SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 49

51st legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2013

INTRODUCED BY

Phil A. Griego

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TO MAKE USE OF WOOD CHIPS THAT ARE A BYPRODUCT OF TREES BEING TRIMMED AND CUT IN NEW MEXICO.

     WHEREAS, wood chips are a byproduct of trees being cut and trimmed in New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, wood chips are a sustainable resource with a history of being wasted and clogging the state's landfills; and

     WHEREAS, wood chips are hugely beneficial to New Mexico's environment because they compost and provide food and beneficial fungi to existing plants; and

     WHEREAS, wood chips make great roadside weed barriers and are a critical element in landscape projects; and

     WHEREAS, wood chips, as they decompose, create a biological product that is one of the necessary building blocks for the root systems of trees and other greenery; and

     WHEREAS, trees are almost completely responsible for the air quality in New Mexico as they take carbon dioxide from the air, retain the carbon and release pure oxygen back into the air; and

     WHEREAS, water resources are at a premium in New Mexico, and wood chips help conserve and protect ground water from evaporation; and

     WHEREAS, each year in New Mexico, millions of gallons of water are stripped from uncovered soil by wind; and

     WHEREAS, wood chips help soil retain moisture by protecting that moisture from being evaporated by New Mexico's arid winds; and

     WHEREAS, wood chips may be made available to the state at no cost from tree companies working in New Mexico;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the department of transportation be requested to make every effort to use wood chips in projects involving the construction, maintenance and landscaping of roads and highways throughout the state; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor and the secretary of transportation.

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