Saturday, May 16
01:00 PM - 02:30 PM

Live and Let Live: Co-Exist with Cougars and Bears!

Climax Canyon

This 90-minute program will include hiking in cougar and bear country, reflecting on advance reading, participating in activities on animal behavior, and nature journaling to integrate the experience.

Additional Optional Reading Materials: Books: Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law; The Beast in the Garden: The True Story of a Predator's Deadly Return to Suburban America; Blueberries for Sal; and The Moon of the Mountain Lions.

Contact the program contact for more information on receiving reading materials.

Ages 6+ are welcome to join. Please wear comfortable walking/hiking shoes and dress in layers according to the forecasted weather.

What to Expect:

A short 1-mile educational nature walk in Climax Canyon Park, starting with a meet in the parking lot.
Simple, accessible guidance on how to be safe in bear and cougar country
How to start a nature journal
Reflections on stories from the NEA featured book, Fuzz
Opportunities to share your observations (if you’d like!)

Pat Walsh brings to this program her 17-year career as a regional interpretive ranger for New Mexico State Parks, based at Sugarite Canyon State Park. Although now retired, she still loves helping people build relationships with nature. Her first career was as a journalist, and she has self-published two nature-based mystery novels.

No hiking experience required. No pressure. Just positive energy, curiosity, and community.

Come to hike. Come to listen. Come to learn and be inspired.

About Fuzz

What’s to be done about a jaywalking moose? A bear caught breaking and entering? A murderous tree?

In Fuzz, New York Times bestselling author Mary Roach dives into the surprisingly complex world of human-wildlife conflict. Blending humor, science, and fascinating history, Roach explores how communities navigate encounters with bears, mountain lions, elephants, and more. Three hundred years ago, animals were assigned legal representation and put on trial. Today, the answers lie not in the courtroom but in science — at the crossroads of wildlife biology and human behavior.

For mountain and mesa communities like ours in northern New Mexico, where encounters with wildlife are part of daily life, Fuzz offers a timely, humorous, and insightful lens into coexistence.

NEA Big Read Activities

From March through June, the NEA Big Read will bring together local artists, educators, scientists, and community partners for reading discussions, creative writing workshops, arts and media projects, nature tours, and public forums designed to spark curiosity and conversation.

The program will culminate on June 27, 2026, with a public film screening and panel discussion at the Shuler Theater, showcasing community-created work and highlighting the power of literature, creativity, and dialogue in deepening our understanding of nature — and our place within it.

✨ Come be part of a community-wide exploration of storytelling, science, and coexistence.

All are welcome!

Contact the host of NEA Big Read - Climax Canyon Nature Walk: Live and Let Live: Co-Exist with Cougars and Bears!

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