Los Alamos Public Safety Association (LAPSA) President and Centerra-Los Alamos General Manager Lennie Upshaw, left, presents Los Alamos County Open Space Manager Eric Peterson with the 2021 Outstanding Community Service and Public Safety Award during LAPSA’s annual Awards Banquet Thursday night at Cottonwood on the Greens. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com
LAPSA President Lennie Upshaw, left, shares remarks submitted by LAPSA member Oliver Morris in his nomination of Eric Peterson for the annual safety award. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com
Staff Report
The Los Alamos Public Safety Association (LAPSA) honored Los Alamos County Open Space Manager Eric Peterson with its 2021 Outstanding Community Service and Public Safety Support Award during its annual awards banquet Thursday night at Cottonwood on the Greens.
LAPSA President and Centerra-Los Alamos General Manager Lennie Upshaw presented the award to Peterson and shared the nomination remarks submitted by LAPSA member and Los Alamos Police Cmdr. Oliver Morris in the category of Public Safety Dedication.
Morris wrote that at the beginning of 2021, feral cattle became a huge safety concern in and around Los Alamos County. The Los Alamos Police responded to a serious crash of a woman crashing her car into a cow on the roadway at N.M. 502 and the “Y’.
LAPD received 26 calls for service in January and February of 2021 of feral cattle in the roadway. LAPD reached out to Peterson who began identifying and repairing damaged fencing around Los Alamos open spaces.
Peterson reached out to San Ildefonso Pueblo to begin efforts to mitigate the cattle issue. In March of 2021, due to Peterson’s efforts, LAPD saw a huge decrease in calls of cattle in the roadway, which decreased to just two calls that month.
Peterson continued to work the problem by contracting a cattle-wrangling outfit fitted with Catahoula catch dogs to capture and remove the feral cattle.
To date, Peterson has helped facilitate the removal of 32 head of feral cattle. He has also coordinated with LANL to help facilitate the removal of cattle and identify fencing to be repaired surrounding Lab property.
Peterson sends out press releases educating the public on his efforts that describe the environmental impact of the cattle and information to protect hikers from aggressive cattle.
While this problem is persistent and there are numerous cattle moving into the Los Alamos area, Peterson continues to address the problem that has reduced incidents and ultimately will help keep motorists and hikers safe and help protect the environment, Morris wrote in his nomination of Peterson.
LAPSA Secretary Donna Martinez announces the names of the silent auction winners including LAPSA Vice President Alice Bodelson’s husband Michael Bodelson. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com
Those gathered at the LAPSA Awards Banquet Thursday night applaud silent auction winner Michael Bodelson, center, for also winning the door prize drawing. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com
LAPSA Vice President Alice Bodelson presents her husband with the door prize. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com
Gathered for the LAPSA event Thursday, from left, LAPSA member and Director, Protective Force Operations and Training Division at Centerra Los Alamos Jesse Galvan and his wife Sheila Galvan and LAPSA President Lennie Upshaw and his wife Susan Upshaw. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com
Cottonwood on the Greens Co-owner Pawel Listwan with LAPSA Vice President Alice Bodelson welcomes LAPSA members and guests to Thursday’s event. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com
The 2021 LAPSA Award presented to County Open Space Manager Eric Peterson. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com