New Mexico in Focus 2025 Rewind: Ruidoso Floods; Healing a Burn Scar

New Mexico in Focus revisits some of its most impactful field reports of the year, highlighting communities responding to disaster, recovery and change.

Host Nash Jones travels to the Mescalero Apache Reservation for a community feedback meeting organized by the New Mexico Public Education Department. In the segment, which first aired in August, New Mexico in Focus attended one of about a dozen in-person and virtual meetings held statewide to gather input for the department's plan to meet court-ordered requirements under the Yazzie/Martinez lawsuit.

Reporter Cailley Chella takes viewers to Ruidoso just days after deadly flooding struck the area. Originally airing in July, the report found residents, including the mayor, watching the clock as they waited for federal assistance. Shortly after Chella's interviews, the federal government declared a disaster in Lincoln County, unlocking millions in federal aid for a community already recovering from wildfire damage the year before.

In 2022, the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire burned more than 340,000 acres of spruce, fir and ponderosa pine. Since this segment first aired in June, forest recovery within the burn scar remains ongoing. Correspondent Elizabeth Miller visits a replanting site and speaks with researchers working to restore the region's forest canopy.

Later, in a segment that first aired in October, Miller heads to the Cibola National Forest to explore how New Mexico Search and Rescue, an almost entirely volunteer-driven organization, shifts from the urgency of searching for a live subject to the careful work of uncovering clues months later.

New Mexico became the third state to legalize the medical use of psychedelic mushrooms after the Medical Psilocybin Act took effect last month. The law gives state officials until 2027 to establish a regulated medical program. In a July segment, Chella spoke with medical experts and advocates about how psychedelic therapies may help patients with severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

NMiF airs on NMPBS 5.1 (KNME HD) on Friday, Dec. 26, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 28 at 7 a.m. and streaming on the PBS video app. Involved, informed, in-depth media: watch New Mexico in Focus again online shortly thereafter.

Host
Nash Jones

NMiF Segments
Education Department Gets Feedback on Native Student Needs
Correspondent
Nash Jones

Photojournalists
Joey Dunn, R.J. Torres

Guests
Ariel Aguilar, Mescalero Apache; former student
Thora Padilla, president, Mescalero Apache Tribe
Rosalinda Baeza, mid/high principal, Mescalero Apache Schools
Mariana Padilla, secretary, New Mexico Public Education Department
John Sena, director, Legislative Education Study Committee

Flood Recovery in Ruidoso
Correspondent
Cailley Chella

Guests
Emerson Fulcher, 13, flood survivor
Jason Fulcher, father; Riverview RV Park owner
Vandhana George, resident, Gavilan Mobile Home Park
Arturo Olivas, resident, Gavilan Mobile Home Park
Monda Milton, manager, Gavilan Mobile Home Park
Cynthia Schumacher, volunteer
Lynn D. Crawford, mayor of Ruidoso

Planting Seeds in a Burn Scar
Correspondent
Elizabeth Miller

Photojournalists
Joey Dunn, Manny Valdez

Editor
Lou DiVizio

Guests
Andrei Toca, research scientist, John T. Harrington Forestry Research Center, New Mexico State University
Christopher Marsh, research scientist, Center for Fire Resilient Ecosystems and Society, University of New Mexico

Training, Hunting for Clues With Volunteer-Driven New Mexico Search and Rescue
Correspondent
Elizabeth Miller

Photographers
Ethan Weiner, R.J. Torres

Producer
Jeff Proctor

Editor
Lou DiVizio

Guests
Laurie Dodge, deputy incident commander, New Mexico Search and Rescue
Rachel Searles, friend of missing woman; 911 caller
Robert Garcia, council president, New Mexico Search and Rescue
Robert "Bob" Rodgers, resource officer, New Mexico Search and Rescue; Department of Public Safety
Mary Berry, K-9 handler, Sandia Search Dogs
Sarah Wharton, assistant, Sandia Search Dogs
Indy, search dog
Melvin Herrera, Cibola Search and Rescue
Brad Berry, drone operator
Steve Larese, Albuquerque Mountain Rescue; acting public information officer, New Mexico Search and Rescue
Tony Gaier, incident commander, New Mexico Search and Rescue
Duke Pigott, Albuquerque Mountain Rescue

New Medical Mushroom Program
Correspondent
Cailley Chella

Guests
Ben Feinberg, professor of anthropology, Warren Wilson College
Joaquin Orozco, board member, New Mexico Psychedelic Science Society
Dr. Larry Leeman, psychedelic-assisted therapies researcher, University of New Mexico
Jeff Holland, licensed clinical social worker

New Mexico in Focus is the New Mexico PBS prime-time news magazine show covering the events, issues, and people shaping life in New Mexico and the Southwest. NMiF takes a multi-layered look at social, political, economic health, education, and art issues and explores them in-depth with a critical eye to give them context beyond the "news of the moment."

NMPBS Executive Producer, Public Affairs is Jeff Proctor. New Mexico in Focus's senior producer for public affairs is Lou DiVizio. Host and producer of New Mexico in Focus is Nash Jones. Producer is Antonio Sanchez. Multimedia journalist is Cailley Chella.

Funding for New Mexico in Focus is provided by the McCune Charitable Foundation and Viewers Like You. Funding for the Your New Mexico Government Project comes from the Thornburg Foundation and New Mexico Local News Fund. Funding for Our Land: New Mexico's Environmental Past, Present & Future is provided in part by the Neeper Natural History Programming.