July Council Meeting.

Last night’s July 14 Cloudcroft Village Council Meeting began with a packed agenda of department reports, public hearings, and nine discussion/action items, including hires, new positions, and lease renewals—all with a dozen of the usual village watchdogs in the audience.

Trustee Matt Willett joined by phone and video from out of town; Trustees Keith Hamilton, Gail McCoy, and Danny Hardwick sat behind the dais with Mayor Dusty Wiley, Clerk Jini Turri, and Attorney Zach Cook.

The Safety Report

Police Chief Roger Schoolcraft told the council that calls for service have climbed with the summer crowds: “We have taken almost 800 calls for service or public contacts… with traffic stops as well.”

He addressed a recent call in Mayhill:

“The significant arrest we had was a couple about a week ago, we had what was called in as a possible barricaded hostage crisis situation.”

“I went down to Mayhill and assisted the sheriff’s office and state police. My former employment was as a negotiator for about 15 years with the SWAT team, so we had a peaceful resolution of that.”

“We were able to get the young lady out of the vehicle and get [a man] taken into custody without anybody getting hurt. I think that was a real godsend,” he said.

The suspect was arrested on felony charges of making a shooting threat, DWI (driving while under the influence of liquor), negligent use of a deadly weapon (intoxication), and negligent use of a deadly weapon (discharge).

Schoolcraft credited the otherwise low incident count, despite record tourist numbers, to residents, law enforcement, and well-behaved visitors alike.

Library Numbers, Hire, and Open Seats

Library Director Sandra Barr reported daily patron counts in the high 30s and seven to eight new library cards per week.

Barr said 200-plus people passed through on the Fourth of July alone.

Trustees Hamilton, Hardwick, and Willett voted to formalize Trustee and Library Aide Gail McCoy’s role as a permanent part-time position. McCoy left the room and recused herself from the discussion and vote due to the conflict of her position on the council and her employment with the village.

Separately, Mayor Wiley announced four open seats on the Library Advisory Board, plus one each on the Lodger’s Tax Advisory Board and the Planning & Zoning Commission.

Residents interested in any of the three should contact the village and submit a letter of interest.

Promotions, New Positions

Barbara Garcia was appointed Deputy Clerk.

The council also approved a long-discussed Planning & Zoning Clerk and Code Enforcement Officer position at $19 per hour, to handle permits, non-compliance letters, and follow-up work, which Clerk Turri said has fallen through the cracks for years.

Propriety, Formalized

The council adopted its annual rules-of-procedure resolution, a housekeeping item made newly relevant by this year’s legislative session, according to Turri.

The same careful procedural process was followed in both variance hearings, including sworn testimony, cross-examination, and no ex parte contact, keeping neighbor-to-neighbor discussions on the record and out of the parking lot.

Tentative July 28 Special Meeting

The Cloudcroft Light Opera Company and Cloudcroft Fitness lease renewals both got pushed to the next scheduled meeting.

The council wants clean redlines in hand, not verbal edits, before it votes. Also on that agenda: the year-end budget. Turri is racing to get everything into the state’s system by the end of the month.

The next council meeting is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, July 28.

See you there.

Dear Friends,

We are on a pledge drive to add 50 Cloudcroft Stars to the roster of supporters of the Cloudcroft Reader. For the price of a sandwich a month, you can be a Cloudcroft Star and help keep fair, first-hand reporting free and widely available for the Cloudcroft community.

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]]><![CDATA[Cloudcroft Schools' June Board Meeting: Balanced Budget ]]>https://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/cloudcroft-schools-june-board-meetinghttps://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/cloudcroft-schools-june-board-meetingWed, 15 Jul 2026 13:59:31 GMT
Cloudcroft Schools talks finance at the June 2026 Board of Education meeting

Cloudcroft Schools will operate on a projected budget of $10,085,022.80 for the 2026-27 school year, following board approval at the June 16 meeting.

Finance Manager Lisa Royer presented the budget to Board President Lance Wright, who participated via video conference, along with board members Michele Anthony, Jeffrey Eigenmann, and Danny Ward.

Royer began with the state’s initial unit value, the per-student funding figure set by the New Mexico Public Education Department, which reached $7,117.10, the highest she has seen.

Projected revenue includes the district’s state equalization guarantee allocation of $8,161,342.26, down roughly $400,000 from the prior year due to declining student enrollment, plus estimated interest and donations, and a cash carryover balance, bringing total projected revenue to $10,085,022.80, matching expenditures exactly.

Tracking the Spend

More than half of expenditures, 56.56%, are directed toward direct instruction, covering teachers, educational assistants, textbooks, and classroom supplies.

An additional 15.80% supports student services including ancillary services, the school nurse, and counselors. Combined, those two categories account for nearly three-quarters of the total budget.

Other expenditures include maintenance and plant operations at 9.57%, central services at 6.58%, school administration at 5.06%, general administration at 3.52%, food service at 1.32%, student transportation at 1.26%, teacher professional development at 0.26%, and Medicaid state match at 0.07%.

Total salaries and benefits across all departments reached $6,416,891.21, representing 79% of the district’s SEG allocation. The SEG, or State Equalization Guarantee, is the primary state funding mechanism for New Mexico public schools.

Royer noted that insurance premiums rose significantly this year, with medical plan options up 9.95%, dental plans up 4%, and risk coverage increasing 16%. All employees will now receive 80% employer-covered health insurance, with employees contributing 20%.

Good Info

District budget documents, board meeting minutes, financial records, and other school information are available on the Cloudcroft Municipal Schools website, which is regularly updated. Parents can also access mental health resources, school menus, supply lists, and registration information through the site’s parent resources page.

Registration for the 2026-27 school year is July 24, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Cloudcroft Schools.

This report is derived from budget materials provided by Cloudcroft Schools, confirmed numbers from Finance Manager Lisa Royer, and Reader attendance at the June Board of Education meeting.

Reports like this are made possible by the support of companies like:

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Dear Friends,

We are on a pledge drive to add 50 Cloudcroft Stars to the roster of supporters of the Cloudcroft Reader. For the price of a sandwich a month, you can be a Cloudcroft Star and help keep fair, first-hand reporting free and widely available for the Cloudcroft community.

Until Labor Day, all pledges are matched dollar-for-dollar. If you support our work, now is a great time to show it.

Sign me up!

]]><![CDATA[Help Shine a Light on Cloudcroft]]>https://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/help-shine-a-light-on-cloudcrofthttps://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/help-shine-a-light-on-cloudcroftSun, 12 Jul 2026 23:03:10 GMT

The Reader is looking to add 50 new Cloudcroft Stars — monthly supporters — by Labor Day, September 7. And thanks to several generous local donors, every pledge is matched dollar-for-dollar for its first year.

A community runs on infrastructure: water in the pipes, power on the lines, roads you can trust. Knowing what’s happening in your village is no different. Local accountability journalism is how a town sees itself clearly and honestly. For three years, the Reader has done that work for the greater Cloudcroft community: factual, first-hand reporting, with no paywall and no junky ads. We don’t waste your time or clutter your inbox.

So, do you think the Reader is worth the price of one sandwich a month? That’s $10 a month — and every dollar for year one is doubled by the match.

Become a Cloudcroft Star

Your pledge directly supports local writers, photographers, artists, editors, and social media managers who live right here on the mountain. All locals. Bylines and faces you are familiar with. Not a corporate office. Not shareholders. Your neighbors — showing up, asking questions, and reporting what they find fairly.

Since 2023, we’ve tracked Cloudcroft’s budget, audits, and administrative turnover — and covered the water, fire, forest, school, election, and business stories that shape life on the mountain. No one else is doing this deep reporting. Your pledge keeps it going.

Also, as a Cloudcroft Star, you will receive a complimentary digital subscription to Mountain Monthly. With your permission, we will also recognize your support on our public thank-you roster, featured on our website and in our newsletters.

Sign me up!

The Reader will always remain free for everyone on the mountain — through email newsletters, online articles, and regular posts on the Facebook groups that serve our communities. We are also producing dozens of short video reels on social media that reach tens of thousands of people who are interested in the Cloudcroft area. We believe everyone should have free access to the local news. Your pledge is what makes that possible.

Your support is vital to our efforts, and we pledge our allegiance to you — our readers, friends, and supporters.

Thank you,

Chris Hearne and Hannah Dean

Count me in!

I want to join the Cloudcroft Stars.

]]><![CDATA[No Checkerspot; Cloudy's Market; Fourth of July Parade; Library Board and More ]]>https://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/no-checkerspot-cloudys-market-fourthhttps://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/no-checkerspot-cloudys-market-fourthWed, 08 Jul 2026 13:41:59 GMT

Your Wednesday Review continues after this brief message. Thank you to our sponsor, High Altitude:

This Saturday, July 11th, at 6 pm, your favorite little outdoor store on Burro celebrates its 30th anniversary with a block party. K-Cloud’s Kris Parks will MC the 90s-themed event. Grab your fanny pack—90s-wear is encouraged.

Grand Marshall Scott Powell Leads the Village’s 4th of July Parade

Public Works’ Scott Powell and JJ Carrizal celebrate the 4th of July in Cloudcroft (photo by Drew Gaines)

The Village’s Fourth of July parade down Burro Avenue in Cloudcroft featured Grand Marshal Scott Powell, the village’s wastewater operator and a public works employee for 30+ years, who retires this December.

Long-time observers say the 2026 parade was the biggest by far. Check out more scenes of the festivities with Contributing Editor Drew Gaines’s photo essay.

View PHOTOS

Cloudcroft Celebrates Court Resurfacing with Cool Mountain Classic Pickleball Tournament

The PAC, Pickleball Addicts of Cloudcroft, presents The Cool Mountain Classic Tournament, July 17-19.

Join the PAC, Mayor Dusty Wiley, and Public Works Supervisor JJ Carrizal at a ribbon-cutting to celebrate the newly resurfaced public courts on Friday, July 17th at 4 pm in Zenith Park.

To sign up, go here: https://app.pickleballden.com/external-tournament/9656708

For registration, special local hotel rates, and other tournament updates, visit the Cloudcroft Pickleball Facebook page:

Cloudcroft Pickleball Facebook Page

Library Board Meets This Thursday Evening

The Village Library Advisory Board holds its regular meeting at the village chambers this Thursday, July 9, at 5 p.m. View the agenda here: https://www.cloudcroftvillage.com/agenda-notice-meeting-of-the-library-advisory-board-thursday-july-9-2026-500-pm/

Leadership Cloudcroft Wells & Springs Tour

On July 17th, Leadership Cloudcroft is heading out at 9:30 a.m. for a guided look at the water infrastructure that keeps Cloudcroft running.

Public Works Supervisor JJ Carrizal and Water Operator David Hunter will lead the way, and the group will wrap up at Ski Cloudcroft for lunch and a preview of what’s coming this season on the mountain.

Spots are limited. To RSVP, email leadershipcloudcroft@cloudcroftreader.com.

The Reader is proud to be sponsored in part by The Elk Shed:

Promote Your Business

Learn about sponsorship opportunities for your business in support of the Reader. Contact us for more information at sponsorship-info@cloudcroftreader.com

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And, readers like you. Will you support our work?

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Elevate Your Visit

Plan My Cloudcroft Trip

Take me to the Monthly

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]]><![CDATA[Cloudy’s: The Store Cloudcroft Has Been Waiting For]]>https://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/cloudys-the-store-cloudcroft-hashttps://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/cloudys-the-store-cloudcroft-hasWed, 08 Jul 2026 12:45:58 GMT
The Kincaids bring fresh goods to their mountain market (Photo: Crystal Tompkins Photography)

Dewy red grapes glisten under the light of a tiered open-air refrigerator, surrounded by a luxurious display of rainbow bell peppers, jalepeños, and locally grown varieties of mushrooms, unaware of their status as very welcome guests on the mountain.

There are ribeyes and New York strip steaks, butchered in-house. Beautifully bottled olive oils, all-natural pastas and sauces, gluten-free cookies and pretzels, vegetarian staples, and specialty items you wouldn’t expect to find anywhere up the hill, let alone a short walk from your front door.

Welcome to the village’s newest addition: Cloudy’s Market.

Bre and Dylan Kincaid opened Cloudy’s in the heart of the village on May 1 after moving to Cloudcroft in October the previous year.

“There are so many times that I forget to get a jalapeño down the hill,” Dylan chuckles. “That’s what I’m ready for.”

For Cloudcroft, it’s been a long time coming.

There’s a former grocery store on James Canyon Highway that locals and regulars remember well. Before James Jackson filled it with his award-winning brisket, it was the Mountaintop Mercantile, a grocer, bakery, and sandwich counter at the center of town.

For years, the closest full grocery store was a round-trip of at least 30 miles down the mountain to Alamogordo. An hour in the car, minimum.

Now, we’ve got Cloudy’s. Less than two weeks after opening, the Kincaids say business is steady, and they are expanding their offerings.

Meet Your Neighborhood Grocers

Bre and Dylan spent 15 years in Houston, and for the last five of them, they were ready to leave. They looked at Tennessee, North Carolina, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, and Washington. They searched Zillow in places they’d never been, trying to map the shape of a life they could feel but couldn’t quite name.

“We always wanted mountains,” Bre says. “And smaller.”

Dylan had roots here — he lived in Cloudcroft for a time growing up, and it had always felt like home. His grandfather ran a Napa auto parts store on Burro Avenue, and some of Dylan’s clearest childhood memories are of running up and down the boardwalk with a handful of discarded keys.

When the opportunity finally came to move back last year, it felt like a homecoming. Cloudcroft, as Dylan puts it, “worked out better than expected.”

Back in Houston, they’d kicked around the concept of a small neighborhood bodega for years — their nearest HEB was only five miles away, but the traffic made it a 20- or 30-minute ordeal either way. They never found the right place or the right moment.

“I’m glad we did it here,” Dylan says.

The confirmation that Cloudcroft needed what they had in mind came before they’d even committed to the idea. On a scouting trip to the village to look at the house they hoped to buy, they took their dogs for a walk through the neighborhood.

One neighbor (now, a friend) stopped them on the street after noticing their Vizsla, Ivy, and mentioned how badly a grocery store was needed. Later that same day, chatting with folks at the grand opening of the Osha Trail Depot, another local said the same thing. Twice in one afternoon, without asking.

“We’re like, okay,” Dylan says. “Let’s do this.”

What Cloudy’s carries reflects what the Kincaids believe about food. “Whole food ingredients, responsible sourcing, things that are going to be good for you,” Bre says.

“We don’t want to price anyone out,” Dylan says, deliberately targeting a range comparable to what you’d find down in Alamogordo.

The Kincaids are excited about items that pique your curiosity.

Dylan hands a bag of shishito peppers “on the house” to some Sacramento Hotshots who come in to buy some salmon filets and an onion. He recommends blistering and serving them with a mayo-and-soy dipping sauce.

“We want to be somewhat of a discovery place,” Bre says, eying a bright pink, intentionally upside-down package of silky peanut butter with a cartoon pony on the label. Ingredients: organic peanuts and salt.

As for their plans? “We’ve got a two-year lease,” she laughs. “We’re here.”

Grab-and-go meals are in their future: salsas, sandwiches, things you can pick up on your way somewhere.

Farther out, they’re imagining ready-made items, take-and-bake dinners, and a deeper bench of locally sourced beef, produce, and anything else the Sacramento Mountains provide.

Bre also creates content as a photographer and videographer.

Cloudy’s has a growing social media presence, and they plan to publish cooking videos under the banner of “Cloudy’s Cooks,” walking viewers through how to use the things on the shelves. You can even follow the market on TikTok.

Cooking videos featuring Cloudy’s products are available online

Learning the Mountain

The first weeks of business have been a real-time education in the logistics of running a small mountain grocery. Getting distributors to route up the mountain is not a given. Some products arrive needing to be packaged in-house.

Sourcing eggs, good bread, and quality dairy from the right providers is still a work in progress. Neither of them frames it as hardship. It’s more like learning the terrain.

“Everything has its minor challenges,” Dylan says. “But the bigger picture, they’re really nothing.”

Since moving to Cloudcroft, the thing that has surprised them most is how steadily the village reminds them they made the right call.

“I feel like we’re reminded almost every single day in some small way,” Bre says. “That’s surprising to me. I didn’t expect that.”

Dylan doesn’t want to leave anymore. When they lived in Houston, they’d travel somewhere and he’d immediately start lobbying to move there. Now he doesn’t even want to go to Alamogordo.

“I just want to stay here,” he says. “This is where it feels right.”

Cloudy’s Market is open from 10 am to 6 pm, 7 days a week, on Mexican Avenue, next door to the Osha Trail Depot. Follow them on social media for hours, inventory updates, and whatever is coming next — including those cooking videos.

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]]><![CDATA[Still No Sign of Cloudcroft’s Vanishing Checkerspot Butterfly]]>https://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/still-no-sign-of-cloudcrofts-vanishinghttps://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/still-no-sign-of-cloudcrofts-vanishingWed, 08 Jul 2026 00:42:16 GMT
Dr. Quin Baine, a species survival specialist for invertebrates with the New Mexico BioPark Society, checks her net after a swing during the July 1 checkerspot survey in the Lincoln National Forest.

A team of researchers spent July 1 walking the high meadows near Cloudcroft in search of a butterfly that lives nowhere else on earth.

The Sacramento Mountains checkerspot butterfly, a subspecies whose name comes from the town it was first found near, has not been confirmed in the wild since 2022.

Once again, the team did not find it.

In May, the last individual held in captivity died at the Albuquerque BioPark, ending a years-long effort to rear the insect in a lab.

The subspecies was listed as federally endangered in 2023, despite warnings of decline since the late 1990s. With the captive line gone, the summer field searches are what the recovery effort has left, and the question hanging over each one is whether the butterfly still exists in the wild at all.

“We did not see the Sacramento Mountains checkerspot butterfly, but I did not have super high expectations that we would,” said Dr. Quin Baine, a species survival specialist for invertebrates at the New Mexico BioPark Society, who led the field work.

Wednesday’s search was one of several this summer, staffed by a few people each week from mid-June through the end of July.

How the Search Works

The work comes in two parts. Surveyors follow set routes through the meadows using a modified Pollard walk, a special butterfly population-monitoring and tracking method, to log every butterfly species they see within a fixed distance and net some for catch-and-release identification.

They also collect flower heads from the checkerspot’s preferred nectar plant for environmental DNA testing, which can detect traces of an animal from the places it has touched. The samples are kept cold and sent to a laboratory for sequencing.

This article continues after a brief message. Thank you to our sponsor, Cloudcroft Therapeutic Massage:

Even on a day when the checkerspot does not turn up, Baine said the survey has value, because documenting the other butterflies that fill these meadows builds a record of the ecosystem’s health.

“There’s so much value in documenting every other butterfly species that lives in these meadows, because this ecosystem supports a huge number of endemic butterflies and plants,” she said.

Long Odds

Baine was measured about what a single empty search means.

“One day doesn’t have that much meaning in and of itself,” she said, noting that a whole team is covering the mountains at different times through the summer. “But it doesn’t point toward an optimistic result.”

Pressed on whether the butterfly will be found this season, Baine said she thinks it is unlikely, but not impossible. Survey coverage has been inconsistent in recent years, and some meadows, including one walked on July 1, hadn’t been searched for two years.

“I am always suspicious that there are areas that are completely uncovered by survey effort and could be home to this butterfly still,” she said.

Thomas Bulger, a graduate student at the University of New Mexico who joined the survey, was blunter.

“I think it’s gone,” he said, though he was careful to note that a great deal of ground remains to cover before anyone could call it extinct. “The checkerspot is probably not an isolated incident. We have a lot of other endemics and more common stuff that might start appearing less frequently. And pollination is the basis of all this life we see around us.”

Bulger said he felt somber walking through a good habitat that no longer seems to hold the butterfly.

“You live on this giant sky island, where insects are here and only here.”

— Thomas Bulger

“For all the people of Cloudcroft, I think you should be really proud that you live in a place that’s unlike anywhere else in the world. You live on this giant sky island [where] insects are here and only here. That’s incredible. I think that’s natural heritage that you should be proud of, and is worth fighting for.”

Thomas Bulger, a University of New Mexico graduate student, works a meadow with his net during the July 1 survey, netting butterflies and other insects to identify and release.

A Warning

Why a single butterfly matters is a question Baine hears often. Her answer is that the checkerspot is a warning.

“If you care about the whole ecosystem, then we should care about any one of these individual species that is endemic and native and, for whatever reason, is disappearing.”

Baine said that one of the main drivers of the decline is the loss of winter snowpack.

The checkerspot’s caterpillars spend the winter nearly full-grown, tucked just beneath the soil, where their metabolism drops and they wait out the cold. Snow acts as an insulator, Baine said, holding that shallow soil at a steady temperature. With less snow, the caterpillars can warm too soon, burn through their energy stores, and starve before spring.

The threat is not the checkerspot’s alone. Baine said three other butterflies native to the Sacramento Mountains haven’t been seen in more than 20 years.

Baine holds a Capitan Mountains Northwestern fritillary during the survey. The local subspecies is endemic to the range, found nowhere else, which made the catch a notable find.

For residents, her ask is simple. Pay attention to what lives here.

“If you see a butterfly, maybe try and figure out what it is. You know, try and pay attention to who lives here, because we’re worried that everything might be declining and disappearing. And the more eyes we can have on this issue, the better. And the better we can figure out what the right method might be to meet everybody’s needs.”

The surveys continue through the end of July.

Watch Dr. Baine describe the search in this video report:

Watch VIDEO Report

The Reader is proud to be sponsored in part by great companies like Laughing Leaf :

Promote your business

Learn about sponsorship opportunities for your business in support of the Reader. Contact us for more information at sponsorship-info@cloudcroftreader.com

Cloudcroft Reader is proud to be sponsored in part by great companies like:

And, readers like you. Will you support our work?

I support local news

Subscribe to Cloudcroft Reader for free to have reports like this delivered straight to your inbox.

Subscribe now

]]><![CDATA[ICIP Priorities; US-54 Project; July Pickleball Tourney; Federal Report Details GPS-Jamming, and More]]>https://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/icip-priorities-us-54-project-julyhttps://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/icip-priorities-us-54-project-julyWed, 01 Jul 2026 20:01:24 GMT

US-54 Rehab Project Begins Monday

A $7.89 million pavement rehabilitation project on US Highway 54 between Tularosa and Carrizozo starts Monday, July 6, and is expected to run through early November.

The 10.7-mile project (milepost 96 to 107) includes a mill-and-inlay resurfacing, new rumble strips and guardrail. Mesa Verde Enterprises is the contractor.

Work runs weekdays, 7 a.m.-6 p.m., with lane closures in both directions for the duration. NMDOT advises drivers to expect delays and watch for crews.

Find updates at nmroads.com.

Cloudcroft Celebrates Court Resurfacing with Cool Mountain Classic Pickleball Tournament

The PAC, Pickleball Addicts of Cloudcroft, presents The Cool Mountain Classic Tournament, July 17-19.

Follow Cloudcroft Pickleball on Facebook for more info and registration for the tournament, going live soon.

Men’s advanced groups will play after a ribbon cutting at 4 p.m. on Friday, July 17, at the Zenith Park public courts.

On Saturday, the men’s and women’s doubles intermediate 50+ age categories kick things off at 8 a.m. The men’s/women’s doubles intermediate 18-49 age group takes the afternoon, and on Sunday at 8 a.m., the 50+ mixed doubles play, and the 18-49 group plays in the afternoon.

Cloudcroft Pickleball Facebook Page

Your Wednesday Review continues after this brief message. Thank you to our sponsor, Blushing Yucca Esthetics:

Video Report: Cloudcroft Art Society

The Mountain Monthly checked in with local artists of the Cloudcroft Art Society to talk about their work and the organization, which hosts holiday shows and exhibits in the public library cooperative gallery on Saturdays from 1-3 p.m.

Watch VIDEO report

Leadership Cloudcroft Wells & Springs Tour

On July 17th, Leadership Cloudcroft is heading out at 9:30 a.m. for a guided look at the water infrastructure that keeps Cloudcroft running.

Public Works Supervisor JJ Carrizal and Water Operator David Hunter will lead the way, and the group will wrap up at Ski Cloudcroft for lunch and a preview of what’s coming this season on the mountain.

Spots are limited. To RSVP, email leadershipcloudcroft@cloudcroftreader.com.

The Reader is proud to be sponsored in part by Noisy Water Winery:

Promote Your Business

Learn about sponsorship opportunities for your business in support of the Reader. Contact us for more information at sponsorship-info@cloudcroftreader.com

Cloudcroft Reader is proud to be sponsored in part by great companies like:

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I support local news

Discover Cloudcroft:
Elevate Your Visit

Plan My Cloudcroft Trip

Take me to the Monthly

Thanks for reading. Subscribe for free articles and newsletters just like this, direct to your inbox.

]]><![CDATA[Wastewater Treatment Plant Number One: Council Sets Five-Year Infrastructure Funding List]]>https://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/wastewater-treatment-plant-numberhttps://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/wastewater-treatment-plant-numberWed, 01 Jul 2026 18:44:13 GMT
The village sets their capital funding request priorities now through 2032.

The Cloudcroft Village Council voted unanimously on Thursday, June 25, to adopt a six-project Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan (ICIP) for fiscal years 2028 through 2032, ranking water and sewer system replacement as the village’s top funding priority.

The ICIP is a five-year planning document that municipalities use to help request state and federal capital outlay funding.

A project’s placement on the list doesn’t necessarily reflect the village’s top priority; it signals where the village needs outside funding help.

The Ranking

The council approved Resolution 2026-19 with the following priority order:

1. Water and sewer infrastructure replacement project, a package wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), estimated at $15 million

Mayor Dusty Wiley later told the Reader about the project:

“That’s the wastewater package plant. That’s the whole plant. It’s brand new, out of the box.”

“That’s the one that, I think, in either September or December, they’re supposed to have just the engineering done on it. And so once we have that, our next step would be hopefully—the state, whoever it is—says, yeah, that’s good.”

“They give us whatever they give us, then we have to go out to the Water Trust Board, and that’s who has real money, and see if we can get money from them. And if they believe in trusting us to get it done.”

“Usually, there's going to be matches. And then we'll have to find other grants that will allow us to use them as part of our match to make that money. I mean, there's no way a small village like us can come up with that kind of money.”

Wiley then described phasing out the oldest part of the WWTP and relying on the newer membrane bioreactor (MBR) filter system, which is “20-30 years old,” while the brand-new system would be brought online.

The $15 million water and sewer ask would be for the WWTP project, not for existing water and sewer pipes or other infrastructure in the village, according to Wiley.

2. New water storage tank, intended to add holding capacity ahead of high-use tourism seasons

3. Purchase of property for a parking lot

4. Pedestrian bridge and crosswalk

5. Community center and public library renovations

6. Road improvements

Trustees Keith Hamilton, Danny Hardwick, Matt Willett, and Gail McCoy unanimously approved the list.

Clerk Jini Turri explained that ICIP placement carries real weight with certain funding agencies.

The council also considered an informal rule requiring ICIP projects to have a useful life of at least 10 years. That standard shaped the debate over road improvements, which dropped to the bottom of the list.

The Water Table(d)

The council ranked a new water storage tank second on the infrastructure funding request list to increase holding capacity for busy weekends in Cloudcroft.

In recent years, the village has had to haul water when production didn’t meet demand, whether due to usage or leaks. Read more on that here: https://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/water-coverage

The council discussed water rights and drilling at length. Trustee Hamilton said, “We have the water rights. We just don’t have the land to drill.”

Turri added, “I remember what I saw in the past was the purchase of property for a water well, and all the studies that we had showed that the table was very low in all the places that we looked. I think that’s probably a huge project that would need to be researched and brought back to the table.”

Mayor Dusty Wiley said, “But the property way outside of Cloudcroft didn’t have water. Then you’d be trucking the water yourself. Have to have water trucks and haul it up to here because you’re not going to be able to afford water lines.”

Watch the full water discussion at the Village YouTube livestream archive, @CloudcroftNewMexico.

Gaining Purchase: Parking, Pedestrian Bridge, Wastewater Treatment Plant

The council ranked the purchase of the parking lot property ahead of a pedestrian bridge project.

The plan is to create a parking lot across Highway 82 on already-village-owned land and connect the lot to Burro Avenue via a pedestrian bridge.

Willett, who serves as chair of the Parks and Recreation advisory board, said he plans to resume talks with the Sacramento Mountains Foundation grant writer to seek funding for the community project, now that “our ducks are in a row.”

“In regard to the bridge, I mean that’s 13.5 acres. Whatever happens with expansion, whether it’s a community center or rec center or parking, restroom, extra parks, that 13.5 could handle all of that.”

“And the bridge, we wouldn’t have to have it, but it sure makes it a whole lot safer, and it gives people an excuse to utilize that, and then walk over and clear up some of the congestion downtown,” Willett said.

Turri clarified that, for this discussion, a property acquisition listed for parking wouldn’t require the council to specify a site in advance.

In the discussion of land purchases, Turri informed the council that the village was “in the final stages of that purchase” regarding the Lincoln National Forest parcel on which the wastewater treatment plant sits.

Read more about that spend here: https://www.cloudcroftreader.com/i/194626744/no-manual-no-permit-no-land

Staff Changes, Proper Procedures

The council voted unanimously to promote Barbara Garcia from administrative assistant to finance clerk, with a $3-per-hour raise.

Mayor Wiley said the raise is offset by savings from the resignation of former Finance Director Sylvia Hall, whose position will not be refilled.

Turri explained that Cloudcroft’s size has never supported a full-time finance director role, and that the village will continue operating with a single finance clerk position.

“Historically, the Village of Cloudcroft has always had a finance clerk. Barbara has the years of local government experience. And, the finance department only requires one position, a finance clerk.” Turri said.

Wiley told the board that a recent parliamentary procedure training that he and Trustee Hardwick attended revealed the council hasn’t been following proper motion protocol. Starting next month, a formal resolution will require that all main motions be seconded before any board discussion can begin, and only one main motion may be on the floor at a time.

He also clarified two commonly confused procedural terms: a motion to “postpone” pushes an item to the next regularly scheduled meeting, while a motion to “table” simply sets an item aside within the same meeting, to be revisited before adjournment.

What Didn’t Make the Cut

A proposal by Public Works Supervisor JJ Carrizal to add highway dumpsters and a village-operated dump truck was removed entirely from the list, rather than ranked lower.

Carrizal’s plan was to purchase a village truck to help offset the overloaded dumpsters during high-traffic weekends, which frequently spill over.

He told the Reader that the public works crew, who all hold CDL licenses, could empty the full dumpsters and containers in Cloudcroft until their truck is full and make occasional trips to the basin dump, in addition to the garbage service currently contracted through Southwest Disposal.

Carrizal said, “We wouldn’t hire anyone; it would be all in-house.”

Trustee Willett said, “The problem lies in the three-day weekends when [Southwest Disposal] doesn’t do the Monday dump.”

After the board’s discussion, the trustees cited both cost and logistics to remove the item from the list.

Elevation Park improvements, floated earlier in the meeting as a potential addition, were held for next year’s ICIP cycle instead. The board didn’t have firm cost estimates in hand.

What’s Up Next

Today’s Lodger’s Tax Advisory Board meeting was canceled. Here are other July village meetings:

  • Monday, July 6, at 6 p.m., the Parks & Recreation advisory board meets at the village chambers.

  • Tuesday, July 7, at 9:30 a.m., the Planning & Zoning Commission has a workshop plus their regular meeting, also at the village chambers.

  • Wednesday, July 8, at 6:30 p.m., the Fire/EMS Board meets at the Fire Station at 1100 James Canyon Highway.

  • Tuesday, July 14, at 6 p.m., the Village Council holds its regular meeting at the village chambers.

See you there.

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]]><![CDATA[Art From the Dark: Ayla Yarbrough at Carlsbad Caverns]]>https://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/art-from-the-dark-ayla-yarbroughhttps://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/art-from-the-dark-ayla-yarbroughSun, 28 Jun 2026 13:24:28 GMT
Yarbrough’s many chapters: growing up in Cloudcroft, keeping the library open, and now completing an artist’s residency at a National Park.

For three summer weeks, Ayla Yarbrough watched a million bats pour out of a hole in the ground each evening.

“That’s my favorite part of being there,” said Yarbrough, 19, who grew up in Cloudcroft and just completed the artist residency at Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

“I’ve loved it since I was a kid. I grew up going to Carlsbad Caverns, and we visited so many times. It was nice to be there and see it through a different lens.”

Yarbrough’s previous body of work, paintings of sometimes-dead birds and flora, carries the precision of Audubon illustrations. Closely observed, taxonomically faithful, and arranged with the spare elegance of fine china patterns, negative space does as much work as the subject.

She came home from the Caverns with something new: landscape.

The park kept one of those paintings.

“They don’t have it on display right now,” Yarbrough said, “but they eventually hope to have a wall dedicated to all the different artwork throughout the program.”

Living in the Park

Cloudcroft readers may know Yarbrough from the Michael Nivison Public Library, where she helped keep the doors open and the summer program running during a difficult stretch of staff turnover in recent years.

She reached out to Carlsbad Caverns in January after a family visit the summer before.

The program accepted her for a three-week stay at a cabin on park property, a studio in the visitor center, and five or six hours of painting each day in front of visitors who wandered through.

“It was my first time painting in front of that many people,” she said. “It was one of my favorite parts — getting to paint while people watched me paint. That was definitely new for me.”

Before leaving, she led a one-time watercolor postcard workshop for park visitors.

According to Yarbrough, the residency program itself is young. Carlsbad Caverns now brings in new artists every three weeks from May through October across media: painters, photographers, and sculptors.

Conservation and Creation

Yarbrough’s path to conservation biology runs straight through Cloudcroft. She grew up hiking and camping with her family, drawing wildlife as far back as she can remember.

“It’s something I’ve known I wanted to major in since I was 13 or 14,” she said.

In Fort Collins, Yarbrough finished her freshman year at Colorado State University (CSU), where she’s majoring in fish and wildlife conservation biology and eyeing a possible education minor.

The two pursuits, science and painting, aren’t in tension for her.

“I want to paint these animals that maybe don’t get as much recognition.”

— Ayla Yarbrough

“I think a lot of people assumed I was going to go to art school,” she said, “and it threw some of my family off when I didn’t. But for me, my artwork directly shows people why conservation is important. That’s my goal with some of my work. I want to paint these animals that maybe don’t get as much recognition.”

This spring, she was also part of CSU’s Engage Scholars program, doing community conservation projects in the Fort Collins area, including planting trees in Rocky Mountain National Park. That experience, she said, pointed her back toward the Caverns residency, illustrating the value of meeting people doing real park work and getting a foot in the door.

She returns to Colorado State in August.

She said of the residency, “It gave me something to look forward to. It really made me love it out there.”

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]]><![CDATA[Community Brings Flight Nurse Sarah Clark Home; Federal Report Details GPS Jamming in Fatal Crash]]>https://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/community-brings-flight-nurse-sarahhttps://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/community-brings-flight-nurse-sarahThu, 25 Jun 2026 17:26:53 GMT
Suppression efforts for the Seven Cabins Fire (photo: Southwest Area Incident Management Team 1 Facebook Page)

Otero County Emergency Services brought flight nurse Sarah Clark home on Wednesday evening.

A procession returned from Albuquerque to Alamogordo and traveled along Scenic Drive to Scenic Chapel at around 5 p.m. The public lined the route to pay their respects.

Clark, an Alamogordo-area native and daughter of Otero County Emergency Manager Matt Clark, was one of four killed when a medical flight crashed into the Capitan Mountains on May 14.

A public memorial service for all four crew members is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 27, at Grace Community Church in Roswell. The operators, Trans Aero MedEvac and Generation Jets, have invited the public to attend.

The Report

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released its preliminary report on the crash, describing the medical flight losing GPS navigation amid active military jamming before striking the Capitan Mountains.

According to the NTSB, probable cause will be determined in a final report. The agency says it can take one to two years to complete.

According to the June 17 report, the crew’s preflight briefing materials included a notice to airmen, or NOTAM, warning that military GPS jamming was scheduled during the flight and would cover the area and altitudes the airplane was set to fly.

The Beech C90, operated by Generation Jets as an air ambulance, departed Roswell Air Center about 11:52 p.m. on May 13, bound for Sierra Blanca Regional Airport near Ruidoso to pick up a patient for transport to Albuquerque.

During the initial climb, the crew told air traffic controllers they had lost GPS capability. Controllers asked the military to stop the jamming and began guiding the airplane.

The crew reported having “a visual on Ruidoso” and were cleared for a visual approach. At about 12:10 a.m., after the airplane was established on that approach, a controller’s supervisor told the military it could resume jamming.

Over the next five minutes, the airplane descended toward the airport, then climbed slightly in the final seconds of recorded data before striking the Capitan Mountains at about 9,950 feet, roughly 14 miles northeast of the airport.

Along with Sarah Clark, those killed were pilots Keelan Clark and Ali Kawsara and flight nurse Jamie Novick. There were no patients aboard.

The report notes that three other aircraft in the area that night also reported losing GPS, and that one needed extra help from controllers to navigate.

What’s Known, and What’s Next

A White Sands Missile Range GPS testing advisory was in effect over the area at the time, and the NTSB report confirms that military jamming was active during the flight.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had warned pilots before the flight that GPS could be unreliable in the area. According to an FAA flight advisory for the White Sands Missile Range, GPS testing scheduled May 12 through May 18 could make signals unreliable or unavailable within a 366-nautical-mile radius.

Asked about the report, Army spokesperson Ellen Lovett said in a statement that the Army is aware of its release but cannot comment while the incident remains under investigation.

The crash ignited the Seven Cabins Fire, which burned 31,860 acres in the Capitan Mountains Wilderness before fire crews fully contained the blaze. No structures were reported destroyed, and no injuries or deaths were reported beyond the four flight crew members.

The Reader will continue to follow the investigation. The full preliminary report is available at the NTSB website under accident number WPR26FA186.

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]]><![CDATA[Timberon Pool Closed, Water Woes; Cloudcroft H2O Quality Report, and More ]]>https://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/timberon-pool-closed-water-woes-cloudcrofthttps://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/timberon-pool-closed-water-woes-cloudcroftWed, 24 Jun 2026 18:47:51 GMT

Open to Public: NM National Forests Seeks Advisors

Have you ever wanted to tell federal entities how to spend money?

Otero County residents have an opportunity to help direct federal funding for local public lands projects through the Southern New Mexico Resource Advisory Committee, which the Gila, Lincoln and Cibola national forests are now seeking to fill.

The committee recommends how counties, including Otero and Lincoln, spend Secure Rural Schools Act Title II funds within the three national forests.

Work eligible for funding includes trail and road improvements, watershed restoration, weed control and campground infrastructure.

The committee will include 9 to 15 volunteer members serving four-year terms. Quarterly meetings are held in person or virtually, with travel reimbursed. Members are drawn from three interest categories: land use and resource industries, environmental and wildlife interests, and elected officials and the public.

Applicants must be New Mexico residents. To apply or learn more, contact Nathaniel Marquard at 575-388-8267 or SM.FS.SouthernNM.RAC@usda.gov.

Your Wednesday Review continues after this brief message. Thank you to our sponsor, The Lodge:

Reader Reels: Shady Pines Chamber Players

The Shady Pines Chamber Players brought 9 cellists to play in the round at Cloudcroft High School’s commons on Saturday, June 20. Find the group on Facebook and YouTube for the rest of their Season 14 events, all free to the public.

Watch VIDEO

Leadership Cloudcroft Wells & Springs Tour

On July 17th, Leadership Cloudcroft is heading out at 9:30 a.m. for a guided look at the water infrastructure that keeps Cloudcroft running.

Public Works Supervisor JJ Carrizal and Water Operator David Hunter will lead the way, and the group will wrap up at Ski Cloudcroft for lunch and a preview of what’s coming this season on the mountain.

Spots are limited. To RSVP, email leadershipcloudcroft@cloudcroftreader.com.

The Reader is proud to be sponsored in part by the Osha Trail Depot:

Promote Your Business

Learn about sponsorship opportunities for your business in support of the Reader. Contact us for more information at sponsorship-info@cloudcroftreader.com

Cloudcroft Reader is proud to be sponsored in part by great companies like:

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I support local news

Discover Cloudcroft:
Elevate Your Visit

Plan My Cloudcroft Trip

Take me to the Monthly

Thanks for reading. Subscribe for free articles and newsletters just like this, direct to your inbox.

]]><![CDATA[Boil Advisories, Costs, Aging System: Timberon’s Water District Woes ]]>https://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/boil-advisories-costs-aging-systemhttps://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/boil-advisories-costs-aging-systemTue, 23 Jun 2026 13:49:48 GMT
TheTimberon Water and Sanitation District board decided not to open the public pool this summer.

Every year, the Timberon pool opens for the public to enjoy. This summer, it sits empty. No lifeguards have been hired, no certified pool operators scheduled.

The gates are locked, and the reason goes much deeper than the swimming pool itself.

The decision surfaced at the Timberon Water and Sanitation District’s (TWSD) May 12 board meeting. According to the meeting minutes, district leadership reported that the Timberon Development Council was working toward opening the pool “for next season,” not this one.

The water district that owns it is fighting to keep a 50-year-old system running.

District Under Strain

Residents report water outages for stretches at a time.

On June 8, the district issued a precautionary boil-water advisory following a weekend tank drain, and another on June 16. The advisories warn that a drop in pressure could raise the risk of contamination, though none was detected, according to the posting on the TWSD website.

According to the 2020 census, Timberon is home to roughly 345 people. Scattered across the Sacramento Mountains in Otero County, it’s a small community by design, a place where people come to retire, hunt, or get away.

The swimming pool has long been one of the district's amenities that brings visitors in, deeded to the Timberon Property Owners’ Association in 1975.

“It’s a great draw for us,” said Otis Price, the district’s board chairman. “A lot of people come from Cloudcroft and the surrounding areas to use it.”

Price said the pool cost about $30,000 to operate last summer and brought in roughly $3,500 in revenue, a $26,500 loss.

“We were overwhelmed with the task in front of us, and then the finances to allow the pool to open,” Price said.

The Timberon Development Council, a separate community organization, is now working on fundraising and programs that might make reopening possible next year.

A Failing System, Decades Old

Price said that the water lines beneath Timberon are breaking faster than crews can fix them.

“Last month, I think we had close to 50 pipe breaks, in a hundred miles of pipe. Our guys are working around the clock seven days a week, just repairing the pipe leaks,” he said. “The water system was constructed approximately 50 years ago with inferior materials. Now it’s really failing exponentially.”

Price said the district can finally chase grant money again after getting its audits and inventory systems back in order. He said the district recently applied for funding, and was awarded a Colonias infrastructure grant. According to the May 12 minutes, that Colonias award came in at $367,000.

Price said additional, larger infrastructure requests are pending. But grants take time, and the pipes are failing now.

“We haven’t been getting the grants we needed. The structure wasn’t in place until Wendy [Case] and I started … We’re getting our audits in place so now we can start applying for new grants.”

Wendy Case, the district’s general manager, declined an interview request.

A Fight Over Fees

In a December 2010 order approving an emergency rate increase (Case No. 10-00366-UT), the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (PRC) documented roughly $275,000 in past-due standby accounts, with about 20 percent of those customers behind on payments. In the same order, the commission warned that district management might not have the experience to overcome what it called years of mismanagement and neglect.

Unlike incorporated municipalities such as Cloudcroft, Timberon is an unincorporated community.

Under New Mexico law, only municipalities can levy local gross receipts taxes. In unincorporated areas, that revenue flows to the state and county. That leaves the district dependent largely on water fees and property taxes.

Bill Eakes, a Timberon homeowner who said he spent more than three decades in banking and corporate crisis management, said that Timberon is in trouble.

“At my last meeting, I made the statement that this town and this water company are literally in a death spiral. And there was probably 15 people in the room, and not one of them objected to that statement,” Eakes said.

His central recommendation is professional help, a turnaround consultant, or what he calls a crisis manager. He also wants the district to separate water from everything else and win a legislative exception that would let Timberon incorporate, opening the door to the recurring tax revenue it can’t collect now.

But Eakes said that much of the village has simply lost faith after watching board after board fail to fix decades-old problems.

“If Timberon would have been a normal water association, I think they would have been able to do fine,” he said.

Some residents place part of the blame on the district’s operation and levying of fees.

In 2012, after a court order cut the district’s property tax revenue, the board created a “facilities and services charge.” The charge is a flat annual fee assessed per lot to help fund the pool, roads, parks, and cemetery.

In March, Michael Gonzalez, a former TWSD board member, filed a formal complaint with the PRC challenging that fee. He argues the district has no authority to charge property owners for services beyond water and sanitation, and that it never obtained the state approval he contends the fee requires.

Timberon resident Noreen Gonzalez stopped paying the facilities and services charge in 2019 and is awaiting a commission decision.

His wife, Noreen Gonzalez, spoke with the Reader on the family’s behalf and said the couple stopped paying the fee in 2019 and is waiting on the commission to rule.

“For six years they didn’t even follow their resolution,” she said. “They just kept charging people.”

“If it’s found out to be that this fee is lawful, we will pay it,” she said. “It’s enjoyable for the people to use these facilities if they choose to. I’ve never seen where it’s mandated that you pay for a service that you may or may not use. You, coming from Cloudcroft can pay $5 to go to the pool. Me, being a resident and living here, I have to pay this [fee] per lot that I own, plus I have to pay to use these facilities. And I don’t think that’s fair.”

The district’s answer to the complaint is due before the commission later this summer.

“It is legal,” Price said. “There’s one lawsuit that’s been going on for years that we’re about to end. You look on our website, it has an explanation of what that is, and it has the documentation of what makes it legal.”

“Pay your bills. I mean, if they didn’t pay their taxes here in the county, it would go up for auction. It’s a utility thing,” Treasurer Josh McCurdy said. “This place has definitely been a shambles at some point. I really don’t care what happened in the past. I’m looking to the future just to try to improve it.”

“New Mexico is making good money off the cannabis taxes, the oil,” he said, “But a lot of that money just goes to Santa Fe and Albuquerque and gets spent, and everybody south of Socorro feels like stepchildren.”

At its June 9 meeting, the board approved a series of standby property liens and directed its attorney to review the district’s collection policy, including options for foreclosure on properties with existing liens.

Director Jesse Duckett said more than 200 properties are now eligible for foreclosure over unpaid standby fees, a charge separate from the facilities fee the Gonzalezes are contesting.

The Gonzalezes’ complaint over the facilities fee remains before the PRC. Meanwhile, the pipes keep breaking, and the money to replace them has not yet arrived.

The board is also down a member, with Vice Chair Caleb Flora resigning June 17. The district has 30 days to appoint a replacement.

Price framed the moment as a difficult chapter rather than an ending.

“Timberon, we’re starting to come back. But right now the system is failing faster than ever,” he said. “We’ve still got some dark times to go through until it gets back to normal.”

The pool, for now, stays closed, with hopes of opening next summer.

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]]><![CDATA[Village of Cloudcroft Releases Annual Water Quality Report]]>https://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/village-of-cloudcroft-releases-annualhttps://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/village-of-cloudcroft-releases-annualFri, 19 Jun 2026 13:34:42 GMT
What’s in your water? Find out.

The Village of Cloudcroft has published its annual Consumer Confidence Report, a federally required summary of your drinking water sources, quality test results, and any detected contaminants from the past year.

Read the full report below.

2026 06 02 Ced Wpceb Cloudcroft Ws Ccr Final 2025 1
175KB ∙ PDF file
Download
Download

Questions? Contact the village office by calling (575) 682-2411.

Subscribe to the Cloudcroft Reader for reports like these, sent directly to your inbox.

]]><![CDATA[Forest Service Wants Your Advice; New Biz on Burro; Alan Hale Honored by NYT, and More]]>https://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/forest-service-wants-your-advicehttps://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/forest-service-wants-your-adviceWed, 17 Jun 2026 13:38:23 GMT
Lincoln National Forest employees Jorden Scott (L) and Joe Kimble (R) tour a recently RX-burned campsite

Open to Public: NM National Forests Seeks Advisors

Have you ever wanted to tell federal entities how to spend money?

Otero County residents have an opportunity to help direct federal funding for local public lands projects through the Southern New Mexico Resource Advisory Committee, which the Gila, Lincoln and Cibola national forests are now seeking to fill.

The committee recommends how counties, including Otero and Lincoln, spend Secure Rural Schools Act Title II funds within the three national forests.

Work eligible for funding includes trail and road improvements, watershed restoration, weed control and campground infrastructure.

The committee will include 9 to 15 volunteer members serving four-year terms. Quarterly meetings are held in person or virtually, with travel reimbursed. Members are drawn from three interest categories: land use and resource industries, environmental and wildlife interests, and elected officials and the public.

Applicants must be New Mexico residents. To apply or learn more, contact Nathaniel Marquard at 575-388-8267 or SM.FS.SouthernNM.RAC@usda.gov.

Cloudcroft's Alan Hale, Co-Discoverer of Comet Hale-Bopp, Dies at 68

Hale, who made his famous discovery from his Cloudcroft driveway one night in 1995, passed away June 6 at his home here.

The New York Times ran his obituary this week, recognizing him as one of the most celebrated amateur-turned-professional astronomers of the modern era.

Read it here: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/11/science/space/alan-hale-dead.html

Shady Pines Chamber Players: This Saturday in the Round

Rails-to-Trails Seeks Volunteers

The New Mexico Rails-to-Trails Association is looking for 8 to 10 volunteers to help with trail maintenance on the Switchback Trail this Saturday, June 20, from 9 a.m. to noon.

Work will include brushing and general maintenance, removing fallen trees from the trail, and installing flags on the Harkey Pedestrian Bridge. Volunteers should meet at the Switchback Trailhead — from Alamogordo, take Highway 82 east toward Cloudcroft, turn left on Baily Canyon Road after Mile Marker 14, and park at the trailhead.

Bring water, gloves and sunscreen.

To sign up or learn more, visit nmrailstotrails.org/volunteer, email nmrailtrails@gmail.com, or call or text 575-554-2745.

Your Wednesday Review continues after this brief message. Thank you to our sponsor, Cloudcroft Art Workshops:

Leadership Cloudcroft Wells & Springs Tour

On July 17th, Leadership Cloudcroft is heading out at 9:30 a.m. for a guided look at the water infrastructure that keeps Cloudcroft running.

Public Works Supervisor JJ Carrizal and Water Operator David Hunter will lead the way, and the group will wrap up at Ski Cloudcroft for lunch and a preview of what’s coming this season on the mountain.

Spots are limited. To RSVP for July 17th, email leadershipcloudcroft@cloudcroftreader.com.

The Reader is proud to be sponsored in part by Be in the Mountains Yoga:

Promote Your Business

Learn about sponsorship opportunities for your business in support of the Reader. Contact us for more information at sponsorship-info@cloudcroftreader.com

Cloudcroft Reader is proud to be sponsored in part by great companies like:

And, readers like you. Will you support our work?

I support local news

Discover Cloudcroft:
Elevate Your Visit

Plan My Cloudcroft Trip

Take me to the Monthly

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