WHY I LIVE IN NEW MEXICO
Ray Powell
2018 Candidate for New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands
When I was young my parents would have to drag me inside. The ultimate punishment for ill behavior was to sit in a room with no windows. My childhood passion was to stand in the middle of a dust storm or one of our driving 5 minute monsoon rains, ride horseback across the mesa, explore our local arroyos with my best friends–my dogs, leap with abandon across the rocks that span the Jemez River, explore the ponderosa forests on Mt. Taylor, look for rattle snakes and horned toads in the Chihuahuan Desert or just run as fast and as far as I could before I would drop.
Experiencing New Mexico has shaped who I am and what I want to learn. This place is part of my bone marrow. Marveling at the ruins at Bandolier or the stunning petroglyphs that are found in the most unexpected places gave me an insatiable craving to understand who lived here before and how they did it successfully for so long. Through the study of anthropology I understood that many of my lifelong friends, playmates, and mentors were decedents of these very special people and that far from being a footnote of the past their rich culture and traditions are alive and well.
New Mexico has 6 of the world’s 7 life zones, everything but the tropics. Observing the incredible variation of insects, plants, animals, and birds became an incurable addiction. As a botanist, plant ecologist, avid gardener, and practicing veterinarian, with a special interest in wildlife, I have fed that addiction with every step that I have taken across this incredible place we call home—New Mexico.
As a special assistant for natural resources to former Governor Bruce King, as New Mexico’s State Land Commissioner for three terms, as the Executive Director of the Valles Caldera National Preserve, and working with world-renowned scientist and humanitarian Dr. Jane Goodall and the Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research Education and Conservation — I have been treated to the opportunity to learn something new every day, when I am bright enough to listen and observe.
My teachers and mentors have been as varied and diverse as our landscape. Ranchers, school teachers, union members, entrepreneurs, scientists, sportsmen, nuns, tribal elders, ditch riders, politicians, and my constant companions from the animal kingdom have been extremely patient and generous in sharing their wealth of knowledge and their deep respect and passion for our land.
Getting the chance to observe elk run and rough-house across the Valles Caldera, catch a glimpse of mountain lion youngsters playfully swatting each other’s tails along a stream in the Sandia Mountains, and watch with amazement as our local raccoons pelt our dogs with nuts from a safe vantage point in our backyard pecan tree have instilled in me a deep appreciation, joy, and reverence for our natural world.
Every day is a chance to celebrate my great and good fortune of living in this special place. Every day gives me another reason to do my very best to remind my human friends that the chance to experience this place requires only the simple effort of getting out into it.
I am convinced that if you directly experience this special place—New Mexico–it will change you forever, and for the better.