Senators Udall and Bingaman outline plan for wilderness, Organ Mountains & My Response

New Mexico's U.S. senators on Thursday announced a plan to create thousands of acres of federally designated wilderness in Do a Ana County, including protection for the Organ Mountains. U.S. Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall, both D-N.M., introduced a bill that would designate 259,000 acres of land as wilderness, the highest level of federal protection. Also, the bill would place another 100,000 acres into a national conservation area, a type of protection that varies depending on the specific conditions set by Congress. The bill was applauded by several groups that have advocated the creation of wilderness in the county since late 2005. However, it was met with skepticism by a pro-ranching organization that has criticized similar proposals in the past...LasCrucesSunNews

I'm quoted in the article by Diana Alba. I'm sure Ms. Alba was under a deadline and had a limited amount of space for her article.

So here are the notes I prepared for the interview, listing the five points I made to the reporter:

--Surprised and disappointed that he would ignore the concerns of over 800 businesses and organizations in Dona Ana county

--Surprised he ignored the Stakeholder group put together by city and county that voted for 54,000 acres in wilderness and 300,000 acres other than wilderness. Bingaman's bill has 5 times as much wilderness.

--Disappointed he refused to consider new and innovative land designations that would better fit the needs of dona ana county. Congress has taken new and innovative approaches to banking, housing, auto and a myriad other issues and it’s time for a new approach to land use.

--Based on recent reports from Arizona we believe there are important homeland security issues that can’t be fixed by a small corridor

--No indication in the press release he included language to protect grazing in nca’s as recommended by our group, but will reserve any additional comment until we have read the bill and reviewed the final maps

Ms. Alba, like others in the local media, continues to refer to PFPOWH as "a group of ranchers." It's true the group was started by ranchers, but it has since expanded into a broad based coalition with over 800 members containing businesses of all stripes, sportsmen, campers, mountain bikers, local organizations interested in the issue, two former Presidents of NMSU, etc. It's current Chairman is the Dean Emeritus of the CAHE at NMSU who is not a public lands rancher. It has grown well beyond "a group of ranchers."

More to come on my other points later, plus other facets of this important issue.