Apart from any possible future conservation easement, a project is under way to continue farming the scenic Trosello tract. About 12 acres beloved for views offered to the Corrales bosque and Sandia Mountains beyond, and four acres on the west side of Corrales Road, where the Wagners’ corn maze has been located, would remain in agriculture, Village Councillor Bill Woldman said at the March 23 council meeting.

No moratorium on constructing view-blocking walls and fences along Corrales Road will be imposed, but a beefed-up ordinance is likely to be enacted in the weeks ahead.

Discussion March 23 about possible restrictions to protect views along Corrales’ designated “scenic and historic byway” quickly veered away from the idea that a moratorium is necessary since the community does not find itself in an emergency that would require that measure.

Instead the mayor and councillors directed the Corrales Planning and Zoning Commission to submit recommendations for an ordinance that would limit the height and opaqueness of new walls or fences along Corrales Road.

They suggested new regulations might mirror those for the North Valley’s Rio Grande Boulevard imposed by the Village of Los Ranchos

Revised guidelines for managing the Corrales Bosque Preserve were approved by the Village Council at its March 23 session. As explained by Corrales Bosque Advisory Commission Chair Joan Hashimoto, the...

The long-delayed AT&T cell tower at the west end of Academy Drive has been erected. The tall, thick, white tower went up in late March, but lacked antenna installations as of April 2. But it was still a shock to villagers whose homes face east toward the Sandia Mountains.

A public butterfly garden has been proposed for a portion of the Corrales Interior Drain. The idea was floated by a member of the committee appointed by Mayor Jo Anne Roake to recommend future uses of the drainage ditch east of Corrales Road between Valverde Road and Riverside Drain (“Clear Ditch”).

When the advisory committee was established last year, it was to submit recommendations by August 2021. So far, not even draft recommendations have been developed; the group chaired by Doug Findley will soon launch an effort to gain additional public input before summer. (See Corrales Comment Vol.XXXIX No.12 September 5, 2020 “Any Ideas To Improve Interior Drain?”)

The long fought-for legislation to make New Mexico the next U.S. state to legalize adult-use cannabis and comprehensively address past low-level convictions, has passed, after a special session called by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham March 30. The 55th New Mexico 60 day legislative session ended official business on March 20. As of April 4, Grisham had not yet signed the bill, but by April 9 she likely will have done so.

In a press release issued March 31 the governor stated that “This is a significant victory for New Mexico. Workers will benefit from the opportunity to build careers in this new economy. Entrepreneurs will benefit from the opportunity to create lucrative new enterprises. The state and local governments will benefit from the additional revenue.

“Consumers will benefit from the standardization and regulation that comes with a bona fide industry. And those who have been harmed by this country’s

Are you a weed?
Do you resist other species’ persistent attempts to drive you away? Does your never-say-die resilience at least earn their respect? Sometimes it seems that nature doesn’t really want us humans here in Corrales. Perhaps the lives of plants would be more tranquil, maybe even more productive, if people would just leave them alone. People can be a real pain in the you-know-what, especially when they introduce weird, water-hogging species to the neighborhood. Or ghastly chemicals. Or stem- and limb-severing blades.

An ordinance establishing a “landmark tree” program here has been amended to emphasize a village wide plan for trees. The amendment adopted February 23 changes the name of the volunteer committee from the Tree Preservation Advisory Committee to the Tree Committee, and calls for it to develop a “tree care plan.” The original ordinance was adopted in July 2009 after a stately cottonwood tree near the entrance to Corrales, just northeast of the Corrales Road-Cabezon Road intersection, was removed by a developer for a turning lane.

The amendment, Ordinance 21-02, was discussed at the February 9 council meeting and then adopted at the February 23 session. The substantive change to the existing ordinance is the new provision for a Tree Care Plan. It reads: “The Tree Committee shall prepare a Tree Care Plan for managing, maintaining, protecting, preserving and planting trees within the Village of Corrales. This plan details specific goals and objectives for tree inventories. tree risk management. tree protection and tree pruning standards. This document is intended to be a living document that is updated yearly to promote schedules for community education, tree planting programs, and...

One-third of all U.S. fish and wildlife species are at risk of extinction in the coming decades, according to America’s largest conservation organization, the National Wildlife Federation. Since 1936, the federation’s mission to preserve landscape and wildlife and to educate and promote lifelong connections have informed hikers, campers, gardeners, hunters, anglers, birders and other outdoor enthusiasts across the country.

Corrales’ Sam Thompson reports that the Master Gardener program has had “some major adaptations to make during the year,” to put it mildly. In the middle of the Intern Training Class of 2020 the group went into a lockdown.

“Our mentors learned to conduct sessions with their interns via Zoom.  And it worked just fine.  And the 2020 interns stayed with us, joining projects and committees. Now a year later, some are helping conduct Zoom sessions and mentoring members of the 2021 class,” as Thompson put it.

Along with adjustments to the pandemic, the group was renamed the Sandoval Extension Master Gardeners by New Mexico State University, to keep nomenclature consistent across the state. Its former website became defunct. And then the County horticulture Extension agent, Lynda Garvin, was transferred to Valencia County. A new Sandoval County agent has not yet been named.

By Sandra Farley
There’s a tree killer lurking in Corrales and right now, without leaves to camouflage it, it is easy to see. Mistletoe, the romantic plant that we buy at Christmas to steal kisses, is an insidious parasite that attaches itself to trees, plants and shrubs, stealing their nutrients and water. This can weaken or disfigure the host plant, and eventually even kill it.

Mistletoe is also invasive, spreading throughout the tree and, with the help of birds, can spread quickly throughout the neighborhood. Although mistletoe is found all over the world, several species thrive in the Southwest infecting cottonwoods, mesquite, pine, juniper and other types of desert trees.

Once it infects a tree, mistletoe is difficult to remove. When its seeds sprout, they grow through the bark of trees and into their tissues, extending up and down within the branches. Even if you cut off the visible portion of the invader, new plants often grow from inside the host.

Gross receipts taxes to fund Village government should be adequate for the remainder of the fiscal year. “We’re going to be in a good place,” Village Administrator Ron Curry assured the Village Council March 9. Corrales’ finance officer, Reyna Aragon, put it this way. “Unless our gross receipts taxes really tank, we should be okay.”

She distributed a report for GRT revenues to Corrales month-to-month for each fiscal year going back to 2015-16. Payments to Corrales for July 2015, for example, were $206,963; in July 2020, the GRT to Corrales was $229,983.

For another comparison, in February 2020, Corrales got $272,397; for February 2021, Corrales got $260.038. As usual, GRT paid to Corrales was down some months this year compared to the same month last year, but for other months, the tax take was higher. Corrales’’ fiscal year runs from

As a New Mexican, of course you like rain, but don’t be so sure your plants do. New research indicates that splashing rain induces a panic response in some plants that could even result in a reaction akin to post-traumatic stress syndrome, stunted growth and genetic damage. A 2018-2019 study published in the October 29, 2019 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has plant physiologists reconsidering what they understood about plants’ sensitivity.