Families from four local Pueblos are looking forward to a warmer winter this year, after collecting the last of 200 cords of wood from trees that fell during the windfall of March 2019. Mother Nature thinned around 3,500 trees on LANL property on March 18, 2019 yielding almost five hundred cords of wood the Laboratory offered to families from San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, Cochiti and Jemez Pueblos.
Clearing the wood from LANL’s property will also help reduce the fuel load in coming fire seasons. The cleared wood is part of a larger effort between LANL and NNSA to improve forest management and health at the Laboratory.
Rich Nieto, who helps direct the Laboratory’s wildfire mitigation efforts for the Emergency Management Division, noted that the effort to transform dead wood into fuel to keep families warm this winter is a great solution.
“From the standpoint of our forest management efforts, especially with the fire condition we have at the Laboratory, this is a great thing to do,” he said. “Getting the fuel off the ground is a good thing and it’s an added benefit that the wood goes to the people who need it.”
NNSA Field Office manager, Ted Wyka, remarked that the Department of Energy is pleased the Pueblos were available to remove the resources from the site. “Providing the available wood to our tribal neighbors who have traditional ties to LANL property helps us to enhance our ongoing relationships with those communities,” he said.
UNM-LA Chancellor receives Institutional Leadership Award
Cynthia Rooney, Chancellor of the University of New Mexico-Los Alamos, recently received the Institutional Leadership Award from the International Economic Development Council (IEDC). The Laboratory regularly collaborates on initiatives with UNM-LA, including the recently-announced mechanical engineering program.
The Institutional Leadership Award recognizes a leader of a community institution who has significantly contributed to his or her region in support of economic development. Rooney was nominated by the Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce and Los Alamos MainStreet.
In her acceptance speech, Rooney expressed her gratitude to IEDC, LACDC, family, mentors, and amazing individuals with whom she has had the privilege to collaborate.
“I am passionate about higher education, economic development, and finding ways to improve and utilize an extremely important and valuable resource–human capital,” she said. “When things work well, we develop and deliver educational programs that improve the lives of individuals, provide a workforce for employers, improve local economies, and produce an informed citizenry for our communities.”
Laboratory awarded spot In ‘Top 50 Best Companies To Work For’ By LATINA Style Inc.
LATINA Style Inc. has named LANL as one of the 2021 Top 50 Best Companies for Latinas to Work in the U.S.
Up three spots from last year, LANL ranked 30th out of 50 in 2021. Los Alamos has appeared on this list with other U.S. companies for four years in a row, and is the only national laboratory named as a “best company.”
Companies that responded to LATINA Style Inc.’s questionnaire — including LANL — were evaluated based on matters that LATINA Style Inc. magazine readers deemed as important to them in the workplace. Among the principal areas of evaluation are the number of Latina executives, Latina retention, mentoring programs, educational opportunities, employee benefits, active affinity groups and Hispanic community relations. Evaluations for the 2021 report are based on 2020 data.