On May 18, 2022, a very proud day for President Martinez, Vice President Via and members of the Tribal Council visited the first two of 26 mobile homes being put together at Windy Point 2.

As the homes are being set up, any necessary utilities will also be installed as well as permanent concrete foundation walls and concrete porch.  

Next month, in June, the Mescalero Housing Department will host a meeting at the Inn of the Mountain Gods about the mobile homes and more information will be available at that time.  

The meeting will start at 5:30 PM on June 14, 2022.

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Provided by Emergency Manager, Michael Watkins

Whether you are preparing for a week or a year the 6 areas or preparedness should be your considered in everything you do while prepping. The 6 areas of preparedness are food, water, shelter, security, sanitation and first aid…not in any certain order.

These are the building blocks of any good preparedness plan. How you prepare in each of these areas will depend on your personal situation, but they need to be included in every preparedness plan.

STORING FOOD

How much food you store, and what you store is completely up to you. There are many suggestions about food storage in the prepper community, but your finances, family size, and storage space all need to be considered. The only wrong way to store food is to not have any when you need it.

WATER STORAGE & SAFETY

These days all you have to do is turn on your faucet and you have clean drinking water, but what if that wasn’t the case? Most people wouldn’t even know where to start if they had to clean their water, but you do, right? Honestly, cleaning water and making it drinkable isn’t as hard as it seems, it just takes a little bit of knowledge.

SURVIVAL SHELTER

When it comes to survival shelter, your home is the most important. Disasters come in different shapes and sizes, and bugging out might not be necessary. Our home is our base camp, so leaving it should be avoided if possible. With that being said, bugging out may be unavoidable, and we need to have the skills and knowledge to do so.

PERSONAL SECURITY

Your personal security starts with you and extends to your home and your surroundings. Everything we do on a daily basis either puts us at risk or makes us safer. Everything from what we do online, to protecting our home from intruders needs to be considered on a daily basis. If you carry a gun, be safe, be legal and be trained.

SANITATION

One commonly overlooked aspect of preparedness is sanitation. With the availability of over the counter medications, medical facility’s, and being lucky enough to live in a first world country, we don’t think about the dangers of bad sanitation. In a SHTF situation it’s not just about body odor and stinky feet. It’s about preventing illness, and not adding to an already bad situation.

FIRST AID & MEDICAL SKILLS

Whether you are in a natural disaster, or an all out SHTF scenario, first aid should be one of your top priorities. Most of these basic first aid skills are easy to learn, and when you do, you’ll have a better idea about what supplies you need. In a survival situation, you might be the only option. You could literally make the difference between someone dying or living. Our local Fire Depart provides First Aid and CPR training, get the whole family trained.

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Direct deposit payments to hit bank accounts this week, checks to follow

SANTA FE— Gov. Lujan Grisham announced on Wednesday that $200 million in household relief is on its way to over 550,000 New Mexico taxpayers. Taxpayers who receive funds through direct deposit are scheduled to receive at least $250 in relief in the next day. Paper checks for another 200,000 taxpayers will begin going out in the following days and will continue to over the next few weeks.  

“Starting today and throughout the summer, we are putting nearly half a billion dollars back into the pockets of New Mexicans,” said Gov. Lujan Grisham. “Across the country, Americans are grappling with the high costs of essentials. Here in New Mexico, we are doing all we can to provide relief to New Mexico’s families.”

The rebates being issued this week were approved by the governor and legislature in a special legislative session this spring to help New Mexico households cope with the nationally rising prices of groceries, gasoline and other expenses.

“Taxation and Revenue employees are working as quickly as possible to get this much-needed cash back to taxpayers,” said Taxation and Revenue Secretary Stephanie Schardin Clarke.

Taxpayers who file individual returns will receive another $250 rebate in August in addition to the funds disbursed this week. Those who file joint returns with a spouse or as heads of household will receive $500 rebates beginning this week and another $500 in August.

The same legislation that authorized the rebates also set aside $20 million for economic relief payments to New Mexicans who do not file state income taxes because of their income levels. Only non-filers may apply for the one-time relief payments of either $500 or $1,000 depending on family size. Applications are open at the Human Services Department website until May 31, 2022, or as long as funding allows.

New Mexicans displaced by wildfires who are unable to receive their mail have multiple options for receiving physical checks. Currently, mail is being sent to the Las Vegas Post Office for Chacon, Guadalupita and Rociada residents. Residents from these areas may either pick up their mail in person at the Las Vegas Post Office; call 1-800-ASK-USPS to have their mail forwarded to a different address; or call the post office in Las Vegas at 505-425-9387 and request to have their mail delivered once a week to the Taos Post Office if they are temporarily staying in the Taos area. Residents living in any other evacuated area should contact their local post office to receive their mail. The Mora Post Office has now open reopened – Mora residents should contact the post office directly.

Taxpayers who filed their 2021 returns after the April 18 deadline and have not yet been processed will receive their rebates after they are posted. Taxpayers can check the status of their returns on the Department’s Taxpayer Access Point self-service portal.

New Mexicans who did not file a 2021 tax return have until May 31, 2023, to file and receive a rebate, unless they receive a non-filer relief payment. Another rebate of either $250 or $500, depending on filing status, will be issued to taxpayers in July. That rebate, approved during the 2022 regular legislative session, will be sent automatically to New Mexicans who filed 2021 Personal Income Tax returns and had less than $75,000 in income for single filers and married individuals filing separately, or less than $150,000 for married couples filing joint returns, heads of household and surviving spouses.

Taken together, New Mexico families may receive up to $1,500 in relief this year.

More information on the rebates and relief payments is available at tax.newmexico.gov.

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Check out the video the National Fire Prevention Education Teams did with some of our tribal members! Fire prevention is truly important in our daily lives. Thank you, Mr. Enjady, Rylee Chino and the NFPET!

Listen to artist Oliver Enjady from the Mescalero Apache Tribe. Oliver delivers a fire prevention message in his native Apache language and in English to the children and adults of the the Tribe. His message comes at a time when the Southwest is in the midst of high fire danger with numerous large wildfires on the landscape in Arizona and New Mexico. Did you know that 9 out of 10 wildfires in the U.S. are human caused? In the Southwest, (Arizona and New Mexico) about half of the wildfires are human caused, and we need your help to prevent wildfires! With all the recent fires in the region, our National Fire Prevention Education Team (NFPET) has been working with various state, federal and local agencies to help boost wildfire prevention messaging. We are facilitating wildfire awareness to the local communities by attending events, going to visitor centers and dropping by businesses throughout the Southwest. Video Credit: Jacob Welsh, NFPET Public Information Officer

YouTube Channel: Fire Prevention Education Teams

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On May 17, 2022 Mescalero Parks & Recreation announced that Mescalero Cabins will be CLOSED for the remainder of the 2022 season.

Parks & Recreation Department

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Hunters, scroll down to page 4 for all the 2022 hunting dates! Copies of the Tribal Hunt Ordinance are available at the Conservation Department or the Tribal Offices.

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Members of the New Mexico Early Childhood Education & Care Department (ECECD) visited the Mescalero Apache Tribe to conduct a government-to-government consultation session last Tuesday, 10 May 2022.  Discussions involved funding for further program development and expansion for the Mescalero Apache Early Childhood Program (MAECP) as well as collaboration among ECECD, MAECP, Head Start and the Child Development Centers.

In photo (L-R):  Rosario Dick (MAECP Director), Jovanna Archuleta (Assistant Secretary for Native American Early Education and Care), Elizabeth Groginsky (ECECD Cabinet Secretary), Helen Quintana (ECECD Human Resources Director), and Micah McCoy (ECECD Communications Director).

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DENTON, Texas – New Mexico homeowners and renters in the five counties, who sustained damage from the wildfires and straight-line winds beginning on April 5 and continuing, could be eligible for help from FEMA.

The designated counties for FEMA Individual Assistance are Colfax, Lincoln, Mora, San Miguel and Valencia.

If you have homeowners or renters insurance, you should file a claim as soon as possible. By law, FEMA cannot duplicate benefits for losses covered by insurance. If your policy does not cover all your damage expenses, you may then be eligible for federal assistance.

While residents in all five affected counties can apply for disaster assistance, damage assessments can only be conducted in areas where wildfires are not ongoing. Lincoln and Valencia are currently the only counties not experiencing active fires.

The fastest and easiest way to apply is by visiting disasterassistance.gov/.

If it is not possible to apply online, call 800-621-3362. The toll-free telephone lines operate from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. MDT seven days a week. If you use a relay service, such as video relay service (VRS), captioned telephone service or others, give FEMA the number for that service.

When you apply for assistance, have the following information readily available:

• A current phone number where you can be contacted
• Your address at the time of the disaster and the address where you are now staying
• Your Social Security number, if available
• A general list of damage and losses
• If insured, the policy number or the agent and/or the company name

Listen for instructions from local officials to tell you it’s safe to return home. If it is safe to do so, start cleaning up now. Take photos to document damage and begin cleanup and repairs to prevent further damage. Remember to keep receipts from all purchases related to cleanup and repair.

Disaster assistance may include financial help with temporary lodging and home repairs along with other programs to assist families recovering from effects of the event.

U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) low-interest disaster loans are available to businesses of all sizes, nonprofits, homeowners and renters. Like FEMA, SBA cannot duplicate benefits for losses covered by insurance.

• For small businesses, those engaged in aquaculture and most nonprofits: Up to $2 million is available for working capital needs even if there was no property damage, with a $2 million maximum loan for any combination of property damage and working capital needs.
• For homeowners: Up to $200,000 is available to repair or replace their primary residence. For homeowners and renters: Up to $40,000 is available to replace personal property, including vehicles.

Businesses and residents can apply online at Disaster assistance (sba.gov). For questions and assistance completing an application, call 800-659-2955 or email DisasterCustomerAssistance@sba.gov.

For the latest information on the wildfires, visit fema.gov/disaster/4652. Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/FEMARegion6 and like us on Facebook at facebook.com/FEMARegion6/.

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