VOL. 07 | ISSUE 3 | September 2024
New Mexico Interns Gain Experience, Support Environment
At New Mexico Operations, summer interns are really getting their feet wet while also gaining insight into their local Environmental team’s conservation efforts through a river cleanup and fish habitat improvement project near the Tyrone mine.
As part of a three-day project, the interns collected trash from campsites along the Gila River and then built shallow rock dams in the Mangas Creek. The Mangas Creek is home to the loach minnow, an endangered species that will benefit from the increased water levels as temperatures rise.
Tyson Bays, Senior Land and Water Resource Analyst/Engineer-New Mexico Operations, said his team strives to be a steward to endangered species beyond loach minnows, including the southwestern willow flycatcher. Tyrone was recognized by the Wildlife Habitat Council for its management of this endangered bird last year.
“I think this will be a memorable experience for our interns,” Bays said. “These animals have been thriving on our land, under our management, and now these students are a part of that legacy of conservation.”
For this project, Bays worked with Raechel Roberts, Senior Environmental Scientist-Tyrone; Jack Barragan, Land and Water Resource Analyst/Engineer-Chino; Edgar Gomez, Senior Human Resources Generalist-Tyrone; and other members of the Human Resources department to enlist the interns and cover ground more quickly.
In the photos (clockwise from top left): A temporary measure, the small rock dams raise the water levels until the monsoon rains increase and eventually wash them away; intern Amid Morshedlou collects a tire during the cleanup; the interns stop for a photo with one of the nearly two dozen rock dams they constructed in Mangas Creek; Roberts (left) receives
a rock from intern Angelique Andimarala to place on the dam.