E FRE
VOL 7 | ISSUE 328 | JULY 9, 2021
NO LONGER FORGOTTEN BRINGING DOWN THE HEAT N.M. included in federal infrastructure campaign
Staff Reports
O
HKAY OWINGEH, N.M.—During a tour of Ohkay Owingeh with Rep. Teresa Leger Fer na ndez, D -N.M., on July 7, USDA
S e c r e t a r y To m V i l s a ck announced a $1.6 million grant and a $610,000 loan to bu i ld a wa stewater
THE STORY OF ST. THOMAS MORE COLORING PAGE 17
treatment plant on Pueblo lands in Rio Arriba County. This project is designed to help expand water treatment from 235,000 to 350,000 gallons per day and extend services to Pueblo residents who are not currently connected. These improvements are expected to benefit 1,143 residents. Leger Fernandez expressed her support of the plan in comments about the needs faced by Tribal nations and people in the Southwest. “The COVID pandemic showed the world what our Native American communities have known for too long—their communities struggle to gain access to clean water,” she pointed out. “It’s simply unacceptable that 1 in 10 Indigenous Americans don’t have access
WATER INFRASTRUCTURE | SEE PAGE 19
Ground game for fighting wildfires
By Rick Abasta Sun Correspondent
M
ore than 1.4 mill ion acres of land have burned across the U.S. due to wildfires in the 2021 wildfi re season. Twenty-seven wildfires
have scorched lands in Ariz. and eight wildfires burned across N.M. in recent weeks. Wildfi re seasons are typically between May and October, although recent fi re seasons have stretched into December. Sa nd ra Moore, F i re Communications Specialist for the U.S. Forest Service
Southwestern Region, told the Sun there are 12 fi res currently burning in Arizona. “This has been a busy year, extremely busy for the past three weeks,” she said. In the Southwest area, the
WILDFIRES | SEE PAGE 19