...“Congressman Pearce’s imagination knows no bounds when it comes to asserting local authority over federal public lands and environmental laws,” said Taylor McKinnon, public-lands campaigns director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s both preposterous and ethically bankrupt for a U.S. congressman to encourage and participate in vigilantism against America’s public lands.” Incidents of vigilantes destroying public lands and endangered species habitat are on the rise in New Mexico following similar calls by Pearce for counties to seize control of federal public land. Field visits by Center for Biological Diversity staff and a letter to Catron County from the Forest Service confirm that Catron County officials in August trespassed across private land to bulldoze 13.5 miles of the San Francisco River on the Gila National Forest. The river is designated critical habitat for the endangered loach minnow; the bulldozed section includes an inventoried roadless area downstream from Reserve. In a press release dated Aug. 3, 2011, seven days before the bulldozing incident, Pearce highlighted the fact that sheriffs in counties that patrol the Gila will not enforce roadless rules or the Forest Service’s “travel management plan,” which manages off-road vehicle use. The only federal response from the Obama administration has been a multiagency tour of the area and a letter from the Forest Service to the county...And in Sagebrush rebellion flares up in New Mexico the Summit Voice has this:
A New Mexico congressman is inciting residents of his district and state to violate federal laws by ignoring Forest Service regulations on motorized travel and encouraging local communities to cut trees on federal land without required permits and environmental studies. Additionally, Sierra County Sheriff Joe Baca, Jr., publicly (on a Facebook page) threatened to arrest federal employees if they try to close national forest roads pursuant to Forest Service regulations (see the Facebook thread at the end of the story). U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) is leading yet another version of a sagebrush rebellion against the federal government, resulting what is being described by environmental groups as vigilante destruction of public lands...
At the end of this piece they show posts from Mike Skidmore and Sheriff Joe Baca from the Keep Our Forests Open Facebook page.
They really didn't like this post from Sheriff Baca:
Sorry I could not make it last night. Just know that I will not let them close any roads and if they so choose to do so I will arrest them for unlawfully closing a county road. They have no jurisdiction in Sierra County without me and I will not give them any. You have my support 100% and we will keeps the forest open!
The Alamogordo Daily News has this:
Bryan Bird, Wild Places program director for WildEarth Guardians, said the U.S. Forest Service is bending over backwards to accommodate county officials and Pearce for the event. "It still doesn't make it right," Bird said. "There are processes in place to normally access our national forests for commercial and other activities. I feel the county should have gone through the process like anyone else. The other factor is I don't know what all the fuss is about in the first place." He said he believes the Forest Service has continuing programs of timber and thinning projects to control fuel. "I don't know what the county and Pearce have themselves upset about," Bird said. "The (Lincoln) forest's website has all kinds of information about this situation to sort of calm people's tempers. This is political theater. It's not based on any reality in the real world. If these people would look at the facts, they would realize the Lincoln National Forest is treating its hazardous fuels. They're also conducting timber sales."
The Otero County Commission and their plan is "preposterous", "ethically bankrupt", "not based on any reality" and they are guilty of "vigilantism" and "vigilante destruction of public lands".
Yes, I'd say the enviros are a might upset.
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